Tag: WSL

Albion make reinforcements in attack

Last season’s progression from Albion’s women’s team was well timed ahead of a pivotal moment in the Women’s game in England, with the new WSL TV broadcast deal with Sky beginning later this year. However, with increased opportunity comes increased risk.

It will no doubt come with an increase in the level of competition in the WSL, something demonstrated particularly by the number of new signings made by Everton, including England international Toni Duggan and German international Leonie Maier.

Everton, who finished one place and five points above Albion last season, are setting the bar for them in terms of the standard required to make further progress up the WSL next season.

And Albion have responded with two big signings of their own. Most recently Rinsola Babajide on loan from Liverpool. Who despite her parent team Liverpool’s lack of success in recent seasons, has plenty of talent to offer the Seagulls attack, highlighted by her numerous England youth caps, including winning the bronze medal at the U20 2018 World Cup, along with a call up to the senior team last year.

Yes, it’s initially only a season long loan, but given her contract at Liverpool runs out next summer and that she handed in a transfer request at Liverpool in January, it’s hard to see her going back there, especially given their off-field troubles that saw them drop out of the WSL in 2020. So, this could well become permanent next summer, who knows.

This draws to a close a bit of a transfer saga for Rinsola and Liverpool, which appears to have led to some animosity towards her from Liverpool supporters.

After she signed a new contract with the club in the summer of 2020 following their relegation, she then received a senior England call up in September 2020, but some see her subsequent request for a transfer in January 2021 as a symptom of that call up leading her to push for a move and value personal success over her club.

But one person’s disloyalty is another’s ambition. And that Albion are managing to attract players like Rinsola, looking to make a step up to regain contention for international selection is a great sign of the club’s progress in the Women’s game.

Prior to that they had already announced the signing of Danielle Carter from Reading, another one-time England international and a big show of intent from Albion.

Carter is another player to have represented England at various youth levels and at senior level as recently as 2018. She has also won various major honours in her time with Arsenal, so adds important experience and know-how to Albion’s fairly young and inexperienced if talented squad.

But rather than joining Albion with her career on the wane at 28 Carter has her best years ahead of her. And whilst it’s been a while since she was last involved with England there’s still reasonable hope for her in that area too.

Given this and her experience, it’s no surprise she is the first Albion Women’s player to demand a transfer fee, a breakthrough moment in the team’s history and a show of intent from the club’s hierarchy.

Whilst many clubs of similar stature to Brighton have reluctantly invested as little as possible in their Women’s team, Albion have prioritised it and it’s really paying off in terms of the players it is attracting and the performances on the pitch.

These are indeed exciting times, a feeling echoed by manager Hope Powell’s saying upon signing Babajide this week:

“We achieved our highest WSL position and we’re in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, but we want to push on this season and get better. Any additions to our squad have got to add value to what we’ve got and in Danielle and Rinsola that is definitely the case.”

These signings are also a signal that Powell and the club recognise the need to address Albion main fallibility in recent times, quality in front of goal.

Whilst Albion’s brilliant run of wins towards the end of last season saw them finish in the top half of the WSL, this involved the team scoring with a great deal of efficiency in front of goal, a run that probably masks its ongoing issues in attack.

An issue highlighted by the run that preceded it in the first half of the season which was near the polar opposite in terms of its attack and left the club worrying about relegation at one point after a 3-0 defeat away to Bristol City. A run that shows this efficiency in front of goal can’t be relied upon being a consistent long-term attribute of the existing squad and that improvements in attack are needed for Albion to continue to compete at the higher end of the WSL.

The key for Albion this season is to control games better and improve the frequency and quality of their attacks. These two signings, both in adding talent in attack and experience on the pitch should help them do that.

Inessa Kaagman – Providing a positive energy

Albion have continued to step up their game in terms of recruitment in recent years. Nowhere is this more true than with the women’s team. But of them all, the signing of Inessa Kaagman is looking like the most astute of the lot. Having scored 6 goals in 18 games this season, she’s been a key part of Albion’s rise to 6th in the WSL.

Prior to building a name for herself in England, Inessa started her career in her native but Holland. She spent her youth career at Hollandia B1 before she earned a move to Ajax, making her debut in 2013 and winning the KNVB Women’s Cup with the club in her first season.

That summer she captained the Dutch team that won the UEFA u19 European Championships in 2014 alongside now WSL top scorer Vivianne Miedema, who unsurprisingly top scored at that tournament with 6 goals and was awarded the player of the tournament award. Whilst Miedema caught the headlines Kaagman too had a huge impact, including scoring the winner against Belgium in their final group stage match that saw them qualify for the semi-finals.

Inessa’s progress and potential was later recognised by her club team when she won Ajax’s Talent of the Year award the following season. During her five years at the club she went on to play over 100 times, winning 2 Eredivisie titles, 2 more KNVB Women’s Cups and becoming a key members of the team.

