Sheehan Replaced By Wright as Town Women's Manager
Tuesday, 6th Jan 2026 16:20

Joe Sheehan has been replaced as Ipswich Town Women’s manager by David Wright for the remainder of the season but could remain with the Blues, the club has announced.

Sheehan was appointed manager back in February 2019 having been in charge of the women’s academy since October 2017, and guided the Blues to promotion from the fourth tier in 2020/21 and then from the third into WSL2 last season having carried off the FAWNL Southern Premier Division title.

This term, the club’s first in the second tier, has been tough, however, with Town currently bottom of the table.

“I would like to thank Joe for the passion and commitment he has shown during his time in charge of Town Women, which has included the team moving to professional status as well as two promotions under his leadership,” CEO and chairman Mark Ashton said.

“We are currently in discussions with Joe regarding a new role, which will hopefully see him remain at the club, utilising his vast experience in developing young players.

“We look to continue the growth of the club’s women’s programme, both in the short and long-term, beginning with our desire to retain our status in WSL2 during the final 11 games of the season under the interim leadership of David Wright.”

Former right-back Wright was coaching the men’s U18s during the first half of the season having previously worked alongside John McGreal with the U21s.

The 45-year-old has also had spells coaching at Colchester, Norwich and Maldon & Tiptree.

Photo: TWTD

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jonny1964 added 16:34 - Jan 6 Yeah it was coming....
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Bazza8564 added 16:43 - Jan 6 Joe should be applauded for the progress he made, despite the current situation, and it is pleasing that Mark is trying to reflect that by keeping him at the club. I hope that works out for him
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atty added 16:45 - Jan 6

Joe paying the price for lack of investment in the squad to meet the demands of the Championship, which is clearly a much higher level. Would that have been foreseen? You’d like to think so. Mind you look what happened to the Mens team when they went up to a much higher level, despite considerable investment. That said you see the sums being mentioned now for PL players it’s difficult for the “lesser” clubs to complete.

BeachBlue added 16:47 - Jan 6 I'm very sad to read this, Joe Sheehan has given everything to the role. A top bloke. Hope he is able to stay at the club and continue to contribute.
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Monkey_Blue added 16:48 - Jan 6 It would be such a shame if the years of near misses before we went up see us go straight back down. Feel for Joe but perhaps someone with more professional coaching and playing background will bring more out of the girls.
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tetchris added 17:14 - Jan 6

He’s hit the buffers in terms of his managerial ability. OK the club needs to invest in better players but that only comes with success on the pitch. First and foremost is ensuring the men’s first team squad is at a decent level to compete whatever league we are in next season. The women’s game at town is not at the level of the likes of arsenal etc. it’s gonna take time and investment to get to that level. I’m sure MA is thinking let’s build the women’s side slowly as a lot of money has been needed to be spent on development of the training ground and Improving the stadium to PL standards and a big investment will be required to redevelop the Churchman’s etc. There also seems to be a lot of time and investment being put into the academy. I spose it’s a case of what is the most important in terms of investment. I would think the woman’s side is at the bottom with regards to investment sadly.

atty added 17:22 - Jan 6 get Chris- develop the Churchman’s?
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Broadbent23 added 17:40 - Jan 6 Sad to see Joe Sheehan go. With all the resources available to him the Ladies team looked tactically adrift in WSL2. Hopefully the new academy will help with development of our female players. Whether David Wright can turn around the inevitable relegation has to be seen. Good luck for the remainder of the season.
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Mark added 18:10 - Jan 6

I would like to thank Joe for all his work, and all the good years which we enjoyed at Felixstowe under him. The gap to WSL2 is huge, but we did not add much to the squad and it was hard for them to move to Colchester and compete. We only have 5 points, and our nearest rivals Durham and Portsmouth have double that so I can't see us staying up sadly. I wish David Wright all the best.

EL23 added 18:13 - Jan 6

This is a real shame. Joe has worked so hard with the ladies Team over the last few years. I have watched a few of the ladies games this year and they have been competitive in most of them for long periods of the game but individual errors or collective lapses in concentration have been punished and they haven't been clinical enough with the chances they created (A bit like the men last season and the start of this one!) In the last couple of games I thought they were improving but weren't able to sustain the level for the whole match. I saw a previous post make a comparison to "Arsenal etc" but Arsenal ladies are the best supported ladies team, probably in world football, and I have been to the Emirates when they have sold it out with 60,000 fans so Town ladies will never match that but I do think potential support would match most of the WSL at the moment based on the 10,000+ attendance at the games played at PR in the last couple of seasons. Man Utd and Man City ladies only get about 3,000 attendances at their games. Again, like the men last year, we have probably signed the best quality players we could attract, but perhaps not quite enough to match the established WSL2 teams, so staying up was always going to be a battle this season. Hopefully DW can inspire an improvement in results but it would be great if JS could stay at the club in some coaching capacity.

RyanF182 added 18:21 - Jan 6

I’d have preferred he stayed to be honest. Not only do we have a squad of women out there all fighting for the badge but we also had a manager who knew the womens side inside out, had been there for many years and was part of the incredible journey so far.

I understand the need for change, and the club will have a lot more stats and knowledge on the matter, so I’m hoping Wright comes good. It’s just a shame Joe has lost his role after all the incredible work he’s done

armchaircritic59 added 18:45 - Jan 6 Maybe Joe's reached his ceiling, but he's done a great job getting the team where they are. I would like to know what if any input he had in the recruitment pre season, as it's gone wrong. Maybe there are others who should take their share of the blame. I guess we'll never know, but best of luck for the future Joe, whether here or elsewhere.
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runningout added 20:09 - Jan 6 always was going to be tough…. Onwards
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ScottCandage added 20:52 - Jan 6 Feel so bad for Joe. He bled blue. And yes, we haven't invested in the team as much as we should have.
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poet added 21:24 - Jan 6

I feel sorry for Sheehan, he’s obviously shown that he has the dedication and work ethic to have got the squad thus far.

I’ve never met him, but he always comes over as an honest worker, and a down to earth decent bloke. If that were the criteria needed to have kept him on, he’d probable still be the manager, sadly, that’s not how football works.

Let’s hope he stays in some capacity or another, in my opinion, he deserves the opportunity.

Freddies_Ears added 14:02 - Jan 7

Joe has done a magnificent job for ITFCW, over so many years. Sadly, we just came off a run of games where we got close to gaining points, but didn't do so. There is still time to stay up, and this is really important for our future (Pompey made up more ground last season to stay up). I hope Joe gets control of the set-up below the first team, which will be crucial for our future.