Football Daily - Women's Football Weekly: Christmas Special!

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

Ben Haines, Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Emma Sanders host a Christmas special! The team do a mid season review and revisit predictions made at the start of the season and whether they expect much to change. Emma gives an insight into what recruitment we could see in the January transfer market, plus a look at the WSL2 with play-off spots up for grabs. Bristol City manager Charlotte Healy and Newcastle boss Tanya Oxtoby join the pod and share how they are working to get promoted to the WSL. Tanya also shares how important pigs in blanket are to her team! And who will be crowned the Women’s Football Weekly friends quiz champion?Timecodes: 01:30 Predictions from start of the season 05:50 Spurs the surprise 07:30 Liverpool and West Ham in danger 15:35 Transfers in Jan 21:25 Bristol City’s Charlotte Healy 29:00 Newcastle boss Tanya Oxtoby   37:30 Friends festive quiz!

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The Dakar Rally is the ultimate off-road challenge, perfect for the ultimate defender. The high-performance Defender Octa, 626 horsepower twin turbo V8 engine and intelligent 6D dynamics air suspension. Learn more at Landrover.ca. Hello, Greg Jenner here, host of You're Dead to Me. In my new family-friendly podcast series, Dead Funny History, historical figures come back to life for just about long enough to argue with me, tell us their life stories and sometimes get on my nerves. There's 15 lovely episodes to unwrap, including the life of Ramsey's the Great,

Josephine Baker and the history of football plus much, much more. So this Christmas, give your ears a treat with dead funny history. You can find it in the You're Dead to Me feed on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Football Daily podcast with Ben Haynes. Hello Football Daily listeners Ben Haynes here bringing you a very special women's football weekly episode

and I'm alongside Ellen White and Gem Beatty as always and then we've got a very special guest today who is sporting the most wonderful Christmas jumper with women's football weekly branding on it and that is senior women's football reporter M Sanders

Hello it's absolutely massive I've had some very weird looks around the office but I'm very good I can confirm it is like a 5XL maybe in terms of size So Ellen has hung hers up on the wall. It's attached to an actual hook and everything.

Jen, I'm worried that yours is going to be like that bit in castaway where like the Christmas presents don't get delivered in time. So you've had to wear your own one. Well, I was saying the other day I actually only own one Christmas jumper and it comes out every... Is this the one? This is the one, yeah. I'm the holiday armadillo.

That gets a round of a poem. I didn't see that yet. Oh, so for those listening, Ellen... This is why you are absolutely phenomenal. Ellen White has got a Christmas jumper featuring the holiday armadillo now. If you're a friends fan, which you know we very much are on this podcast, that is about as good a Christmas jumper as you could get. Maybe one saying, could I be wearing any more clothes?

Would be quite good as well. Loads to back in and we're going to be joined by two WSL2 managers, Bristol City's Charlotte Healy, and then newly appointed Newcastle manager, Tanya, Oxtaby, plus a WS. sell mid-season review and then hopes for 2026 in terms of the transfer market and a surprise festive quiz that m is going to be hosting the festive break is upon us now we're going to revisit our predictions from the beginning of the year and some more embarrassing than others we'll we'll kick off with the title race and the teams that are flying around the title race okay so ellen your predictions you had chelsea to win you had arsenal in second man city in third jen had chelsea man city then

Arsenal. Muggins over here had Arsenal Chelsea Man City and then M had Chelsea Arsenal Man City. Now I want to know why why did none of us see this coming with Man City? I actually

genuinely I told producer Chloe this before I actually had Man City top. I actually did. I said it live on five live to Steph Horton and Frank Kirby but I changed my life. If you spread back, if you say it all five teams, they've got, I think Arsenal did it? I think Man City did it?

No, no, genuinely, the reason why I changed my mind was we, I think I said that maybe three days before the end of the transfer window. And then Chelsea brought in like Alyssa Thompson, and I was like, you know what, I think they've got the depth now. So I bumped them back to the top and then I basically just lost my mind and decided to put Arsenal ahead of Man City last minute. You were from third. Exactly. So I went from first to third, so yeah. But I I did think Chelsea would have the squad depth, and I still think that they do. Like, there's still a long way to go to be able to compete in multiple competitions. Did I think Citi would hit the ground running as quickly as they have under a new manager in Andre Jurglets?