But despite her potential, due to Holland’s wealth of talent in the middle of the pitch it would be another four years before she made her senior international debut in 2019, going on to make the Dutch squad for that year’s World Cup alongside fellow Albion teammate and housemate Danique Kerkdijk.

The Dutch went all the way to the final, finishing as runners up to the mighty USWNT, however due to her rookie status Inessa didn’t play at the tournament. But she still reflects on it as a positive experience, telling the Guardian “Even though I didn’t play I felt like I deserved the medal. The staff made us feel like part of the team from day one. It’s not the 11 players or the 14 players who’ve played that win the silver medal, it is everyone.”

Prior to the World Cup and after five seasons at Ajax she had left Dutch domestic football for the WSL in England, moving to Everton in 2018 in a deal that took fellow Dutchwoman Marthe Munsterman the other way. 

Upon signing for Everton she said: “I hope to help them by scoring goals and attacking.” And her eight goal contribution in her first season (four goals, four assists), did just that and was a huge part in Everton’s survival in the Women’s Super League as they scraped a 10th place finish. That season she also won the club’s Goal of the Season award in for an outstanding long-range strike in the Merseyside derby.

But while the following season the team’s fortunes improved, her influence reduced and her contract was not renewed at the end of the season. She told the offside rule on her second season at Everton: “It’s a huge improvement from last year so I am really happy to have played a part in that. Last year was my first season away from the Eredivisie and Ajax and when I was there we were always playing for the Championship and the cups. But the league here is much better and far more physical and the game moves a lot faster, the Dutch game is catching up but it’s not at this level yet. For me it was very different to be that low in the table and it was annoying because I wasn’t used to losing that many games but this season we’ve improved lots in results and in the football we’ve been playing.”

However, Inessa was now left looking for a new club. Fortunately for her, despite a less impressive second season at Everton she was still considered a highly thought of player. As herfootballhub.com said last summer: “The options for Kaagman are virtually endless. Many clubs in Europe are in need of a player like her.” Going on to say “she has gone under the radar at Everton and quietly became one of the most underrated players in the league.”

So it was a coup by fellow WSL strugglers Brighton to sign her back in the summer. Upon signing head coach Hope Powell told the club website: “We’re really pleased to have signed Inessa, I think she is going to be a big asset to us. She has plenty of WSL experience and I first noticed her at Everton a couple of years ago. She will bring energy to the midfield and she is capable of scoring her fair share of goals too, which is an area we are looking to improve as a team.”

And she has been all that and more this season for Albion. She is constant positive force in midfield, demonstrated by the fact she has more key passes (passes that directly lead to a shot) than any Brighton player in the WSL this season, as well as her impressive goalscoring record. If Albion’s fellow attackers were more clinical in front of goal she’d have a few assists to her name too.

It has been an up and down season for Brighton in the WSL this season, but one with many positives. Arguably none less so that Inessa Kaagman.

WSL – Four wins in a row as Albion’s fortunes improve in front of goal

The last time I visited the fortunes of Hope Powell’s team was after their alarming 3-0 defeat away to bottom of the table Bristol City. A defeat that at the time looked like it could have been terminal for Albion’s WSL status, but what has followed since has been the best run of form for the club since its promotion to the topflight.

In fact, the last time they won four league games in a row was back in the 2015/16 season, when they were in the now defunct Southern Premier League, then the regionalised third tier of the Women’s English football pyramid.

Brighton won four games all season in the WSL in 2018/19 and just three during the truncated 2019/20 season. But one more win from their remaining five games this season will see them double their WSL wins total in the space of a season.

It’s a run that has taken them into the top half of the WSL and all of a sudden a little closer to the club’s stated long-term vision for the Women’s team to become a top-four club.

After a frustrating start, this run of wins has meant this season is beginning to look like a huge jump forward for Hope Powell’s side. The reason? Albion have started to take their chances at a hugely improved rate.

Having scored only 8 goals in their first 13 games, converting 4% of shots, the worst conversion rate in the WSL at that point in the season by some margin, Albion have scored 7 in their last 4, converting 20% of their shots and nearly doubling the conversion rate of the season.

It’s a trend of struggling to score goals and convert chances that has dogged their time in the WSL. In 2019/20 Brighton had a shots to goals conversion rate of 6%, only relegated Liverpool’s was worse. And they accumulated an XG of 15 compared to its total goals tally of just 11. Whilst in 2018/19 Brighton had an XG of 19 compared to a totals goals tally of 16, unfortunately the total shots statistics weren’t available. But it still all point towards an issue in front of goal.

Whilst they still average the worst shot conversion rate in the division at 7% for the current season, it is now far more comparable to the teams around them, most of whom are averaging 8-9%. And if they were to continue at a conversion rate of 20% then they will no doubt continue to rise up the table given only Arsenal have been as efficient in front of goal this season and no one was that efficient last season.

