Melanie Reay is leading the way through the maze of corridors inside the Academy of Light when a corner is turned and she almost collides with Régis Le Bris. The managers of Sunderland’s women’s and men’s teams stop for a brief, friendly chat. It is a commonplace occurrence at this fully integrated first-team training ground, where Jobe Bellingham, Enzo Le Fée, Wilson Isidor and the rest of Le Bris’s players share Premier League-standard facilities, the canteen included, with Reay’s squad.
Similar sorts of arrangements remain depressingly rare; too many men’s managers pay lip service to the importance of their club’s women’s side but would have palpitations at the idea of sharing a weekday HQ.