Absolutely not. So I think they've been fantastic and by far, for me, the best team of the season so far. On that, though, Jen, did you in any way see Chelsea having problems trying to find their best 11? trying to find a way in order to actually get these players into the team because I would like em when you saw the signings that they were making it just looked like they were reinforcing in every single area and we're going to be the side with comfortably the most quality and depth yeah and but they still do that I still think okay they might have dipped in form

and drop points but I still expected them to still be doing really well I'm not worried about Chelsea at all I think now that they've especially finish top four in Champions League they'll have a buy week I think nobody predicted Mancitti because of their injuries I think they don't have the squad depth if they have any sort of big injuries

that's what makes them slip Chelsea can afford that did I expect them to be struggling with the rotations no because I think that's what Sonia Bonpastara has been so good at last season with managing that and we had actually got to

speak to Alyssa Thompson last night after their game and even the way she kind of speaks about Pompastor and everyone knowing the plan and showing up for each other and understanding their role so I'm not worried about them I know they might have dropped points

but I still think they can they have more than enough capacity to chase Manc City has anyone surprised you so far else Tottenham I might have put them in the relegation zone so sorry about that Spursman's your way exceeding my expectations events. Yeah, I think they've massively exceeded my expectations. Obviously, new manager,

a few new sign-ins. Probably the game of the season for me when they played against Manchester United 3-3. Yes, they have had a few losses along the way as well, but I feel like they're in a great position, same points as they got last season already, and we're only at the Christmas break. They look more compact, more solid defensively scoring goals. They just look just better equipped to deal with the WSL and competition and games and different styles as well. So, yeah, they have surprised me. It's interesting because I was looking earlier through the Tammies League games and Ella Toon's only started three out of the six of them.

And obviously she was a player who played in every game for England, went all the way in the Euro. So I do think, like, Ellen, when you're discussing that, that it's that idea of essentially, like I get this as a journalist, obviously nowhere near on the same level as players, but it just feels like football is just there every day all year round. So actually it's more that mental switch off, isn't it, when you're coming back to your club and you have to try and think,

okay, I'm now playing for Majesty United. This is the style that we play. This is the way we train. She's obviously got extra responsibilities as one of the captains in the group as well. Like for you guys as a player, is that more taxing, just that coming off the back of a major tournament going into a season? Yes, that one. was

oh man to let you know getting, not I'm joking No, please it closed that for me relentless one year I was like I don't know how to react to a laugh or

Ellen's gone Keeper there I'm going back in a free season just didn't have anything I was going to be really mean to say how many major tournaments but I'm not going to do that, sorry.

Just the eight, you know, it's really taking its toll on this. God, 2019, freaking out, that was a tough year. Tough year. Tough year. Well, I'm going to take back so control here because you look are going to just absolutely keel over and don't be able to get another word out.

Just before we go on to the transfer window just quickly i don't think any of us saw the the relegation battle coming that we are currently experiencing but m you've written a couple of articles around this i'm really intrigued to know what you think of terms of Liverpool at the moment going in to the start of kind of the next part of the campaign almost we've got two three weeks now before they'll play again in the w sl are they in a place where you expect them to to turn a corner are the performances perhaps exceeding the results? Yeah, I think some people might be surprised by this answer,

but I'm not worried in the slightest about Liverpool. I expected them to be in a similar position to this at start the season. The club actually kind of said it without being that negative on record. They said, look, it's going to be a real struggle until January. The club, they know that they missed up, really, in the transfer window. They left it too late. I think they wanted Gareth Taylor in earlier as manager. Obviously that didn't happen for multiple reasons.

One being that there was some issues where there's former contract at Manchester City that they had to sort out. They brought in a new head of recruitment. They brought in a new director of women's football. They all came in late in the summer and I think that's actually where the club messed up. But I think they've actually done those moves

for the long term to have more stability and to have more of a long-term plan. They brought in Taylor to play a certain specific style of play and actually the performances I think have been really good this season you can see that they're playing better football they've been unlucky I think not to get some results in games where they probably could have done and the intention was to always do quite a bit of business in January

so I'm kind of of the opinion of I'll judge them after January and see where they're at but I certainly expect them to be very busy and judging by their performances so far I think if you add that depth And they've also got like nine senior players out injured at the moment as well. Key ones, the Captain Grace Fiske has been out. Gemma Bonner, one of the key centre backs has only just come back from injury and then picked up a suspension with a straight red card, which hasn't helped. They've got two of their key players, the creative midfielder and a striker out with ACL injuries.

