Football Daily - Women's Football Weekly: Pitch problems and Bompastor's winning instinct

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Ben Haines, Ellen White and Jen Beattie review Chelsea's win in the League Cup final, and assess where this leaves them ahead of their next three matches against Manchester City between now and next Thursday. There's also an interview with Chelsea's Sonia Bompastor on why results are more important than performances at this stage of the season.They also look at the complaints about the pitch during Saturday's final at Pride Park, and ask whether the League Cup final should move to Wembley.And will Birmingham City be promoted to the WSL? Amy Merricks, head coach of the Championship leaders, joins the pod. TIMECODES 03:00 Chelsea v Man City: Part One 11:55 Interview with Sonia Bompastor 22:30 Crystal Palace and the relegation battle 26:05 Birmingham City's promotion pushCommentaries on 5 Live/BBC Sounds: Wednesday: Manchester City v Chelsea - Women's Champions League (8pm) Thursday: Greece v Scotland - Men's Nations League play-off (7:45pm) Friday: England v Albania - Men's World Cup 2026 qualifying (7:45pm) Sunday: Manchester City v Chelsea - Women's Super League (2:30pm)

BBC Sounds music radio podcasts. On the Football Daily, the Women's Football Weekly with Ben Haynes, Ellen White and Jen Beattie. Welcome along to the Women's Football Weekly. It's a podcast of table toppers and leaders today Chelsea boss Sonja Bompastor will be on the pod a little bit later on. Head coach of Championship leaders Birmingham Amy Merricks will be with us too. Plus part one of the four part series between Chelsea and Man City to get into with Chelsea coming out on top in the League Cup final before the Champions League and the WSL clashes to come too. And on the pod today,

as always, and this time with a combined nine League Cup winners medals between them Ellen White and Jen Beatty and I am going to put you on the spot to begin with I hadn't give you warning of this before the pod so apologies for that I would like you to pick out your favorite League Cup win from your careers please Jen you can go first. Singers we're together in London what a treat. Hi Ben. Hi. Yeah we are. What a treat. I'm going to go and say the 2019 against Arsenal. I kind of knew I was going to sign for Arsenal at that point.

Don't know if I should say that one. Did you? Do you want me to do that one? No, that's brilliant. That's brilliant. No, I just, I remember my mum. See, you had an idea at the time, but possibly. No Ben.

No, she knew. She knew. It went to the time. It was extra time. My mom came down from Glasgow. That was really nice. And I just remember having a really nice night with my mom after it, which was sweet. 2019 stands out extra time. Your legs are gone and you win it. That was a good feeling. Did you, did you go down with cramp at any point and have people come and help avenge your foot back? No, I was partial to a bit of cramp but not on that day thankfully.

Ellen White, what's your faith? No, you can't get cramp. Sorry, hi guys, you cannot get cramp. What do you mean you cannot get cramp? You can't. It's just psychologically you can't be seen to have cramp at any point. I'm sorry, I'll just scream. I will literally scream at you if you get cramp. I'll just be like, get up. Sort yourself out. Right, El's, what should we do?

Don't come and ask Ellen for a little stretch then. Yeah, imagine she just walks past you and just leaves you on the floor. No, I'll just drag you off the pitch and just be like, let's carry on guys. Get off there. You have multiple goals to pick from as well, El's, in terms of coming up clutch in League Cup finals. What's your favourite final that you won? Well actually when we originally wrote this, you didn't put 2010 down, that was my first one. Sorry. That was with Leeds versus Everton, scored a couple of goals. So that was amazing actually.

First hands on some silverware and we actually faced Everton like two or three days later and we thrashed them there as well. So that was really nice to beat them back to back. That was exciting. Yeah, that was my first one. So I really enjoyed that one. I want to come back to that. I think that's a really interesting point. Let's go back to the idea of it giving you the bug around winning because the first trophy of the season has been decided. Chelsea beating Man City 2-1 to win the League Cup. Hasagawa's own goal deciding the game in the second half and it is the first of four meetings in 12 days between the sides. So first blood to Chelsea. Let's just go in at the top, Ellen. What did you make of the game? What is your

overarching takeaway? Yeah, I was obviously there watching live. I actually enjoyed the game. I thought it was good. I thought, obviously, I'm sure we'll come onto it a bit later. Football wasn't the best because the pitch wasn't the best. But no, I thought they were both obviously really wanted to win. And I think obviously Man City probably dominated possession, had a lot of chances, but Chelsea just sort of like they loved and thrived defending.

