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.

Work brought the family down south in 2016 and Purves - introduced to Tonbridge by then-goalkeeper coach Adam Deadman - got involved at Longmead towards the end of 2020.

She was voted on to the board of the fan-owned club, becoming chair when Dave Netherstreet stood down at the end of last season.

“It’s still quite rare to find a lady chair,” said Purves.

“I was 26 when I first became a director at York, which was quite young, so that was even rarer.

“It was very different 20 years ago.

“Going back to 2003, there was a club we visited that had a separate room for women, which I was asked to go into, and didn’t.

“Fortunately my fellow board members, which included family members as well, were very supportive and said, ‘No, she’s a director, she needs to be in the same room as the rest of the directors’.

“So it has improved but obviously we want to see more women in football.

“At Tonbridge, we have a female physio, a female events and hospitality manager and a female community development officer, so there’s quite a strong female presence at the club.

“I think probably women haven’t had the opportunities so much to get on the boards of football clubs.

“It’s different with us because we’re community-owned, so there have been a number of women on the board.

“When I arrived, there were four, including myself, so I think there’s more scope for women to be elected and to put themselves forward.

“I think private ownership is slightly different.

“It’s a positive to see women involved but I think most women would like to be viewed on their merits, and that’s really important.

“We’ve all got to be doing a good job, whatever sex we are.

“We’re only the custodians of the football club for a period.

“My motto for the board is all decisions have to be made in the best interests of the football club, no matter how difficult or challenging those decisions may be.

“That’s how we have to operate because we are merely custodians.

“I’d like to think when you become a chair, you work hard to ensure you leave the club in a better position than when you took over. That’s what everybody strives to do.”

Much has changed at Tonbridge in recent times.

The installation of a 3G pitch at Longmead a year ago was central to growth plans, while the team were transformed from relegation battlers to play-off contenders following Jay Saunders’ appointment.

Purves sensed a ‘poor relations’ tag at Tonbridge compared with fellow Kent clubs such as Maidstone and Dartford.

But that’s no longer the case, with Angels going from strength to strength.

“There’s been lots of changes at the club, which I think is becoming evident to the outside world,” said Purves.

“Outside of the club, we’re seen a bit differently now.

“I think with the recruitment of Jay Saunders and reaching 70 points in his first season, and also the installation of the 3G pitch, people are taking the club more seriously.

“Also our crowds since lockdown have increased by 94% which is quite incredible really.

“I think there’s a real buzz around the place and a sense of ambition that kind of wasn’t there before, for various reasons.

“Every director, over many years, has contributed positively but sometimes fresh eyes can help.

“I also think Covid gave the club time to reflect and be more strategic, so we put a plan together and we’ve been working towards that.

“It’s three-fold. The first ambition was to install a 3G pitch, which we’ve done.

“The second ambition was to work towards redeveloping the ground, and we are working with the local authority on that.

“The third ambition is to win promotion to the National League.

“There’s been a bit of a cultural change at the club.

“I think we’ve underestimated the potential of the football club over the years. There’s a great deal of potential.

“Where we’re based geographically lends itself to quite a wide support base, beyond Tonbridge, and we’re in a good position for recruiting players.

“That’s a big difference I’ve seen from York to Tonbridge, recruitment is far simpler when you’re in close proximity to London.

“At York, we often had to pay relocation fees to players to encourage them to move.

“It’s been a fantastic experience at Tonbridge because what really surprised me was how welcoming and friendly everyone was right from the start, which was great.

“My husband and my children are very much embedded into the club and as a family we’ve fallen in love with it. We’re all football-mad.

“I’ve said this to a number of players when they’ve been considering whether they want to stay or leave.

“You have these conversations and I always point out that what they’ve got to consider is Tonbridge is a very friendly, welcoming club.

“Our players know they are going to get paid, they know they’re going to be respected and looked after, and that’s not always the case in football.

“We’re very much a united board and we work hard to make sure we promote that kind of positive environment.”

Tonbridge are looking to build on last season’s best-ever National South finish of ninth when the new campaign starts at Worthing on August 5.

They’re in good hands with Saunders and it seems the buzz around Longmead is set to continue.

“I class Jay as one of the best managers I’ve worked with, and I have worked with a number over the years,” said Purves.

“He’s very straight with his players, he’s very fair, everyone knows where they stand and I think that’s really attractive at this level.

“I’ve worked with Nigel Worthington, who took Norwich into the Premier League and managed Northern Ireland, Gary Mills, who won two European Cup medals as a player with Forest, and Russ Wilcox, who got Scunthorpe promoted, and Jay is certainly amongst the best.

“Fans turn up with an expectation that we can win and I don’t think that was there before.

“First and foremost, our ambition is to get safe - that’s what we tend to do as a club - and then we look from there to see what we can do.

“We just missed out on the play-offs last season, so we’d love to be in the mix again.

“The aim every season is to get promoted, which may take us some time, but it’s about continual improvement.

“Off the pitch, we’re expanding our community department, which is really exciting.

“We launch our women’s team this year, which is also really exciting and something I feel proud to be involved with.

“And we’re also exploring the redevelopment of the ground, with a view to moving forward with that in the near future.

“The club’s got an awful lot going for it, and it is about the ethos.

“I think it’s fantastic that we’re fan-owned, it’s in a fantastic location to attract lots of different types of fans, and we’ve got a great manager.

“We’ve got everything going for us but every team needs that bit of luck.”

Tonbridge drew 2-2 in a friendly at National North side Scarborough Athletic last weekend.

They complete pre-season at home to Margate this Saturday (3pm).