Furthermore the teams XG of 15.6 for and 28.7 against gives further evidence that their total goals scored and conceded of 15 and 30 respectively do reflect the teams overall performance this season and that the improvement in front of goal has been a genuine improvement rather than simply a fortunate run of form.

But while Albion’s goals conceded column looks bad, it’s skewed by nearly half of those goals coming in heavy defeats to Man City and Arsenal. In contrast, scoring goals has been the real issue.

However, prior to the recent good run of form there were signs things were improving in their play but which were not being reflected in the results. In particular the 3-1 defeat to Reading and the stalemate away to Birmingham earlier this season, both of which were games Albion felt they could have won and indeed should have based on XG.

Against Reading with the game tied at 1-1 after Kaagman equalised from the penalty spot, Brighton pressed Reading and had chances to take the lead but didn’t. Instead, somewhat against the run of play, Reading scored at the end of the first half to take a 2-1 lead into half time. And after the second half again saw Albion dominate and not take their chances, Reading made it 3-1 on the break in second half injury time after Brighton had been pushing for a deserved equaliser.

Then the stalemate with Birmingham saw much more huffing and puffing in front of goal from Brighton to no avail. It was a game that really personified their goalscoring issues, 20 shots, 8 on target, an XG of 1.7, all whilst managing to score no goals.

Across those two games the team managed to have 36 shots, 10 of which were on target, but scoring just once from the penalty spot. In comparison Albion’s last four victories saw them accumulate the same number of shots, 36, 14 of which were on target, whilst scoring 7 goals. A huge contrast in fortunes.

In particular the improvement falls on the shoulders of both Aileen Whelan and Inessa Kaagman, who between them scored six of those seven goals.

But most strikingly is Aileen Whelan’s turnaround who had struggled for goals this season prior to this recent run of win. She accumulated 17 shots prior to this run, only 4 of which were on target and only 1 led to a goal. But in the last four victories she has accumulated 7 shots, 3 of which were on target, leading to 3 goals. An improvement in her shot conversion rate by a factor or nearly eight.

Before their win at Aston Villa, Hope Powell said: “Aileen would continue running if she had a broken leg. She does the scrappy jobs & more importantly, she scores goals.” And her goal that night which opened the scoring and helped to secure the teams fourth victory in a row personified that. Whelan sprinted and lunged to win the ball ahead of a sprawling Villa goalkeeper who had parried the ball into the six yard box. Unsurprisingly Whelan got to the ball first and poked it home to give Albion a 1-0 lead.

Kaagman then made it 2-0 with her third in two games and sixth of the season, which took Albion’s total scored this season to 15, one off its goals scored total from the 2018/19 season having played three games less.

The last four matches may look to be simply a good run of form, but the stats show that this team, which is notoriously stingy at the back, is beginning to find the sharpness up front it requires to progress. A combination which if it persists, could see this good form become more permanent progress and see Albion continue to climb the table.

Albion make things too three-sy for bottom of the table Bristol City

It was a huge game for Albion in the WSL on Saturday away to bottom of the table Bristol City. A win for Hope Powell’s side would have taken them up to 8th and a massive 10 points clear of their opponents who started the day bottom in the WSL’s relegation place, with just 2 points collected from the 11 games they’d played so far this season. Instead a defeat has meant Bristol climbed to within 4 points of them.

A recent Covid outbreak among the Albion team left among others key player Fliss Gibbons still serving an isolation period. All of which has limited Hope Powell’s options of late, but she was still able to reshuffle things at the back after that 7-1 hammering at the hands of Man City last time out. Namely dropping Kerkdijk and bringing in Williams at centre back with the young Bethan Roe also coming in at right back for only her second appearance for the first team, with Nora Heroum dropping out and Kayleigh Green reverting to her usual position higher up the pitch after deputising in defence their last time out.

Roe had been on a season long loan at Charlton in the Championship until earlier this month, but after the Covid outbreak limited the players available for selection, she was recalled. As a result of which, Powell could only name six out of the eight possible substitutes. Still, this is one more than the five they named last weekend away to City.

Powell was optimistic ahead of the game with some players now beginning to return from COVID isolation periods. Saying “it is nice to see players coming back, not possibly at full fitness, but I would take that rather than not having them at all.”

But this somewhat makeshift Albion team made possibly the worst of starts. When trying to play the ball out of the back, Albion gave it away on an admittedly heavy pitch and after failing to sufficiently close down Bristol’s Yaya Daniels, went behind after her slightly speculative shot caught out Fiskerstrand inside the first three minutes. Powell was critical of her keeper saying: “The early goal really put us on the back foot. I question our goalkeeper’s positioning, she was probably a little bit too high.” Albion’s defence should take their fair share of the blame here too, first for giving away the ball, and then giving Daniels too much space to get the shot away.

In response Albion put Bristol under plenty of pressure but failed to really test the keeper and get an equaliser. But it was Bristol who looked the most dangerous on the break and they caught Albion out again when a simple long ball through the middle of defence beat Le Tissier and allowed Ebony Salmon in behind to make it 2-0.