So there's so many factors at play, I think, with Liverpool. And, you know, you have to throw in as well the fact that obviously, you know, Matt Baird's tragic death has obviously had an impact on the players as well. and the staff. So, yeah, I wouldn't be too worried if I was a Liverpool fan. I think, have a look and see what they do in January. Look at the performances which have been really strong and hopefully that will give you some confidence

going into the second half of the season. Yeah, in terms of the way that the WSEL shaping up at the moment, Evertonner in 10th with 10th with 8 points. And then three points behind a West Ham, Liverpool, in 12th with 3 points. well with Liverpool looking to move forward I guess that might have been what prompted West Ham

to make a decision around Rianne Skinner and then that ultimately leaves them right on the edge of the relegation spot that will go into a playoff with the side that comes third in WSL2 but Riann Skinner had been under pressure for some time before that decision was made she has been under you know a lot of pressure one win from 11 games in this campaign

and I was just looking at, you know, where they've finished since, you know, she's been at the helm. So last season, 9th, then in her first campaign, West Ham 11th. So, yeah, I feel like, you know, they had a good run at the back end of last season, signed a new deal with West Ham. You know, things were looking up, looking exciting. Signed a number of players, obviously, in the summer, but I just don't think the performances, the amount of goals they've conceded, maybe the structure as well, the way they're playing. Yeah, I'm saying shipping goals, really, and not scoring enough goals at the same time.

The performances we've seen for Liverpool seem positive, but the performances we've seen against West Ham haven't looked as positive, so I feel like she has been under pressure, and maybe they just want, you know, clean slate, January, looking for someone new to come in, fresh ideas, something different,

a new voice maybe, just to boister the group, just get some wins under the belt, because they don't want to be in that position where you are in that playoff against that third place WSL2 team and that one-off game it's a terrifying one to think about, isn't it?

You're fighting for your lives to say in the WSL so I think, you know, disappointing for obviously Rian Skinner, you don't want to see a manager go but I think for the team to progress maybe it is a change of manager is what they need. They're where they are at because of how they've performed for sure. I think when, I don't know if it's because

I'm a former defender but when I'm looking at some of the goals they've conceded and they just look too easy for me. Sometimes they're not even up against high high quality goals and conceding in that sense. You look at the most recent game, even Liverpool, down a player, having a red

card and you're still shipping goals. That for me in football just can't happen. I'm almost not surprised to see the conversation around Rianne Skinner progress in that way because that should be alarm bells. If your team are I will use the word coached in order to defend well

against a team down a player and still concede then for me then I understand why the club of are potentially having those kind of conversations so the conversation around West Ham and Liverpool are completely different I think Liverpool are performing nowhere near a bottom of the table team and West Ham yeah it sounds harsh but I think we have to be realistic they haven't shown signs of climbing the table, unlike Liverpool have. And you've spent quite a bit of time with Rian, not just this season, but in previous seasons as well.

What do you think her frustrations will have been? I think that while all of the stuff on the pitch, performance-wise, that Jen and Ellen have discussed, I think is completely valid. I think off the pitch, it's a really difficult job, that West Ham managerial role. I think structurally, when she first came in, there was a lot of work that needed to be done. in terms of adding to staff in certain areas, just getting simple kind of resources to help with day-to-day performance and training,

things like, you know, science and medical expertise in the building, just all that sort of stuff. I think Riem was working on a far wider project and was probably doing three or four roles as opposed to just a managerial role. So, and I'm sure she would admit this as well, in her own words, that that naturally is then gonna take away some of the role that you have to be doing I think

so I do I do sympathise with her in that sense but I think she's also she's also an experienced coach she knows how football works she knows that at the end of the day it's results driven and West Ham haven't they haven't had the results I think there's been games this season where maybe his side couldn't put the ball in the back of the net and that's kind of cost some some points but I think if

if you're going through a patch where you know you maybe aren't scoring the goals or you haven't got certain players in form, then I think there has to be some kind of rotation or has to be some kind of, you know, way like what Jen says, where you just, you stock them seeding the goals. And I don't think they've adapted enough this season. And that's probably being, probably being her downfall. It also makes you wonder whether they will be another club now that will need to dip into the transfer market you'd expect if there's a new manager in charge there straight away. Will there be new signings? They'll obviously have the challenge of trying to attract talent like so many other sides in WSL

because everyone is largely competing for a similar pool of players. You mentioned a little bit earlier on about Man United. Do we expect them to be active in January? Are they going to be ruining your January? Are you going to be sat there on your phone 24-7 because of them? Yeah, but you know what? I think they're hoping to make a lot of their business earlier in the window. They tend to be quite last minute.

They seem a little bit more proactive this time around. I do know they've 100% been looking at centre midfields I do have a name which I can't say publicly for now they're looking at they're looking at rhymes with

what's it rhyme with give us a Christmas gift just give us one exclusive on air I can't say that but I can say yeah they've been looking at a right back and a forward both those names have been reported elsewhere

already Lankovist is the full back that they're looking at. They've also been looking at Leah Shuler as well. So if they can get those over the line, I think they'll be pretty happy with that. And yeah, a few names I've heard for the centre midfield role, but there's certainly one that's caught my attention. So if they can get that over the line,

I think that'll be a really good month for them. But they won't be the only club busy. As I say, Liverpool should be very busy. Tottenham already got a handful of players that we know about that are pretty much, you know, discussions or at least close to getting over the line. So I think those three clubs are probably the three I'll be looking at. How important is it, Ellen, to move early in Jan?