It just looked like a like Millie Bright just looked like they loved and thrived defending. It just looked like a like Millie Bright just looked like she was just loving it and was beyond next to us. Baltimore was doing some ridiculous sliding challenges. Lucy Bronze was just like absolutely thriving on the pitch running like taking people out. It's just I just I just really enjoyed it. It was cool and obviously it's nice to be able to talk about goals. So that was good. And yeah, obviously facing each other four times, this is the first one. Chelsea have got obviously the one nil up, obviously hands on silverware. So I think overall kind of Chelsea probably did deserve it because ultimately Man City,

they needed to score more goals. They had the chances, but they weren't clinical enough. See, just listening to you speak there, Ellen, like I actually couldn't agree more. And a standout moment in that game from the very first few moments. You know the kickoff that Man City do, it goes back to the goalkeeper and they go along and that's their opening sequence. And we've seen that fail a couple of times, but you just see Millie Bright lap that up in the opening seconds and I'm just like oh okay yeah. Couldn't agree more, they just loved the physicality of that game, stood out for me massively for Chelsea. I genuinely thought we saw a bit of a different Man City team as well though, I thought they played with a bit more freedom and I always wondered

how quickly we would see that under Nick Cushing but when you talk about physicality and the love of defending, that moment sprung to mind straight away. I was like ball went long, Millie break laps it up and I was like yeah, physicality one nil up. Two minutes in she gets what is I imagine for defenders one of those dream challenges where the player kind of slightly overruns the ball. I think it's Bunny Shaw. And so there's a real opportunity there. You know you're going to get the ball, but if you want to, you just go and get a bit of extra punch in the challenge. You just sort of set the tone a little bit. A million percent, especially if you're coming up to a player like Bunny Shaw, who's so physically demanding to play up against. But

that's Millie Bright's strength, right? She loves that aspect of the game and I completely admire her for it. But a hundred 100% if you're coming up against someone that you know is going to be physical, Rachael Williams for me was always that one player. Oh really? Yeah, when I used to come up against her I'd be like, right, I'm in for a game here. And Bunny Shaw, like those are two of the strongest number nines I think in terms of physicality but a million percent.

If you know you can get the ball but you can go through the player as well, I'm sorry if you're a physical centre half you're doing it just to show the other team that you're up for it. Nick Cushing sort of mentioned afterwards without going too hard on the pitch Jenny said the pitch at the Joy Stadium will be much better. It looked like it was torn up, how hard is that to play on for both sides? Yeah, it's subtle, subtlety from Nick saying, you know, a little dig at the pitch. But I think we actually spoke about this last week with Arsenal trying to play at Bournemouth and the state of the pitch and how much that does change if you're a ball playing team. And look, Nick Cushing is a ball playing manager. So was Gareth Taylor, Man City are a ball on the ground, short passes,

tiki-taki football but ultimately that is so hard to do if you don't have the surface for it and I can't emphasize that enough if a ball is bobbling and you have to take that extra touch it slows down the game you have to think about the the type of passes you're making, how close together you have to be or to be in order to change the game and change the style of passes, but it does change it. And I think they would have learned that ultimately when you're playing on a neutral ground as well, you've had no practice on it, you've had no sort of time to adapt to it. You go out to warm up and that's when everyone will look at each other and be like,

play a few passes, get used to this as quickly as possible, do we have to change anything? You have to make those decisions really quickly, especially in a cup final when it's a trophy to be lifted. So yeah, I ultimately think it does change the game and you have to adapt quickly and I think we saw that in the league with Arsenal last week and how they struggled at Boreham Wood and the different surfaces, but it is disappointing, especially when it's a cup final. Like you understand when these grounds are being played on week in, week out. After winter, I know that's hard, but can we do more?

Ultimately, we're trying to get the best product of football. It's a huge game, two great footballing teams, and you want it to be a good spectacle to watch. I still enjoyed watching it, don't get me wrong, but it's hard when the conversation after the game is about the pitch and not about the players and highlighting the performances and how good they are as players. So that was the frustration for me and it came from almost everyone actually after the game. Yeah.

