WSL 2024/25 | MD8 - 16/17 November

I’m not sure I’m that keen Bronze at Chelsea to be honest. She’s had a wonderful career and she’s a legend but she’s also declined pretty significantly from her prime.
 
WeePat said:
I’m not sure I’m that keen Bronze at Chelsea to be honest. She’s had a wonderful career and she’s a legend but she’s also declined pretty significantly from her prime.
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I think both her current game and her recent injuries make her a risky signing. If she can get her form/fitness back obviously she'll be a real boost to you but that's a big if.

WeePat said:
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I don't know this player at all really, but whenever you see the words Spanish midfielder you start having expectations. Is she likely to be a starter or just an interesting gamble for the future? I'm assuming the latter.
 
Going to be interesting to see what kind of attendances they can get - it's good to play some matches in the main stadiums but needs to be sustainable

I personally feel the Women are better off with a full LSV rather than a quarter full Old Trafford
 
WSL fixtures released


And yes, that does mean WSL's matches non-broadcast matches are moving from FAPlayer to Youtube. No word yet on geo-blocking etc.
 
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The run in - Gulp

April
26/27: Chelsea (H)

May
3/4: Manchester City (H)
10/11: Arsenal (A)
 
The new youtube channel


FAPlayer will continue to show some WFA Cup matches.
 
I was just thinking a new season thread was needed !

Was expecting more details from NewCo by now but seems it will be business as usual mostly
 
Well I guess it's now illegal but hardly worth going to court over in my opinion
 
jojojo said:
One for the "say what now" file.





For people unfamiliar with the legal position around nitrous oxide in the UK.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67346032
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So apparently she crashed her car because she was using her phone (something she has admitted) and when they searched her car at the scene they found a lot of cannisters of this stuff. Just very silly and immature all round. It's interesting that her mum in trouble as well.
 
This is very sad, but I suppose once Berger left, it was just a matter of time for Jess Carter.

 
An update on the new organisation running the WSL and Championship. Still not much tangible on what's changing (because nothing much is changing this season). The name still sucks - they've gone from NewCo to Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) so even that's expected to change again. But we do know more about the senior management now.

All-female leadership team announced for WSL and Women’s Championship https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...wsl-and-womens-championship?CMP=share_btn_url
 
jojojo said:
An update on the new organisation running the WSL and Championship. Still not much tangible on what's changing (because nothing much is changing this season). The name still sucks - they've gone from NewCo to Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) so even that's expected to change again. But we do know more about the senior management now.

All-female leadership team announced for WSL and Women’s Championship https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...wsl-and-womens-championship?CMP=share_btn_url
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I suppose it's an improvement on 'NewCo' at least !

"
The WPLL has confirmed that the men’s Premier League has provided a £20m interest-free loan to WPLLand the Premier League will have a seat on the WPLL board until that is repaid. The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, said: “We look forward to being closely involved in this exciting period for women’s football.”

The 23 clubs in the WSL and Women’s Championship will be shareholders of the new company, along with the FA, which will own a “special share”. The size of the share has not been disclosed. The FA will also have a seat on the board and “a right to share in the revenue once certain thresholds are met, which the FA will dedicate to reinvesting in grassroots projects for women’s and girls’ football”. The FA had previously run the WSL and Women’s Championship since the divisions began in 2011 and 2014 respectively."
 
WSL fantasy fooball RedCafe mini-league
At @Demon Barber suggestion, we're launching a Red Cafe WSL fantasy football mini-league. Usual sort of FF rules but with a whole bunch of players that you may not be that familiar with. Player prices range from £4m (you can buy United's goalkeeper for that) to about £12/£12.5m for last season's big name forwards like Lauren James, Alessia Russo and Khadija Shaw.

You can create a team at:
https://www.fantasywsl.net

@Demon Barber has created a mini-league for us:
TheCaf-WSL
Code: INQ4MO3

Anyone who fancies chatting about it can try the thread at:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/wsl-fantasy-football-anyone-want-to-try.484501/
 

So there are probably some serious players there.

https://www.fantasywsl.net
or https://playfantasywsl.komi.io/ to download the app

The RedCafe mini-league is on a rather smaller scale...
TheCaf-WSL
Code: INQ4MO3
And none of us has any claim to being seriously knowledgeable about most of the players we can select or Fantasy Football tactics.
In other words if you've always wanted to win a game on Redcafe - this may be your big chance :lol:
 
The first weekend of the WSL Championship.