I mean, if you look at all of the individual battles that we're talking about currently within the WSL, so you've got the two teams that are playing to avoid relegation, I mean, others could be dragged into that. At the top of the table as well, we spoke last week or a couple of weeks back, about the idea of what Chelsea might need to do in order to catch Man City and what Man City might need to do from a position of strength, how much does it affect you if you manage to get business done early? Yeah, no, I think it's definitely key for teams to get their, you know, players in early. You know, we've seen the summer.

If you are able to get your players in early, in preseason, adapted to the style, maybe they're moving to a different country as well. I think it's really important. But then also, for like January, if you can get them in early, you know, you obviously beat in other teams to the players as well. but I think it's so important that you're on your front-footed when you are coming back

of the Christmas bake you're able to have those conversations you're on the training pitch you're able to work with those individuals quickly and get them straight in maybe you want them straight into the start in 11 and adapted straight away to your style of play and you're straight off with the momentum

the confidence and the boost that you need for that squad depth yeah no doubt a very busy January ahead for em and all of the women's football journals that kicks off the transfer window opened on the second of Jan. Let's move on to WSL 2 and next season

WSL will expand from 12 to 14 teams. The top two sides from the WSL 2 will automatically be promoted and then we've got the excitement of a playoff with the WSL's bottom side fighting for a place against the third place team in the WSL 2. And I think from a starting point here already I'm just excited about the proposition of how big that game is going to be.

how massive that playoff is going to be? Massive is a word, isn't it? I mean, I think everyone's really excited by that. It's just something different, isn't it? And I think that was the point of WSL football when they introduced that. They want to expand the leagues. There has been a gap between WSL and WSL2,

which I'm sure we'll hear more about soon. But I think it's just to encourage those WSL2 clubs to invest more, to give them more promotion spots. Having a playoff against a WSL team will be like a big one-off game as well, hopefully attract a bit more media attention, get some fans in, some broadcast for that game as well, you would think.

So I think the idea behind it's really good. I suppose the flip side is have we maybe lost a little bit of jeopardy in the WSL? Because there's teams who, because of that gap between the two leagues, there's teams who maybe don't have to invest as much, who might finish in the bottom place in the WSL and probably still have a deep enough squad and a good enough squad to beat the third place team in WSL too. I think that's the kind of pessimistic view.

I was going to say, that's, that, That's so interesting that that is one way of looking at it because the jeopardy piece in my mind, I don't know whether you would agree with this, Helen, but the jeopardy piece would come from if you are having a season where you can't pick up any form at all and then you go and play a side that is buzzing to be in a playoff and is on a tidal wave of momentum and has maybe just squeaked into third place in the WSL2, kind of feels that there might still be a bit of jeopardy there. I think there is still a bit of jeopardy. I do think the depth of squad and the quality, and that's no disrespect to obviously WSL2, but I do think that that quality of player is there in the WSL. But then again, I just think that's quite terrifying. I think if you are bottom and you are facing the third place team in WSL2,

everything's on the line, isn't it? If you go one-nil down, the pressure, you know, you haven't had a good season, you know, a lot of things come into your mind. So I think it's really exciting from a neutral perspective Yes, the WSL teams probably do have the better quality in terms of the player, but anything, it's like the FA Cup. I see it as an FA Cup, like second, the first round, third round,

do you mean? Where it's just one-off, everything to play for, and it's just so exciting. Yeah, absolutely. And one person who no doubt will have her eyes firmly set on the idea of promotion is Bristol City Manager, Charlotte Healy. Charlotte, thank you so much for joining us. How are you?

Well, thank you. How are you? Yeah, good. Do you feel left out by the fact that everyone else is very, very festive on our Zoom chat? And you look like you're still in training. I wish I'd drag this Christmas tree in, to be honest. I'd love to know how the season is shaping up, just in terms of how things look with the playoffs on your mind as well. For us watching on, in the WSL, it's certainly changed the way that we talk about relegation and promotion. Has it changed the way that you think about it as a manager? I think so.

I think the league is just so different to the WSL, you know, from being in the WSL for a couple of years. It was almost like three mini leagues almost at times in the WSL, whereas in the WSL too, honestly, it's just so different. You know, you play your game at the weekend, you get your result, and then you check the other scores, and there's always something that is at a discussion point. So for a neutral, it's, yeah, extremely exciting.

