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Sarah Guilfoyle is the Managing Director at Wigan Athletic Football Club. At the age of 28, she already has more than a decade of experience working in the football industry. Her journey to becoming the youngest CEO in English football started on the terraces of Accrington Stanley, the club famously namechecked in a 1980s TV advert for milk alongside Liverpool icon Ian Rush.

“When I was nine, my dad took me and my sister to our first game,” recalls Sarah. “They were at the bottom of League Two, and Dad mentioned they needed a crowd behind them, so were offering free entry. He was surprised that two little voices said we wanted to go.

“We were stood behind the goal and our captain curled in a free kick in the 87th minute, right in front of us. There was no roof, and it rained cats and dogs the entire afternoon. My dad thought we’d never want to go back. At the end of the game, the PA announcer said we were away to Hereford United next week. We both asked Dad if we could go. He gently declined but we went to every remaining home game that season, and in the following years, the whole family – including my mum – got season tickets.”

Sarah’s immersion continued in what she describes as a ‘Sliding Doors’ moment, when her school mandated all year 10 pupils to undertake work experience placements. Sarah’s uncle, who worked for the local county FA, phoned Accrington Stanley’s former Chief Executive Rob Heys, who promptly welcomed Sarah to join them for a fortnight.

“I did a little bit of everything,” Sarah recalls with a big smile. “Stock-taking in the club shop and helping the kit man too. It’s crazy to think I was watching him wash the kit and underpants as a schoolkid; now he works at Wigan and reports in to me.”

The cherry on the work placement cake was to observe a match day behind the scenes. Sarah accepted, knowing she would then her family on the terraces afterwards.

“I arrived, and the club explained that the receptionist – who had worked at the club for many years – had gone on a sabbatical. It was such a small team, so I ended up giving out tickets and directing fans to the turnstiles and club shop. I must have made myself useful, as they asked me if I could come again for the next home game. Within a couple of months, I was going in during my Easter holidays too, thinking that what I was doing was perfectly normal!”

 

 

After working throughout her summer holiday too, Sarah had to put Stanley temporarily on hold to complete her schooling – but not everyone at the club had realised. “One day I was in class, and suddenly my blazer pocket kept buzzing. My friends were all in school, so I had no idea who it was. It was someone from the club asking me where I was. They had some jobs and couldn’t find me.”

Sarah was hooked. Every Friday in year 11, she would take the bus directly to the club after school, change out of her uniform in the toilets, and help the club prepare for Saturday’s game. The club secretary, recognising Sarah’s intelligence, slowly began to get her involved in some basic paperwork. What started out helping to check scholar contracts quickly mushroomed into greater responsibility, completing forms for the FA’s registrations department whenever the club signed a new player.

After completing her GCSEs, with several teachers in her extended family, college and university were the expected next steps. Not for Sarah. After more than proving her mettle, Accrington Stanley offered her a role as the club’s Academy Administrative Secretary.   

“I was quite headstrong, had a strong work ethic and knew what I wanted,” she says. “My career had started by accident, but once I’d had a taste of working in football, the chance to combine my hobby was just too good to turn down.”

 

Invaluable

After two and a half years in the role, Sarah took on a commercial assistant role at Tranmere Rovers. From club, player and match sponsorships to supporting events in a new facility in the main stand, Sarah saw another side of a football club’s daily operations. “I was also commuting to and from Birkenhead, and I'd only just passed my driving test. I was doing 120 miles a day, so I also became a good driver quite quickly!”

A bigger club meant more staff. Sarah realised that compared to her experience at Stanley, where everyone mucked in, duties at Tranmere were slightly more compartmentalised.  

“It was an invaluable experience for me. At Stanley I would even help out with the half-time draw or take calls from local businesses for the lady who ran our matchday hospitality. I realised after a year at Tranmere that my brain is wired for rules and regulations, and I really missed that. When an opportunity came up to be Academy Secretary at Wigan Athletic in 2016, I took it.”

Eighteen months later, Sarah stepped up to the role of Assistant Club Secretary at Wigan. “Lots of people find contracts and spreadsheets really boring but I love this kind of work,” she says. “As a kid, I used to keep data spreadsheets on Stanley, tracking player appearances, goals and results. My dad found it dead funny when I was eventually made the Head of Football Administration, as this became my job for real.”  

 

 

Within two months of Sarah being promoted to the role of Head of Football Administration, in February 2020, the first of a series of shockwaves hit the club. Firstly, the onset of Covid meant football stopped. Four months later, the club went into administration. Sarah remembers observing how senior peers dealt with the finances, asking herself how would she handle such critical decisions, if they lay with her.

“I wouldn’t wish financial difficulties on my worst enemy,” she says. “The realities of running a football club hit home really quickly. We had directors leave and administrators come in. By default, I became one of the club’s leaders. It was a chance for me to step up to the plate.”

An initially successful overseas takeover created another rollercoaster period in May 2023. Without the sale of a training ground and players who had resale value, the club’s prospects looked grim. When the leadership team told the remaining staff they were unsure if they’d be paid at the end of the month, Sarah felt “like I was in the band playing on the Titanic”.

