CHERRIES women’s manager Steve Cuss shared how “there’s talks ongoing all the time” as the club look to continue the growth and development of the women’s team, but insisted any move towards semi-professional status must be managed sensibly.

This close season, Cherries’ women side moved from the umbrella of the community sports trust to be run directly under the club, a move instigated by chairman Bill Foley.

Cuss’s side ply their trade in the fourth tier of football in the women’s pyramid, playing in the regionalised Division One South West of the FA Women’s National League.

It will be their third season in the Division One South West, with Cherries looking to again scrap it out at the top of the division after second and fourth-placed finishes in the past two years.

Each of the last two campaigns have seen one game staged at Vitality Stadium, with the women’s most recent appearance at the home of Cherries a 0-0 draw with Maidenhead in April.

There are further plans for more games to be staged at Dean Court this campaign, with Foley loud in his desire to improve the women’s team.

Speaking before the move from the community sports trust to becoming a part of the club’s structure, Cuss told the Daily Echo: “I think there’s talks ongoing all the time about how we continually push the women's team forward.

“We're already seeing that the exposure that (the Maidenhead game in April) got and the crowd that it's attracted is certainly a step in the right direction and, and everyone is right behind that.

“We want to try and keep the team going forward but I think it’s that important within the women's structure, that is sustainable.”

Speaking in May, Foley outlined his plans for the women’s team, sharing how Cherries would look to tie players down to contracts.

Foley told the club’s programme: “We’re going to invest in the women’s team and we’re going to do what some other teams do, which is pay some players so we make sure we can keep them around for a period of time. That’s starting right away."

Currently an amateur outfit, Cuss believes the transition to having players under contract might be managed in a sensible and sustainable fashion.

“We are an amateur team at the moment with all the players,” he continued.

“So going towards anything that looks a little bit more like contracts, in a structure like that, will be something that I think that we've got to manage in a sensible way.

“But most importantly is that we just keep growing the team.

“It's what we've done over the last eight years of the women's team from playing in the Hampshire League, four promotions to where we are now in the National League.

“It's continuous growth and that's our ambition.”