As half-time came a two-goal deficit was already a hard task for Albion to overturn, and it would get even harder after the break when Williams was penalised for what looked like a harsh handball decision and from the resultant penalty Salmon scored to double her tally and make the game safe for City.

Things got even worse shortly after when Kayleigh Green was given her marching orders, losing her head in all the frustration and stamping on Bristol’s opening goalscorer Yaya Daniels. Hope Powell said after that game that Green was “disgusted with herself”, and so she should have been. City’s interim manager Matt Beard’s comparison with Green’s actions and WWE wasn’t unfair.

Green did apologise after the game and Daniels stated that all was forgiven, but that was only after her red card was followed by Green having to be held back by her team-mates during what was described by Tom Garry in The Independent as “an expletive-ridden exchange with a furious Bristol City bench.”

But at least things didn’t get any worse after that, Albion only losing by three on this occasion compared to the six goals deficit the week before. Nonetheless this is a damaging 3-0 defeat, which leaves Albion right in the middle of a relegation dogfight and with many of the teams around them having games in hand, it may get even worse as the weeks go on.

Saturday saw Albion have lots of possession but struggle with their ball retention all afternoon on a bad pitch. They can’t just blame the pitch though, their average passing accuracy on Saturday of 69% is on par with their average all season and is the third worst in the division. In contrast, Bristol adapted far better to the conditions, with their far more direct style allowing them to create the better chances despite having significantly less possession.

Absences haven’t helped, both Gibbons (71%) and the Denise O’Sullivan (79%) have averaged higher passing accuracies than the team and tend to be far more reliable on the ball. Denise O’Sullivan’s in particular, who has now returned to her parent club North Carolina Courage after her loan period ended last month, has a passing accuracy that is the best at the club this season and her absence has been keenly felt this month.

It was ultimately the basics in defence that cost Albion here. Caught out by a speculative long range effort after giving the ball away in their own half and then again by a fairly straightforward long ball down the middle, making the game all-but out of reach before halftime.

In contrast, there was lots of possession and lots of promise going forward but simply not enough bite up front from Albion who have struggled for goals all season, scoring just 8 in their 13 WSL games. In fact it’s been an issue all season in the WSL, whilst they have averages over 10 shots a game this season, more than 4 of the other 5 teams in bottom half of the WSL, they have only scored a goal every 0.04 shots, the worst conversion rate in the division this season.

As Powell admitted after the game: “We weren’t good enough by our standards,” going onto say: “With how much we’ve developed, it feels like we’ve hit a brick wall and we have to go again.”

Especially given this was such a heavy defeat to a Bristol City side who hadn’t won in the Super League for nearly a year and who since the start of the season had amounted just two draws along with nine defeats in their eleven games played. A job recently taken on by interim manager Matt Beard, which he described after their 4-0 defeat last time out to Everton as “a big challenge”.

All making for a miserable day in the West Country, which mean they have lost 6 from their last 7 games and find themselves in a really bad place at the moment. The aforementioned hammering last weekend at the hands of Man City is unfortunately one of those things for Albion at the moment in what is becoming an increasingly top-heavy WLS, but taking a three-goal hammering from bottom of the table Bristol City who’d only scored six goals all season prior to kick off is another thing entirely and a huge setback for Powell’s team.

With Albion now being only 4 points above Bristol in 12th, the home games coming up against West Ham and Spurs later this month are now huge, especially if they are to avoid the season finale rematch with Bristol being a relegation decider. And just the little matter of a trip to league leaders Chelsea up next weekend.

On that prospect manager Hope Powell said “we’re gonna have to [be better]”, and she’s not wrong. If Albion are going to get out of the slump they find themselves in, they have to look after the ball better. Giving the ball away for Bristol’s opening goal here shows just that. Poor passing out from the back gifted possession to Bristol far too often, and if they keep doing that against better opposition they’ll be punished again and again, just like they were against City last weekend. Chelsea are likely be just as ruthless.

Monday Musings – Albion are taught lessons on the pitch amongst deadline day panic off of it

Everton teach us a lesson

The 2020/21 football season is going to be a weird one with so much football being packed in. As this weekend’s results resoundingly proved.

And just when it looks like most teams could do with a break, we get a round of international games with three games packed in, then we are back for more of this madness in two weeks’ time!

On top of that, it was always going to be a tough start to the season for Brighton given their opening fixtures, especially considering the amount of player turnover there has been in a very shortened summer break

Whilst Albion played well at times, scoring twice and putting Everton under some serious pressure, there were parts of the performance against Everton that weren’t great.

In particular the now worrying habit of conceding goals from set pieces and giving the ball away in our own half, but we still have plenty of positives to take away from the first 4 games and into the remaining 34 games.