Local entrepreneur Mike Danson, who also had a stake in the Wigan Warriors rugby league club, was to be the club’s saviour in the summer of 2023. Having had no previous experience of operating a football club, it became clear that in Sarah, the new owner had a real rock. In late 2024, she was sounded out about becoming the club’s Managing Director.

If appointing a woman, and one so young, was not unusual enough in football circles, the new owners brought back club stalwart Brenda Spencer as non-executive chair. “When Brenda came back, someone online commented: ‘Obi Wan has returned and brought the Padawan.’”

For Sarah, Brenda brought decades of experience with the club, having been at the helm across their Football League journey, as well as when they reached the Premier League. After retiring in 2010, Brenda was Club President when Manchester City were vanquished 1-0 in the FA Cup final in 2013.

“Brenda and myself are on the same wavelength. Despite the age gap, it’s a great dynamic, because she is also one of my closest friends. Our personal and professional relationship was built over years of being in the same car to away games. We’ve experienced some real highs, and some very low lows together.”

 

Changes and wins

Throughout our conversation, a mosaic of colourful notes catch our eye from Sarah’s office wall. What does an average day in her work life look like?

“Some days you never know what you're going to walk into,” Sarah answers candidly. “Strategic priorities are denoted by these notes on the wall. I'm also responsible for my heads of department and their input into the club’s strategic plan. I also asked our staff for a list of things they would like to see implemented: longer-term changes, and short-term wins. If people have played a part in creating our club vision, they are more likely to be motivated to implement it. 

“I'm also a trustee of our Community Trust. Our owner is really passionate about giving back to the community he was brought up in. Last year we also set up a Fans Advisory Board to be our eyes and ears. When they first started, they'd say ‘you need to go into schools’. We told them we did and realised how few fans knew about the breadth of our work. After further discussion, we agreed to publish a monthly board bulletin on our website.

“I also try to visit every sponsor lounge each home game. Brenda and I will also go into the fans bar, to the family zone and to the Heritage Museum to chat to people and ensure fans’ voices are heard.”

Wigan’s cheapest season ticket is just £5 for children under seven, part of a targeted strategy. Before our call, Sarah had met with the club’s fan engagement team about launching an exciting schools project.

“We have to build sustainably from the bottom up. Young fans are our future, and we need to ensure we're attracting them. We've got an impressive stadium, and I want every child in the borough to walk out of our tunnel, look up and go: ‘Wow, I want to support Wigan Athletic. I don't want to support United or Liverpool or Everton.’ If you make your season tickets reasonably priced for 23 afternoons of entertainment, it’s good value when we’re also competing with Chester Zoo and similar family attractions.”

 

 

Reflecting on her journey, we ask Sarah about the major influences on her career. As well as namechecking Brenda and her parents, Sarah has special words for two male allies.

“I couldn’t imagine many club executives empowering a 15-year-old girl with the opportunity to help with legal paperwork, but that’s what Mark Turner did at Accrington. Mark got me involved, spotted my passion, and really fought for me to get hired after I finished school.  

“At Wigan, our current sporting director Gregor [Rioch] brought me into the football club as Academy Secretary and the person that really elevated me was the former Head of Football Administration, Chris Laird. Chris took me out of the academy and, when he moved on, vouched for me at board level to take his old role. I was lucky that the Chief Executive at the time listened to Chris when he said ‘You don't need to recruit someone externally. We've got our succession plan in-house.’”

Sarah also has words of praise for the partnership between Women in Football and the Football League. Sarah was nominated for WIF’s Leadership Course by her predecessor, alongside women from 15 other clubs.

“It’s been a brilliant group to be part of. We empower each other, we're all open and honest with each other and support each other as a network. I am the first one out of the group to make the jump to board level because I've had the support, but I've seen so many of the women on that course absolutely flourish from the first time we were together. It's been invaluable.

“Women are not lacking the skill sets required for leadership roles, but a lack of self-confidence can inhibit some women. That’s why the Leadership Course is so important. Sometimes people just need a little push or mentorship to find that inner strength.”

 

Representation

Our conversation with Sarah comes 24 hours after Women in Football released the results of our 2025 industry workforce survey. With 78% of women still reporting that they had experienced discrimination at work, it would have been remiss not to ask Sarah about her own experiences.

“There's definitely more female representation in football, but it’s still severely lacking at the highest level,” she responds. “I know Brenda had massive issues when she first came into her role on the Wigan board. She was one of the people that fought for female directors to be allowed into the boardroom on match days.  

“It can also be hard for younger women who have families. The job can be 24/7; if your phone rings, you answer it. At Wigan, quite a few members of my senior management team are female. Some have children, so my team know they have the flexibility to attend a doctor’s appointment or a school play. There must be a balance.”

As our conversation approaches added time, we have one final question. What advice would Sarah give to a 15-year-old in 2025 hoping to emulate her achievements?  

“You have to back yourself. You have to work hard. No-one's going to give anything to you on a plate. But that hard work is so worth it. I've had experiences where I thought ‘I'm not going to get through this.’ But when you do get through the other side, you're really proud.  

“When I was growing up, my only role model was Karren Brady. If I can inspire just one person, I’ll feel like I've done my job. I want people to know there are women out there who are open to a call and willing to share their story. Just as importantly, there are opportunities out there. Don’t wait. Go and get them.”

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