London Lionesses are an interesting one. They're owned by US businesswoman Michele Kang. She's also majority owner of Washington Spirit and OL Lyon's women's teams.

Lyon has been one of the great European women's teams for years. London on the other hand are new arrivals, they were formerly Millwall's women's team but became a separate entity 5 years ago. Kang took over a few months ago.
 
Up to now, women's pro football has largely been a pocket money sort of gamble by pro men's clubs. We're now entering a period where while some clubs are folding because of funding issues others are starting to experiment.

Chelsea having funded it's women's team to a dominant position in the women's game in England are looking at how to develop crowds and revenues to match. So they've hired a PR/media executive to act as CEO of the women's team.

From the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...n-media-executive-aki-mandhar-chief-executive

Chelsea have appointed a media expert with no experience of running a football club as the first chief executive officer of their women’s team. Aki Mandhar has been headhunted to run the Women’s Super League champions from her position as general manager of the Athletic, the sports website owned by the New York Times.
 
It might not sound like much by PL men's team standards but 250k is still a big deal in women's football.

I don't know the player, Gabi Nunes, well enough to have an opinion on whether she's a good buy but I do know the money suggests serious commitment from Aston Villa.

Levante, the selling club, need the money - their men's team were relegated to Liga 2 a couple of seasons ago and that has hit them hard. I think their men's team squad wages budget is limited to about 4m this season. Fair to say that the deal will be welcomed by Levante.

Aston Villa have completed the signing of Brazil international and Levante forward Gabi Nunes for a club record fee.

She joins on a two-year deal, with the option of a further year, with Villa triggering a release clause of 300,000 euros (£250,000) to sign the 27-year-old.

Nunes, who has 22 caps for Brazil, was part of the squad that won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Paris last month.

She becomes Villa's eighth signing this summer with the club investing heavily following the arrival of new manager Robert de Pauw.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c4gl3ply7j7o
 
Speaking of big transfer fees, but this time one that hasn't been paid:


Don't know how accurate that is - but it's not impossible. There have been stories about Chelsea and Arsenal chasing her all week.

All the reports say that Keirab Walsh has already told Barca that she won't renew her contract (runs out at the end of the season). Apparently she wants to come back to WSL.
 
jojojo said:
Another ACL injury, this time it's Sophie Ingle at Chelsea.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...s-cruciate-ligament-injury-in-pre-season-game

Sam Kerr another Chelsea player who damaged her ACL in January is still a few months away from playing.

Unfortunately it's a common injury in the women's game. Lots of theories about why but no straightforward solution and only limited solid research.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/14/female-footballers-career-ending-injuries
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Is there any stats showing it's more of a risk for Women than Men? Because it's a pretty common injury in Men's game too
 
Rood said:
Is there any stats showing it's more of a risk for Women than Men? Because it's a pretty common injury in Men's game too
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According to the stats, women are at least three times more likely to damage an ACL than their male counterparts - though some studies put it at nearer 8 times. It's not a simple analysis though, because globally whatever group you analyse (FIFPro players, national team players, or a wider group) there are a lot more men than women playing so there's a lot more data to knock out statistical noise etc for the men.

You also have to decide what to calculate (ACL injuries per match hour or ACL injuries per playing/training week for example).

The interesting thing is that if the same survey technique is used to look at ankle ligament damage or thigh strains and other common football injuries you don't see such an extreme difference between male and female players. Which is why people are pretty confident that it's a real phenomena.
 
jojojo said:
Speaking of big transfer fees, but this time one that hasn't been paid:


Don't know how accurate that is - but it's not impossible. There have been stories about Chelsea and Arsenal chasing her all week.

All the reports say that Keirab Walsh has already told Barca that she won't renew her contract (runs out at the end of the season). Apparently she wants to come back to WSL.
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I wonder if the WSL will end up becoming far too financially lucrative compared to the rest of Europe in a similar way the PL is. There were rumours of Chelsea sniffing around Bonmati's release clause of £3m a few months ago.
 
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