Newcastle United Women - Champions and Promoted

[FloydianMag]

Does FFP etc apply in the womens game?

[Jack27]

Just now, FloydianMag said:

Does FFP etc apply in the womens game?

Nope

[FloydianMag]

Just now, Jack27 said:

Nope

Should be interesting who they bring in for next season.

[HalloNUFC]

9 minutes ago, FloydianMag said:

Should be interesting who they bring in for next season.

Alyssa Lehmann & her BF Douglas Luiz from Villa for 35 million £.

 

[OpenC]

I would have thought they would try to go for some WSL players like, we already have a crowd and maybe a stadium in advance of what some will be used to calling home I guess, and some could probably be bought.

[Magpie]

Chances of Lucy Bronze coming in? Local lass and not playing every game for Barcelona these days.

[Jack27]

Just now, Magpie said:

Chances of Lucy Bronze coming in? Local lass and not playing every game for Barcelona these days.

slim

 

Demi Stokes though... out of contract this summer with Man City (I think) and a local lass 

[FloydianMag]

Just had a look on groomers women’s football thread……….a few posters already fearing that they’ll become the poor relations 

 

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/sunderland-afc-women-v-charlton-athletic-women-kick-off-2pm-youtube.1632063/page-4

 

 

Edited April 21 by FloydianMag

[Decky]

Would love us to go for a couple of big WSL names. 

[Iwantcurlyhair2]

Just got home and I think Becky Langley will have confirmed a few exits today. The players who came in didn't step up and we had no cutting edge. I know they will have been rusty with the lack of game time but Dodds, Elson, Soulsby and Galloway couldn't create any clear cut chances. It was totally one sided but no cutting edge or final through balls. Watt, Stobbs, Greenwood, Boddy and Kelly all played well enough but Barker and McQuade were fighting for scraps and it didn't improve when Bailey Gayle and Galloway came on. Shame they can't get to the 60 points. On a side note 7 balls were lost today in peoples gardens and woodland. The pitch was terrible and their keeper was player of the match. 

[OpenC]

Other than at the final, Elson has played pretty well over the course of the season to be fair to her, and scored a few herself. Would be disappointed to see her go without really getting a proper run at it but I guess it's time to be ruthless. 

 

Did Hannah Reid have anything to do? 

[et tu brute]

Wise decision to play some of the squad so that she can make final decisions about who to keep. Got to be ruthless though (as I'm sure they will be) as stepping up to a higher level. 

[Iwantcurlyhair2]

Hannah Reid didn't have a save to make

[O Neill]

10 hours ago, Stifler said:

You would imagine the Sunderland game would be at SJP, and Sunderland may do the same at the SOS, although I doubt we would be given many away tickets.

You can probably get a good idea of the dates of those fixtures already. I would expect a little calendar cooperation will come into play to schedule the Sunderland fixtures on men's international weekends. Probably find the Durham home match is the same. 

[et tu brute]

11 hours ago, FloydianMag said:

Just had a look on groomers women’s football thread……….a few posters already fearing that they’ll become the poor relations 

 

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/sunderland-afc-women-v-charlton-athletic-women-kick-off-2pm-youtube.1632063/page-4

 

 

 

Their last chance of being a level above our lasses disappeared today. There will now be a constant faux implode concerning Saudi blood money as we bring in players for this level and the very real possibility that we take their better players also. It's going to break them inside and as I said the faux outrage will be ramped up another level.

 

 

Edited April 22 by et tu brute

[Optimistic Nut]

Charlton definitely seem to have something over them when it comes to blowing promotion.

[O Neill]

8 hours ago, et tu brute said:

Their last chance of being a level above our lasses disappeared today. There will now be a constant faux implode concerning Saudi blood money as we bring in players for this level and the very real possibility that we take their better players also. It's going to break them inside and as I said the faux outrage will be ramped up another level.

 

 

 

 

There's an inevitability in this. The North-East is likely to change in much the same way that Edinburgh has over the last five years. Up here, Hibernian were always the top women's club, closely followed by Spartans, and then Hearts in a distant third. However, Hearts have ploughed money in over the last few years, and are now the best side by far, while Hibs have had to settle for second and Spartans, who have no money to spend, are a good bit behind now.

 

Just looking at the three teams in the North-East, it's hard not to see Durham going a similar route to Spartans. They won't have the finance to match the other clubs, and I'd suspect Sunderland won't be able or willing to pay what Newcastle can on contracts, and even potentially transfer fees.

 

What often isn't considered though is how the financial input influences the academies. The lure of girls potentially earning a full-time playing contract with a big club, very quickly results in academy growth in terms of volume and quality. The Hearts academy up here has become one of the best in the country within the space of 3 years. Parents pulled their kids out of other academies, to send them to Hearts, pretty much overnight, because suddenly the pathway offered a golden ticket at the end. They have some of the brightest prospects at 14-16 years old in the country. I think you are going to see the same at Newcastle over the next couple of years. Better coaches are going to arrive at academy level, more teams will be created to accommodate development and Newcastle will start to produce the best young players in the region.

