It’s perhaps fitting that a club as progressive as Tonbridge Angels have one of the few female chairs in football. Positive, forward-thinking, full of ideas, and with the passion and energy to make them happen, Sophie Purves is the perfect fit at Longmead.
Times have certainly changed since Purves’ early days in boardrooms as a 26-year-old director at York City back in 2003. But it’s still a rare sight to see a football club led by a woman.
For while the Premier League and the FA both have female chairs, it’s believed League 1 outfit Port Vale are the only club above National League South Tonbridge to have a woman at the helm.
Purves worked at Manchester City after graduating from Newcastle University before spending 13 years on the board at hometown club York.