Ten goals conceded from four games is a fairly poor return, but take account of the opposition and it’s not that unreasonable. Albion conceded 7 in the same fixtures last season whilst season scoring just three compared to this season’s eight goals scored. And accumulated just one point compared to the three so far this season. Clear signs of improvement.

But let’s not pretend there aren’t issues. Albion’s main fallibilities of defending set pieces and at times overplaying in defensive areas were costly for all four goals conceded and were exposed by an in form & high quality Everton team.

This Albion team is young, relatively inexperienced and many haven’t played together long. So some of the mistakes in those first four games were predictable but they can’t keep persisting if Albion really want to improve on last season’s 15th place finish.

The defeat will have been a reality check for some Albion fans as the team were well beaten by a very good side who took apart our every weakness. That’s 7 wins from 7 this season for Everton. Whilst for Albion that win over Newcastle is looking very important.

Easier games are to come, once we get to the second international break we‘ll have a better idea of how far this team has come, it’s very early to make any judgements just yet.

Powell’s team offers promise but are also taught a lesson.

There’s been lots of promise from Hope Powell’s team so far this season despite last week’s FA Cup exit. Something particularly shown by the four point picked up from their first two fixtures. But their third league game of the season against United was a big test of those signs of improvements and an equally stark reality check for Albion’s other senior side.

And unfortunately despite Kaagman, Green, Connolly and Walsh all returning to the starting line-up, Man United dominated and eased to a 3-0 victory in Sunday’s WSL match between the sides.

Like against Man City, Brighton again defended well for long periods. But you can’t expect to concede as much possession and territory every week and keep coming away with a clean sheet.

The highlight was a brilliant solo goal from the ex-Albion player and England international Alessia Russo to make it 2-0. A goal that highlighted how Man United were simply a cut above their guests, putting Albion under constant pressure who found it tough to get out their own half for long periods. With the eventual 3-0 scoreline a fair reflection of the home sides dominance.

A league cup tie against West Ham follows for Albion this week before another tough WSL game at home to Arsenal.

Deadline Day Panic

A lot of the transfer window discourse from Albion fans this time around has been very negative, a further example of the club’s disproportionately ever-growing expectations.

I personally think we’ve had a good window and would prefer no business today. Panicked deadline day deals are risky.

The club has a good first team squad and with Graham Potter in charge it looks more than enough is in place for the team to have a good season.

Yes, the club’s spent limited funds this summer, but offers for the likes of Brewster & Watkins were always likely to fall short if club’s with less frugal ownerships got involved as happened.

We must remind ourselves that the club has a relatively small budget for the Premier League and being here is success in itself.

The noticeably more frequent investment in u23 players and it’s academy is its way of the club trying to gain an advantage over the likes of Villa and others, something we have a proven success of doing in recent years.

Yes, we’ve spent big in prior years, but many of those players are still on our books. Some now filling the bench, filling the treatment table or out on loan, but all on financially limiting long term big money contracts. Can we afford to add yet another big money player to the wage book who could just as likely flop as much as he could be the “silver bullet” people have argued for? Especially amongst the current global economic turmoil and that has been caused by COVID.

It’s also a sign of the clubs plan to become financially self-sufficient whilst remaining competitive and working towards its long term goal of established top-half topflight status.

This is a more realistic long term strategy than splashing inordinate amounts of money on one player in search for short term success, Tony Bloom can’t keep bankrolling the club’s losses forever.

Disproportionately growing expectations are something I’ve written about before and that have been a problem for the club for a while, in part it’s a symptom of Albion’s success.

But I can’t help but feel they have created a rod for their own back by not managing things better.

The Tweeting Seagull WSL Albion season preview – From inspiration to realisation

Ahead of the new WSL season the Telegraph asked me to answer some questions about Brighton’s prospects, which you can read here. And I’ve extended my thoughts into a season preview blog. Which you can read here:

The new WSL season starts this weekend with probably the greatest amount of anticipation since the FA launched the Women’s Premier League in 1991. And with Brighton retaining its topflight status for a second season the excitement is also building in Sussex.

Like most WSL teams, Brighton’s fan base is comparatively minuscule compared to that of the club’s men’s team. And playing their home games over 20 miles away in Crawley hasn’t helped to build on that either. But with WSL season ticket sales hitting club record numbers this summer, there is hope all that can change. The potential of the teams support no better demonstrated than the record breaking WSL crowd of 5,256 attending the final home game of last season against Arsenal after it was played at the club’s HQ, the AMEX Stadium.

Last season was a big step up for the team in its first ever topflight season. And this was particularly true for most players who were adapting to going professional, along with the squad losing some key players who decided to not go do so, like promotion winning captain Vicky Ashton-Jones. But despite a few heavy defeats to Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea, lessons were learnt and the season ended well with a 4-0 win away to West Ham.

Nevertheless for the club to remain competitive then continued progression will be required. The WSL has never been stronger and with the addition of the highly resourced Man United and Spurs replacing the softer-touch of Yeovil, points will be harder to come by. But there will still be hope of further progress at the club this season.