 

They are not going to like it along the road, but unfortunately, that's how it is going to be. I think had they managed to get into the WSL this season, they might have delayed Newcastle's ability to overtake them for a few years yet, but at the end of the day, money is always going to the defining factor, particularly in women's football, where it isn't exactly in abundance at this point.

 

I have to admit, though, I don't know a great deal about the model they are operating at Sunderland. It looks intriguingly similar to something that Hibernian were trying to do when other clubs up here first went full-time professional. They had this hybrid model, where a handful of players were on full-time contracts. It meant that the core of their best players were being paid, while they were relying on everyone else viewing the club as their best option for football. What eventually happened is that the best players, who had no real ties to the club, eventually just moved on to clubs who were fully professional. They have since abandoned that model and gone full-time, suggesting that they realised it wasn't going to work longer term. Funnily enough, Aberdeen are running a similar model at the moment, and that has them 7th in the league, and I've heard they are also switching full-time from next season.

 

Back to Sunderland, it does seem, from the match reports that I've read, that they are struggling to draw on the gate. I keep seeing numbers between 300 and 400 for home attendances (except for Durham). If they aren't drawing money on the gate, then I'd guess that most of their finance is reliant on sponsors. That's a fairly common model in the women's game. I would go as far as to guess that they don't receive a huge sum of money from the club itself. I think it'll be quite interesting to see where they sit in five years time. With the Championship now having two relegation spots, the league is going to start to sort itself out much quicker, with plenty big name clubs below, starting to put more money into the women's game. If Sunderland are operating a hybrid model, with what feels like limited investment, I'd imagine that they'd do well to stay in the Championship for that duration. I know there are clubs in there right now, such as London City, Durham, Reading etc who are all likely to disappear first, but as more teams below start to put more money in, it could get interesting.

[SteV]

What kind of contracts are the lasses on? Is it just year-to-year, or do some of them get multi-year deals?

 

And if it’s only year-to-year, is there anything to stop us hoying a bit of wedge at Sunderland’s best players before next season and just taking them?

[Jack27]

25 minutes ago, SteV said:

What kind of contracts are the lasses on? Is it just year-to-year, or do some of them get multi-year deals?

 

And if it’s only year-to-year, is there anything to stop us hoying a bit of wedge at Sunderland’s best players before next season and just taking them?

Some are on two year deals, most are on one year deals (from what I’ve heard but @JonBez comesock probably knows more)

[SteV]

Just now, Jack27 said:

Some are on two year deals, most are on one year deals (from what I’ve heard but @JonBez comesock probably knows more)

So are the one-year deal players free to move to a new club in the same way the men are?

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Might be similar to non-league where most players are on one-year deals permanently. Obviously just means the club can cut them whenever and take no risks, but I assume it means the player is free to go too. 

[JonBez comesock]

1 hour ago, Jack27 said:

Some are on two year deals, most are on one year deals (from what I’ve heard but @JonBez comesock probably knows more)

Yes that’s correct 

 

probably 8-10 players will be released 

All on 1 year contracts - Not renewed 

Free Agents 

 

Also around 10 or more on 2 year contracts, So still 1 year to go unless extended in the summer , which they may do to protect themselves (however I can’t see many snapping up our players as they will be on better contracts than most if not all championship clubs) 

 

WSL - Clubs won’t be looking at any of our players either.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22 by JonBez comesock

[OpenC]

If they change 80% of the team I probably won't bother so much next year like, fully accept that they really bought the league this year as well but it's not something I love. I'd still go to some but the whole Doing A Man City thing leaves me colder than I thought it would.  Nonleague is increasingly appealing to me

[et tu brute]

2 hours ago, OpenC said:

If they change 80% of the team I probably won't bother so much next year like, fully accept that they really bought the league this year as well but it's not something I love. I'd still go to some but the whole Doing A Man City thing leaves me colder than I thought it would.  Nonleague is increasingly appealing to me

It's the only way you're going to get to the top. The girls replaced will find other clubs no problem. Nobody was interested under Ashley (the lasses even had to buy their own strips/training gear), crowds were virtually non existent and now look at the steps they have made since then. The girls game in general has only blossomed since the introduction of money into their game. I've been going since the 70s and still seen us win fuck all. If the current owners are the way for that to change, so I can at least see my team win a trophy before I go, then I'm fully on board. Other clubs have done it, so my philosophy is bring it on.

[OpenC]

Aye, I'm not actively against Newcastle doing it for exactly that reason (everybody else with any success is doing the same). It just feels a bit hollower than I thought it would. 

 

I suppose the bigger part of me does want to see how Tyler Dodds and Hannah Greenwood and the like get on at the next level rather than just being replaced with known quantities who are ready to go, even at the expense of progression. They'll still be my team, this is where I was born after all, but the prospect of this year's lasses who have played so well and steamrollered all (well, most) comers being broken up and moved on without kicking a ball is a miserable one.