Albion boss Melissa Phillips is relishing the challenge of summer as she looks to build for the 2023-24 Women's Super League season.

The club maintained their top-flight status after a difficult campaign, finishing five points above bottom club Reading.

And Phillips, who became the club's third head coach of the season when joining in early April, is now eagerly anticipating the opportunity to rebuild.

"I absolutely love the summertime," she told the club website.

"Not because I don't love the season but it's time to ploan, prepare and build processes.

"The most important objective is recruitment. We want to bring in high calibre professionals and players who are the right fit from a cultural and style of play perspective.

"In addition to recruitment, the biggest objective off the pitch is that we as staff need to level up our operations and performance environment so that the quality in which we deliver holds players to a higher standard on a consistent basis.

"It’s our job to make sure that our discipline and standards are consistent throughout the entirety of next season. Pre-season really is a fresh slate for us to establish our standards and consistency to habits that will allow us to play at a higher level in the season ahead."

When it comes to which type of player she would like to add to the mix, Phillips was clear about the qualities she is looking for.

And it was more to do with personality than a certain type of skill set.

"It's more important for me as a coach that players add value as a human and character because when times are tough that's when you need people to stand up," she added.

"Whilst the football is important, it's the quality of people we haev in the building that make the success that we want to achieve.

"The character piece is really non-negotiable within our recruitment in terms of having players with that drive and desire to come in to stretch and grow, that’s something that the club values is that we’re constantly moving forward.

"We have to become more athletic on the pitch, we need to bring in high quality athletes who have experiences at the top level. If we want to be a top four team, we have to bring in players who knows what it looks like at that level."