Josanne Potter (born 13 November 1984) is an English

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Manager (association football) In association football, the manager is the person who has overall responsibility for the running of a football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams cou ...

and former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, most recently for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. Originally a left-winger, she matured into a creative central midfield player. At club level Potter enjoyed three separate spells at Birmingham City Ladies and was noted for her crossing abilities and goalscoring record. She played in three

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

finals – with Arsenal in 2004, Charlton Athletic in 2007 and Birmingham City in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. On the international stage, she often had to compete with

Rachel Yankey Rachel Aba Yankey (born 1 November 1979) is a former English footballer who played as a winger or forward. Yankey is best known for her long association with Arsenal Ladies, for whom she played 15 seasons over two separate spells, and is rank ...

and Sue Smith for a place on the left flank of the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

team. After 2007 Potter worked as a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

. In June 2023, Potter was appointed the head coach of

Rangers W.F.C. Rangers Women's Football Club is a women's football team that plays in the Scottish Women's Premier League, the top division of women's football in Scotland. The team is the female branch of Rangers. History Paisley City Ladies, formerly Arth ...

Club career

While attending The Manor School, Potter began her career at Chesterfield centre of excellence. She was with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

in 2001–2002, before signing for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. By 2004 she was playing for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

then signed for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in summer 2005. When Charlton ditched their ladies team in 2007, Potter moved on to Everton, then returned to Birmingham City in January 2009. With Birmingham not playing until the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

in March 2011, Potter signed a short-term deal with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

in summer 2010. In May 2013 Potter's excellent form with Birmingham, playing in a central midfield role, led to manager David Parker demanding that she be given another chance at international level. In June 2016, Potter and teammate Jade Moore both bought out the last six months of their Birmingham City contracts and left the club as

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

s. Despite the players' long service, a statement on Birmingham City Ladies' website called the development "an excellent deal for the club". Later that month Potter and Moore joined

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

on short-term deals until the end of the

2016 FA WSL The 2016 FA WSL 1 was the sixth edition of the FA WSL since it was formed in 2010. The WSL 1 was expanded to nine teams. The season started on 23 March and Chelsea were the defending WSL 1 champions. Manchester City Manchester Cit ...

season. Less than a year later, however, the club folded before the 2017

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL 1 Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer ...

. Becoming a free agent, Potter joined

along with teammates Jade Moore and Kirsty Linnett in May 2017. On 8 June 2020, Reading announced that Potter had left the club after her contract had expired. She announced her retirement from football in January 2021.

Managerial career

On 22 June 2023, Potter was appointed manager of

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL (previously styled as ''SWPL 1'') and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of th ...

club

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

International career

Potter played for

at U16 level. She helped England U19s

qualify Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

2003 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2003 Final Tournament was held in Germany between 25 July – 3 August 2003. Players born after 1 January 1984 were eligible to participate in this competition. The tournament is notable for featuring a penalty ...

finals, scoring twice in 90 seconds against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

on 4 October 2002. She was called up to the senior team for the first time for a friendly against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in April 2004, while playing for Arsenal. But she had to pull out due to a back injury. In September 2004 she featured as a substitute in two friendlies against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Potter narrowly missed out on selection for

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament involvi ...

, but was recalled straight after the tournament following impressive performances for the U21 team. She scored against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

during England's record 13–0 win in October 2005. Potter withdrew from the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifying play-off against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in September 2006 with damaged ankle ligaments. However, she returned to the team for the 1–0 friendly win over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in March 2007. After a seven-year absence from the England team, Potter was recalled by coach

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Born in Creigiau, Wales, Sampson played amateur football for Cardiff Corinthians F.C., Cardiff Corinthi ...

for a friendly with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in August 2014. She scored her second goal for England in September 2014, during a 10–0 win in

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

. In May 2015, Sampson named Potter in his final squad for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

, where the team finished a historic third. Potter was named to her second consecutive major tournament finals squad when Sampson selected her to his

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

squad in April 2017. Potter was allotted 156 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

International goals

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first.''

Media career

After missing out on a place in the

FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

squad, Potter worked for the

as an expert analyst in their tournament coverage. She continued to work for the BBC on their women's football coverage. Potter also worked as a

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

skills coach, based in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. In 2015 Potter was employed by teammate Jade Moore, who had her own sports therapy business.

Managerial statistics

As of 22 March 2025

Honours

Club

Birmingham City *

(1): 2011–12

Managerial honours

Rangers * Women’s Scottish Cup: 2023–24, 2024–25 *

Scottish Women's Premier League Cup The Scottish Women's Premier League Cup, currently known as the Sky Sports Cup due to sponsorship and commonly shortened to the SWPL Cup, is a league cup competition in women's football in Scotland. The cup is open only to the teams in the Scottis ...

: 2023–24, 2024–25 * City of Glasgow’s Women’s Cup: 2023

International

England *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

third place:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

* *
Profile
at

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Josanne 1984 births Living people English women's footballers Everton F.C. (women) players Arsenal W.F.C. players Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Notts County L.F.C. players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players English association football commentators England women's under-23 international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers from Mansfield Women's association football midfielders Reading F.C. Women players Leicester City W.F.C. players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 21st-century English sportswomen