I'm sure, you know, as a manager, not so much. It's a little bit more stressful. But I think, yeah, in terms of a product and something that fans can get behind is definitely a huge amount of unpredictability in it, which, you know, is good for the fan base. Hey, Charles. Obviously, it's your first season as a first team manager as well. You were obviously assistant before. So what's that been like for you?

Like, what have you learnt on a personal level? I'd imagine it's been a bit of a crazy couple of months. Yeah, I've learned a lot every day, to be honest. But I've really enjoyed it. we've had a lot of change and I think the club is in a real transition moment you know I came in in the summer

we've signed 13 new players we've had new staff we've had new ownership so it's been a lot of change but ultimately I think you know we were really clear from the start of where we want the club to be I think it's going to be a journey

and you only have to look at WSL2 and what it takes to get promoted it takes time and it takes a lot of work and a lot of alignment but from my point of view I've loved it I've really enjoyed it working with the staff working with the players the new ownership group have been fantastic

so yeah I'm learning a lot but I'm really enjoying it as well do you feel that you have had to change your playing style quite a lot with what you were just saying based on team to team have you been able to stamp your authority on defining your style

but has that had to change game to game as well yeah I think it's a really good question something that we've actually been speaking about the last couple of weeks because I think when you come in as a manager you obviously want to kind of implement your style and build an identity and we got heavily beaten

in the first game of the season and that was a big reality check to be honest that, okay, we can't press like that, we can't be that open, we can't be that naive and we adapted and we went on quite a good run but I think what you have to then be careful of is that you have your identity and you have your styling, have your structure

but actually you don't become naive in one-dimensional and I think that's when you look at the teams that are picking up points Palace is a prime example last night We probably overplayed. We didn't defend well enough. And then ultimately, you know, they smash the ball behind your lines and they nick a couple of goals and you lose the game.

So it's that balance, I think, Helen, of like, can we instill our identity and play our way and make sure that we're aligned in how we want to play? But ultimately, we're good enough to be, you know, switched on to what team's biggest threats are and actually, if they're going to do that, how do we adapt and how do we make sure that we defend better in those moments and we're not that predictable to play against either. If we just zoom out a tiny bit, Charlotte, you mentioned about infrastructure before.

Can you give people a little bit of an insight into the type of infrastructure that you have in terms of training ground, the fact that you're playing at Ashton Gate, do you feel that you're set up in terms of being ready to go and push on and play for those promotion positions and hopefully have enough infrastructure in order to stay in the WSA if you make it there?

Yeah, I think that they're the conversations we're having all the time. I think Mercury 13 coming in as that's been a huge part of the conversation is, you know, you can't just act like a WSL1 club when you get there. I think everybody is really aware of that, that you have to build over time. So, you know, those

conversations are exactly what we're having. We've got a fantastic training ground here at Robbins High Performance Centre. We train where the men train and the Boys Academy. So we've got a fantastic set up here. We obviously play our games at Ashton Gate, which is an amazing stadium. We really love playing there right in the heart of Bristol.

we're looking at now is okay how do we make sure we've got a workforce that can you know service the players that the level of players that we want to attract and the demands of high performance the demands of WSL football how do we make sure we have an infrastructure now so that we're building because ultimately we know everybody knows how big the gap is from WSL to WSO 1 so we have to make sure that it's from from really you know the start of the season but certainly from Christmas onwards that everything we do in terms of physical outputs in terms of training demand match outputs, workforce, you know, infrastructure, all of those things. You have to act like a WSL club now to make sure that we're attracting the right level of

player, but also that we're giving the players the service, you know, and the opportunity to perform at the level that they need to. I spoke to you a few weeks ago, Shal, about the new owners, Mercury 13. They're officially over the line now with the paperwork. What's it been like working with them? And I suppose what can that give you that investment going forward? Yeah, they've been really impressive. to be honest, it's been really refreshing

and just hearing them speak is really motivational even for the staff to hear a group of people who just care so much about the women's game and when they tell their story, even why they're called Mercury 13 in terms of the group of female astronauts that did all the train and then couldn't go to space

and they saw that as the missed opportunity, the what if, and they see women's football exactly the same. They think it's a missed opportunity. So, fast and to hear how they want to grow opportunity for the women's game they want to support the growth of the women's game and how they're going to do that is you know it's really inspiring and it really does you know help you bounce out of bed every morning so working with them has been has been really good they've obviously have coma already in in the italian league

with their second acquisition so yeah they're heavily involved we hope we speak with them you know all the time they're in regularly they come to our games you know and we're We know that they want to take this club to the next level in a new era. And it's, yeah, it's really exciting to be a part of that. Yeah, it sounds like incredibly exciting times over there. And Charlotte, best a luck for the rest of the season. As you mentioned earlier on, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of twists and turns still to come. So we'll try not to get too bog down in the week-to-week results.