This is something manager Hope Powell is more than aware of ahead of the new season, saying to the Argus over the summer: “With the introduction of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur to the division, it is set to be an even tougher task, and all the players and staff need to be ready for what lies ahead.”

And she will no doubt continue to ensure Brighton won’t replace Yeovil as the league’s soft touch. Mainly through the team’s relatively solid and resolute defensive base. Last season they made most teams work hard to break them down, bar the handful of heavy defeats that come with the territory of being an inexperienced newly promoted team.

This was an attribute shown best by the team’s relatively comparable defensive record to the remainder of the WSL outside the top four. And the shrewd additions of Dutch international Danique Kerkdijk who has signed from Bristol City along with the highly rated Danish youth international Matilde Lundorf Skovsen, adds to the teams strength at the back, which will be needed given the long-term injury recently sustained by Laura Rafferty.

It will be hoped that as well as those signings, the further additions of experienced WSL keeper Megan Walsh and former French youth international Lea Le Garrec, as well as the added experience gained by the existing players from last season, will all ensure the squad possesses the quality required to make the required progress. Required given that the team were too often found lacking against more established WSL teams last season.

At the other end of the pitch goals were harder to come by, with a quarter of the team’s goals coming in that 4-0 end of season win over West Ham. A victory that came after the team had secured survival from relegation. England youth international Ellie Brazil top scored in the league with just four, and it will be hoped that her and Imi Umotong (who scored only one league goal last season) can contribute more in that department this season.

Much like with Graham Potter and the Men’s team, much will depend on Hope Powell and her coaching team continuing to get the most out of this fairly young squad of players and for the more experienced players,including the likes of last season Albion’s player of the season award winner Aileen Whelan, to continue to lead the way. One young prospect in particular to watch out for is England u17 Captain Maya Le Tissier (no relation) who will be hoping to make more of an impact on the first team this season after making her debut last season.

In 2015 the club stated that it wanted to be playing Champions League football in 5 years, and whilst wins over Birmingham, Liverpool and West Ham towards the end of last season demonstrate progress, achieving that within the stated timeline is at best unlikely.

Those of course were different times, before the mass professionalism of the topflight and before Albion’s involvement in it. But Tony Bloom announcement at the recent fans forum that the club’s long-term vision for the Women’s team has been revised for it to become a top-four club is equally ambitious in the short-term.

Realistically another season of avoiding relegation is the goal, whilst bettering last season’s 3rd bottom finish would probably be considered a success for Hope Powell’s side.

At the beginning of last season, Hope Powell spoke a lot about the importance of her team being role models as much as being successful competitors. But with the success of the Lionesses at this summers World Cup, it does seem that discussions about Women’s football in the UK have largely moved on from talking about inspiration and aspirations and onto realisation of the sports potential.

As Assistant Manager Amy Merricks recently said “The game is changing all the time and we need to ensure that we constantly evolve with it as well… It’s great to be on this journey and now we want to be able to stay at the highest level.”

With this increased focus on Women’s football in the UK coinciding with the increased competitiveness of the WSL and Brighton and Hove Albion’s new AMEX sponsorship deal including performance based payments specific to the Women’s team, there will be much more focus this season on results and performance. The question is, can Brighton’s aspirations and progression keep pace with the continued advancements of the Women’s game in the UK?

Brighton’s Women’s team – aspiration and inspiration

With the Brighton starting their first season in the revamped WSL 1 it felt like a good time to write my first blog about the Albion’s Women team.

The story begins in the 1960’s; in those days Brighton was represented in Women’s football by Brighton GPO, a team formed by several workers from the local post office’s telephone exchange. There was no Albion Women’s team then as the state of play in Women’s football was very different. Men’s teams weren’t involved in women’s football due a ban on women’s football taking place at football league grounds that had existed since 1921. And it wasn’t until the formation of an independent body the Women’s FA in 1969 that there was an official national organisation behind Women’s football giving teams like Brighton GPO the opportunity to compete in a formalised national competition.

In 1971 the FA lifted its ban on Women’s football taking place in football league stadiums and in 1983 the WFA became officially affiliated as part of the FA. However, it wasn’t until 1991 that the FA fully integrated Women’s football within its national structure and a national league was formed. Therefore, in 1990 the Brighton Women’s football team was affiliated under the Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. umbrella. This affiliation was funded as part of the Albion in the Community scheme and following this the Albion became a founding members of the Women’s Premier League in the 1991–92 season, starting within the regionalised second tier, the Division 1 South.

Despite this being relatively recent history in the terms of English football, in the early 90s Women’s football was very much in its infancy following decades of oppression from the hands of organisations like the FA deeming football ‘unsuitable for females’. For example it would be another five years until Women’s football would be played at the Olympics during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, despite the men’s tournament existing at all but one Olympics since 1900.

