Hope Powell has targeted a place in the elite of English football with Albion Women.

But the recently appointed manager is not putting them under pressure to make it next season.

Powell, who managed England for 13 years, will be in charge of the Seagulls when they kick-off their first WSL2 season in September.

She wants them to be inspired by the men’s rise to the Premier League.

But she stresses she will not be piling pressure on them or tearing up their existing way of doing things.

Powell told The Argus: “I had some time out of management and I feel I’d really like to get back on the grass and work with players.

“This feels like the right type of club to me. They are an inspirational club. they want to build a good women’s structure.

“They are ambitious and I think they have shown that with the men’s side.

“They want to include the women’s side in that culture. They want to embed the women’s game more in the club.

“Hopefully we will be able to develop something and be as successful as the men going forward.

“Ultimately the ambition is to be a successful team, a successful club.

“We have WSL2 status at the moment. The ambition is to be WSL1 at some point.

The Argus:

Albion have signed goal-getter Ini Umotong from Oxford United. The 23-year-old has one cap for Nigeria to date and was the WSL 2 top scorer in 2016, scoring 13 goals in 19 appearances. Umotong scored 29 goals for Portsmouth in their 2014-15 WPL campaign. Picture: BHAFC/Stuart Butcher

“But we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and say that is going to happen in the first 12 months.

“We want to build some success at Brighton and I want to be part of that with the players and people who are already there.”

Powell felt no great desire to rush back into management after being sacked by England in 2013.