So maybe look at it from a bird's eye. We'll have a wonderful Christmas. Thanks so much, Charlotte. Thanks, everyone. You too. Have a great Christmas. with Ben Hames. Bring more gear, carry more passengers,

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That's where I'll be. This is the Football Daily Podcast. We've been. We're going to continue with the WSL2 now and our next guest is the new Newcastle manager Tanya Oxtabee who left Northern Ireland last month having spent two years as their head coach and really pleased to say she joins us now on the women's football weekly Christmas special Tanya thanks so much for joining us firstly happy Christmas and thank you for bringing some Christmas cheer to your outfit today yeah I'm trying I didn't get the Christmas jumper memo so I'm just I'm accessorising as we speak Looks like you may have just brought a cracker or two

with some people. Have you been doing Christmas night? Yeah, just a couple. Yeah, we've got a couple of grinchers floating around but I made them make sure that they had to get involved 100%. World class that you've actually brought that to the party today. Can you tell us how you've been getting on? How has your start then?

Yeah, it's been good. It's been a really busy, obviously, a couple of weeks. And I think everybody's been really, really engaged in what we're trying to do. A couple of good results as well. What attracted you to this Newcastle? Job, Tanya. Yeah, the question, the big question. Look, I think I've been following the club, obviously, for a while,

like pretty interested in the way that they've gone about things over the last probably two to three years. And I think the way that they've invested in the women's side and the, I suppose, the bigger project and the way they're trying to build things was something that, from afar, I really admired. And I think when the opportunities to have that conversation came up, it was, for From my end, like it was a no-brainer to sort of engage and see if there was alignment. And there was massive alignment.

Obviously, the ambitions of the club, what they want to do in terms of winning trophies, in terms of the direction longer term, but also short-term, how we go about that and the process of developing players and developing staff. So I think there was a lot of alignment there across a number of different areas. And I think once we started having those conversations, it was really, yeah, like a no-brainer in terms of getting involved. Are you able to delve into those maybe short, medium and long-term goals of what you want to achieve together?

Yeah, I think obviously in the short term, it's just making sure that from like a performance point of view that we get all our processes right internally and that the high-performing environment is what we want it to be across all areas. And there's some really good foundations here, but it's tweaking some of those and making sure that we're sort of looking to operate at like WSL1 standard because medium term, that's the goal.

you know, to make sure that we're in WSL1. So we want to make sure we're ready for that before we get there. The longer term, it's then thinking about Europe and thinking about things like that. So from my point of view, that really, like I said, aligns with the way I want to go about it in the short term to obviously get the medium to long-term success

and we all know football is not a straight-line journey, but hopefully there'll be some good exciting times along the way. How impressed have you been so far with the players, obviously back working day to day on from a club perspective but there's a lot of experience in that squad and I can imagine a lot of voices comes with that so just how impressed have you been so far with the group you've got? I love being back on the grass first and foremost every day

I don't think you realise how much you miss it until you get back on the pitch and you get to be around people every day but I think we've got a great bunch of senior players that have been there and done that around the group and they've been really engaged in what we've been trying to do and they've also got a really, you know, good growth mindset and they want, they still want to learn and they still want to be challenged. And, you know, we're in a process at the

moment of making sure that we have an agreed way of working and that we can really push and challenge each other. I think that's important. You know, they've, they've been around the place a while as well. So they know sort of the inner workings inside and out, probably more than I do, but they have also been involved in high performing environments and they know what it takes to win. So it's trying to make sure that we get that balance right where, you know, we're also developing the younger ones as well because we do have some really, really good young players in the group. And those senior players are really important to setting the standard and dragging the younger ones along on that journey too. Obviously, the last time you were in

club football, you were working with Emma Hayes at Chelsea. One of the best coaches in the business. What did you learn from Emma and maybe how she helped shape your style and your sort of attitude towards coaching? Well, a couple of the things I learn off, Emma, one is, you know, process is important. You know, the processes that you put in place across all the departments, things should run when you're not there. You should almost make yourself a little bit redundant that everybody's really clear on what they're going after and how we go after it. So for me, learning those, you know, in terms of operating at a Champions League level and making sure that everything is really thought about was one of the key things that I learned off her. And I think one of the areas that she really

made me better was like difficult conversations you know don't shy away from a difficult conversation like if you don't have the skills then upskill yourself to be able to to take those on board but lean into them and you know address things like players just want honesty at the end of the day whether they like what you say or not is different but they want to know where they stand and they want to know I suppose how how they're going to move forward so trying not to avoid those difficult conversations was something that I think she definitely challenged me in and I can see that now in my sort of everyday approach to what we're doing here. Lastly, on a lighter note, and I hope you're feeling better as well.