Whilst since the 90’s and particularly the turn of the Millennium women’s football has continued to grow rapidly, there were still limited resources at Brighton to provide much investment in the team. With the men’s senior team struggling to make ends meet at Withdean this left little funds for the Women’s team and left them still reliant on AITC fundraising to support the team. This meant whilst teams like Arsenal were going professional, Brighton were still semi-professional and most fans who went to watch the men’s team were lucky if they saw a page devoted to them in the match day programme or an advert for the odd cup game against a big side to be played at the Withdean Stadium.

There were successes though. In 2001 Brighton won the Premier League South and were promoted to the top-level Premier League National. However, the small semi-pro outfit found themselves out of their depth, and after a season of narrow survival from the drop, they were relegated in their second season with a measly 4 points from 18 games.

They then spent the next decade in the second tier only to be effectively demoted to the third tier, when after the establishment of a breakaway league the WSL, this was incorporated into the football pyramid in 2014 and expanded into two divisions. At the same time the Premier League National was disbanded, and it meant the Albion had to win the Premier League South Division and then a playoff against the winners of the North Division to get promotion to WSL 2.

Whilst during this time the team was a small operation, it would be wrong to write off the good work done by those at the club on a shoestring during those times. The work done by those including many at AITC enabled the Women’s team to exist and compete at a good level within the women’s football pyramid for around two decades. That said, much like I said in a previous blog, whilst in those years the women’s team was an afterthought in the club’s overall strategy, it is now a well integrated and invested-in element of the club.

Tony Bloom’s investment plan after initially taking over the club in 2009 and moving the club into the new stadium at Falmer in 2011, then included ambitious goals for the Women’s team. The club stated in 2015 the aim was to achieve promotion to WSL 1 and qualify for Champions league football in 5 years. But at this point the club was still playing in the third tier of Women’s football, the Premier League Southern Division, along with not so esteemed colleagues like Lewes, Basildon and Forest Green Rovers, making this a bold statement to make at the time, but one that now looks crucial to setting an ambitious mindset amongst the team.

After the club missed out on promotion to WSL 2 via the playoffs in 2015, they were then promoted the following year and started the 17/18 season as a part of the WSL 2. This time winning the playoffs with a 4-2 win over West Bromwich Albion’s Women’s team, then known as Sporting Club Albion. To demonstrate the low level of interest in the Albion Women’s team at this point, such a high profile and historic game in the team’s history managed to gain an attendance of only 648. Albeit that crowd was slightly diminished because the game one-off game was played at High Wycombe, a two-hour drive from either Brighton or West Bromwich.

The Albion’s promotion to WSL 2 coincided with promotion and relegation being suspended for one season to enable another restructuring of Women’s domestic football. This time it was to enable the creation of a ‘franchised’ full-time top-flight WSL 1 league. Something the Albion later successfully applied for a place within for the start of the coming season, but I will come onto this later.

Despite the successes, the progress to date hadn’t been without its bumps in the road. Following allegations of disciplinary breaches made to the Sussex FA about team manager James Marrs, he was sacked in June 2017. But in response the club made its biggest statement to that point by appointing possibly the most experienced British manager in the Women’s game, former England and Great Britain manager Hope Powell. With this appointment, the club started the season in WSL 2, going from newly promoted chancers to suddenly being the team to watch.

And after joining she spoke to the Guardian about her positive experiences at the club and the seriousness with which the club was now treating Women’s football. “We are very integrated. They’re looking to invest in the future which is fantastic – I’m part of that. I’ve met the owner and I’ve met the board members, I’ve sat down in London and they really want to integrate the women.”

Bloom and Barber have clearly appointed the right people in the right areas at the club across the board and the women’s team is no different. For instance, Powell has stated the importance to the team of assistant manager Amy Merricks. Following Powell’s appointment and prior to her formerly beginning work she said: “I was in very close contact with Amy Merricks, who has done a fantastic job and I can’t speak highly enough of her. We were in regular contact once it was announced. She’s done all of the work, she knows the club, she knows the culture.”

Soon after joining Powell was quick to imprint her vision on the club, and one of the first things she focused on was the club’s style of play. “The speed of play is one of the things I really wanted to increase; we need to up the tempo, do everything so much quicker, because that is what they are going to face going forward.” And the Albion game certainly upped the tempo since, finishing second in last season’s WSL 2 in their first season back at that level.

When the WSL 1 licence status was granted for the upcoming 18/19 season last December Albion chief executive Paul Barber said on reacting to the news: “We have always wanted to achieve equal status for women’s and girls’ football at the club and acquiring tier one status will now enable us to make this a reality.”

In comparison to the Albion, Doncaster Belles who finished ahead of the Albion to win WSL 2 last season, decided not to apply for WSL 1 status, citing the costs being beyond their budget. Another key comparison is Man Utd, the biggest name in domestic men’s football who up until this restructure had gone many years without a Women’s senior team, and now have been fast-tracked up the pyramid and granted a place in this season’s WSL 2, alongside our local rivals Lewes.