Christmas break, how are you approaching that? Like, how many pigs in blankets are the players allowed? Please don't bring that up because there was a little bit of a pigs in blanket gate that just happened there. So, let's not bring. Please tell us about that. What have you just come from? Oh, gosh, there wasn't enough.

There wasn't enough pigs in blanket. And it's now an issue. It's now an ongoing issue. I can't believe I've just thought of that. I'm pretty impressed about that. No, sorry, I was going to say, how are you approaching that? You want to give the team like a little bit of time off, but looking at your fixtures coming back off of the Christmas break and it looks crazy.

It's going to be a really good challenge for us, in particular, those first three games back after Christmas. Like, that will give us a real gauge of where we're at. And I think we have to have that mindset. We have to have that mindset of right. We want to be challenging to get out of this league. We want to be, you know, operating it, the WSL1 level.

So this is now a really good blocker games for us to challenge ourselves and see where we're at. And there'll be some really good learnings from that, no doubt, like some bits we do really well and some bits that we need to, that will get highlighted that we need to improve on. I think when it comes to the winter break, like there's a, as you say, there's that real balance. Like you guys have been players, you know what it's like.

You get to this stage of the season and you're mentally exhausted and you just want to be able to switch off. But I think with that, there's an element of responsibility with the players to make sure that they're coming back in and that they are ready to perform because we don't have, you know, five or six days for them to get going again. So it's making sure that there's a really good balance there of, right, this is the expectation from a physical point of view what we need you to be doing. But make sure that you're doing it in a way that allows you that mental break. Go and be around family. Go be around friends because we all know that's great for

the soul, right? Like you need that refresher to come back in and really have a good crack at the the second half of the year. So that's kind of the balance we're trying to get at the moment. And I think sometimes you think you're going to get it right. And then, you know, players come back in. You're like, oh, I probably should have gone a little bit more the other way. So, again, it'll be a bit of a learning curve. But it's about setting those expectations and trusting that the group's going to do it well.

And look, at the end of the day, I think we've all been there. Like, you stand out like a sore thumb if you don't do the right thing. So, you know, hopefully we're not in a position to worry about that. Oh, Tanya, we hope you get that time as well to kind of relax on my. just to get a bit of a breed there and if there's one thing we've learned from today it's not that players just want honest conversations they also want pigs in blankets as well

they do don't take the pigs in blanket away mate they get really upset do you know what I mean just don't do it don't do it quite the learning curve good luck for the rest of the season we'll see you again soon thanks guys thank you now I think to finish up we've just got time for a quick Christmas quiz so get your pens and paper at the ready if you want to play along with us

And Emma's actually got and moved studios to ensure that no one can cheat. She's gone into her isolation booth where it's not only soundproofed, but you can't take mobile phones in there because they don't work. So Emma's like officially quiz master. Don't tell her that. Right, okay, Em, take it away. What are we quizzing and how are we doing this? Well, as it's the festive season, we're going to do a friend's quiz.

because anyone listening to the pod regularly will know that you three are just absolute fanatics and obviously Ellen has proved that today with her incredible jumper so this is great news so get your friends hats on time to test your knowledge who is the biggest fan three questions each so we aren't here all day and we'll start with Ben after the jingle I love this podcast so much. Such a good jingle. And the timing was brilliant from producer Chloe. Well done.

So from one amazing presenter to another, and I'm obviously talking about myself here. Let's go to Ben. So in the one from the creepy holiday card, which of Ross's girlfriends wanted to make a holiday card with him? Got about 10 seconds. Mona. Well done.

Correct answer. Right, moving on. I think of her name. Moving on to Ellen. In the one with the Christmas in Tulsa. What does Chandler's boss's secretary still from the office party? A ham. Oh my God, that was so quick.

Well done. Yeah, well done, Ellen. Right, one all. This is probably the wrong thing to be thinking about right now, but you're getting ham on my tie. I mean, the pressure. on so Jen Oh Jen

Good luck In the one where Rachel quits What does Ross sell to help out a little girl Cookies, brownie cookies I'll give you that It was cookies Well done Jen Pretty good for a scrud

One each so second round Back to Ben In the one with Phoebe's dad What does she get for Christmas From Joey and Chandler Oh I love that episode Toilette seat covers This is

just absolutely incredible. Proper fanatics here. Just so that everyone listening knows, I probably would have got none out of the fore. Back to Ellen. In the one with the holiday armadillo, which by the way is perfect for what you're wearing on your jumper. And I wrote this quiz. Well, I didn't write it. Producer Chloe wrote it. But we wrote this before we knew that you were wearing the Christmas jumper with the holiday armadillo one. Holiday armadillo. Yeah. So yeah, in the one with the Holiday Armadillo, what did Joey dress up as? Superman. Amazing.

And for those listening, Ellen actually just did the Superman pose. So that was great. Does he open the door and just go like that? Yeah, I think so. Merry Christmas as he comes through as well. He's just to speak from that. You guys have watched far too much TV. Amazing.

Come on, Jen. In the one with Phoebe's dad, when the heating got stuck on high, during the whole day season, who eventually fixed the heating in the girls' apartment? Wow. This is a hard one. There's a hard one, that one, actually. Do, do, do, da.

Yeah, in the girls' apartment. Joey, correct answer. You got that just in time. I'll give you that one. Right, last question each, guys. Come on, this is absolutely incredible. You're doing so well. Thank you.

Back to Ben. Here we go. In the one with the routine. What decoy gift did Chandler, Phoebe, and Rachel find when they were looking for Monica's presence? They open the box and then they find a shoe and then it says, did you really think I would like give this something? You've even given more detail to the answer than what we needed. All we needed was a shoe and you've said what's on it. Actually, it was a sneaker. It was actually a sneaker.

I mean, this is just phenomenal. There's a high top train. Oh, come on, let's make it a clean sweep. Let's get 100%. Right, Ellen. And by the way, there is a tiebreaker at the end. Oh, okay. In the one with the rumour, the character Will Colbert is played by Brad Pitt.

Will told Ross that their two worst enemies were Rachel Green and complex. Carbohydrates. Oh, look at that. This is just unbelievable. Okay, Jen. There really is pressure on your. now because this would be 100% in the quiz in the one with the thanksgiving

flashbacks what did Monica accidentally do to Chandler that put him in the hospital finger dropped off his finger it's a different a different limb a different limb

yes dropped a knife on his toe leaving him toeless so yeah kind of a bag of carrots and then they take a carrot let's all do the tarot because it's fun okay it's Christmas

everyone's that's true yeah and I thought that was a very good answer Jen and I like I said I would have got zero so well done everyone right then guys we're going to take this

to the tiebreaker okay so I need basically whoever gets to the closest number here okay I think the way that we're going to have to do this is go individually but I'm just going to trust that you don't change your answer

depending on what someone else has said, okay? So, deep breaths. How many episodes of Friends has there been in total? You've got five seconds. Okay, Ben, we're coming to you first. I'm going to go for... This is the longest five seconds ever. 190.

190. Ellen. 215 Jen 220 and I didn't change that from when Ben's No I had it in my head

up yeah Right Is everyone ready I'm going to reveal the winner of the 2025 Women's Football Weekly Friends quiz

Jen I'm actually seething Ben, I'm so sorry But Ben was actually last The correct answer was 236 Oh wow I was really more than I thought I was going to say 250 at one point

But I didn't Yeah not as many So you weren't that far off Jen To be fair 16 off so well done Oh M that was so much fun Thank you That was brilliant

Thanks for Missasting Thanks I enjoyed it I think you did really well We took it to that time That was pretty good That was some impressive friends knowledge there, wasn't it? That was absolutely wonderful to listen to you. And Em, thanks so much for jumping on the pod this week. It's been a delight to have you. I've really enjoyed it.

Thanks for having me, guys. And I'm loving this jumper. I'm going to take it home. You take it away. You've got your slanket now to be worn on the sofa. And that is where we'll leave it on the Women's Football Weekly. Everyone have a magnificent Christmas. Happy Christmas, Ellen. Happy Christmas May you've just come to join us as well. Happy Christmas, Jen, and to UM and to all of our wonderful production team as well. We'll be back again in the new year with lots and lots of brilliant stuff coming your way. But in the meantime, yeah,

have an amazing festive period with you and your family and your loved ones. Don't forget, though, head over to the Wims Football Weekly Feed for plenty more great content. Hello, Greg Jenner here, host of Your Dead to Me. friendly-friendly podcast series, Dead Funny History.

Historical figures come back to life for just about long enough to argue with me, tell us their life stories and sometimes get on my nerves. There's 15 lovely episodes to unwrap, including the life of Ramsey's the Great, Josephine Baker, and The History of Football, plus much, much more. So this Christmas, give your ears a treat with dead funny history. You can find it in the You're Dead to Me feed on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.