It says something of the lack of ambition for Women’s football that clubs like United, Spurs, Sunderland and Palace are playing in WSL 2 or in some cases lower. The fact that clubs like those with the brand and infrastructure that they have are only granted equal or in some cases lower status to a small fan-owned semi-professional club like Lewes is telling. Lewes in comparison whose men’s team played in the 8th tier of English football last year, have an average attendance in men’s football of just over 700, which to put that in context is around 1% of that of Man Utd’s average attendance.

The reality is only the established professional clubs can compete at WSL 1 level. As a top-flight club, the Albion will be required to provide players with a minimum of 16 contact hours per week, rising to 20 hours per week by 2020-21. There are also minimum financial investment rules, whilst in conjunction clubs are also be required to meet Financial Fair Play regulations and a squad salary cap. Further rules mean that whereas second-tier sides will have lower requirements such as only being required to run a reserve team, a WSL 1 level club like the Albion will also be required to run a youth academy. Something the Albion already has in place.

Whilst the women’s game has been in a period of growth in general, the domestic club game has been in a period of disorganised flux since the turn of the millennium. This constant flux, typified by the FA and it’s constant need to restructure domestic club football, means even the big clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal and City despite investing large amounts in their Women’s team have struggled to establish a significant match day following. Average attendances for each are incomparable to those of the men’s first team and more similar to those of many non-league men’s first teams.

But Brighton’s manager Hope Powell is behind the current reorganisation plans. “I understand it because a lot of clubs in WSL 2 are saying: ‘If we get promoted there’s every chance we can’t [compete] in WSL 1 anyway so what’s the point?’ So, I think they’ve had to look at it, revamp it, and try and offer it out to those clubs that can afford to be a WSL1 club, fulfil the criteria and meet the needs of being full-time. I think it’s a sensible decision.”.

The one anomaly to this is Yeovil, who whilst have a professional men’s team, are a much smaller club than any of their WSL competitors and have struggled but just about managed to meet the WSL 1 requirements. On being grant status the club stated: “Whilst the last 18 months have been testing for the Ladies both on and off the pitch, the stability of being granted a professional license should allow them to head into their next chapter.”

The Albion will be playing their home games this season at Crawley Town’s Broadfield Stadium. Having previously switched home games between there and Lancing, means the club is currently representing Brighton as a city whilst not playing within it. But as the Men’s team’s current appeal shows, the club is as much a team for the county of Sussex as it is the City is Brighton. That said the Women’s team are yet to gain the same following as the men’s team with attendances last season regularly totalling only a few hundred.

The Albion’s current group of players is most definitely the best in the club’s history. This includes Ini Umotong, scorer of 13 goals in 19 league games last season, she was signed with fellow teammate Danielle Buet from Notts County when the club folded before the beginning of last season. Ini, the Albion’s number 9 is one of the club’s star players and as such features on the poster advertising this season’s home and away shirts at the entrance of the club shop at the AMEX stadium. However, Ini recognises the challenge ahead of the club this season: “It will be a big step up. We have a few girls that have experience of playing in the top flight, but a lot of us haven’t played in the division before now.”

One face most Albion fans will know is that of AITC ambassador and Northern Ireland international Laura Rafferty. She signed for the club in 2017 from Chelsea where she made only one first team appearance. But since signing for the Albion she’s become a regular in an Albion defence that conceded only 26 goals in the league last season – the joint third lowest total in WSL 2 last season. Laura is a regular face in club media output as well as the local news for her good work as AITC ambassador, but she’ll be hoping this season she gets as much coverage for her good work on the pitch as she has previously off it.

However, there are many players like last season’s club captain Vicky Ashton‑Jones who faced the choice whether to commit to the club full-time because of the club’s new-found WSL 1 status. Whilst playing with the Albion Vicky, a police firearms officer by trade commuted 57 miles door-to-door from London because of her job. Prior to the club gaining WSL status she said: “It’s a nice dilemma. Certainly, when I was playing I didn’t have that option; all I wanted to do was be a professional footballer. For me it’s better to have the dilemma than not at all. The opportunities that are ahead of these players now are incredible, the likes of which I could only dream of. It’s going to be difficult for some, we absolutely understand that, but it’s a decision they’re going to have to make.” However, unfortunately for the Albion, Vicky has decided to concentrate on her job in the Police and not continue with the Albion this season rather than going full-time.

With the changes that are taking place at the club over the summer still being managed and the club coming up against a higher level of opposition than ever before on a weekly basis it’s hard to judge the prospects for this coming season, but there is plenty of optimism for the short to medium term future of the team.

That said, despite Albion’s heavy investment in the Women’s team in recent years and the already stated ambitious goals from the top of the club, the team will be judged this season on more than the on-field results. As manager Hope Powell says herself: “I think it’s really important that there are women role models and that people have someone to aspire to.”