I wonder, Ellen, when you arrived, what was your first thoughts on the pitch and did it already put a little bit of an asterisk by the game before you'd even started? Yeah. So we were obviously pitch side. We did our first opening link in the center circle. So we kind of watched, we walked from like the corner flag directly across into the center of the pitch. And yeah, it was very sandy, quite muddy, not a lot of grass. So yeah, I think like me, Alex and Farrow kind of like, oh, this is, this is going to be interesting for the players.

And obviously the quality of the football being seen by everyone in the stadium and on the TV as well. So I was more worried about my trainers of being perfectly honest. But no, no, I'm only joking. No, I think for for women's football and for the product that we want and for the standards and the safety of the players as well. And obviously we've seen the Men's F League final obviously at Wembley and I'm not saying it has to be at Wembley but I just think to keep growing our game and the standards you know keep hammering that home that I think it needs to be better and you know it needs to be looked at. Can I just chuck

this one out then Alan? For the men's FA Cup semi-final they do a double header Saturday and Sunday with a game on each. Why wouldn't that be possible for the League Cup finals? I don't know, I honestly don't know. Are we able to sell that? I don't know how much it costs, I don't know if it's a cost issue, if the pitch is available, whether in the League Cup we like traveling around. Up and down the country, it's moved a lot. I know it's been in the Midlands quite a lot as well. It was at Wolves, it's been at the City Grounds,

and it has traveled around. Slightly smaller capacity stadium, so we were able to fill them, and able for more people to come and see the game. So I don't know, I don't know the reasons. It would be incredible, obviously, to be at somewhere like Wembley, but I don't know the reasons. It would be amazing to have a huge showpiece silverware like the League Cup and the FA Cup

for the women's game to be at Wembley. There is certainly a valid point to be made in terms of being as close to fan bases as possible as well, Jen, for people that maybe don't get the opportunity to watch their team week in, week out, or maybe to take the women's game, showpiece events within the women's game to places where there's not necessarily always the highest possible level on show. Completely understand both arguments of wanting to, you know, that's an element of trying to grow the game and playing it all over England. But I'm looking at the attendance from the weekend.

It was only 15,000 and that's not a crazy amount. You're looking at most recent FA Cup finals at Wembley and they hit much bigger numbers in recent years. I think as people in the game, we're always looking and pushing to expand it and grow. If that is an area where, why not? Why not have a League Cup final at Wembley? Why not trial it? Why not test it? See what the numbers would look like.

I love the idea of back to back semi-finals at Wembley because I genuinely think women's fans, some, I'm not saying all, because there's obviously huge fans for big clubs, but some would go to both games. Some would make a weekend of it and go to both and fill it out that way. If we're looking at attendances and the reasons for playing across England but if the attendances aren't huge I'm thinking well why not. I always go back to fan experience. There's no better fan experience than watching your team play at Wembley. It's the stadium of England, it's the national stadium, it's the best stadium

in England. The fan experience to get down to watch your team play at Wembley. It's the stadium of England, it's the national stadium, it's the best stadium in England. The fan experience to get down to watch your team play at Wembley, I think you're more inclined to travel to London and watch that than you would be to go elsewhere in England. Parts two and three of the quad coming up then this week, both in Manchester. On Wednesday it's the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal at the Joyce Stadium and that's followed by Sunday's WSL clash at the Etihad. And before the League Cup final, I had the chance to speak to Chelsea boss Sonja Bompastor and we discussed why results rather than performances matter the most at

this stage of the season. It's always important when you had practiced before and if you build confidence into your performances and you have good performances, it's a good thing to go in the pitch and have this confidence from your performances to make sure you have better chances to win the game. But now it's about being efficient, having a game plan, really clear plan and being able to execute the game plan, being able to and being able to execute the game plan, being able to score goals and to win the game. So yeah that's the mentality we need to have and at the end of the day if someone tells me, oh actually you won the title but you didn't play that well, I don't care,

I don't care. It's in yeah football you know the most important again is to win games. You've had an experience like this before with Lyon in that you go through these periods when you're playing or part of a club like Lyon, you're going to come up against PSG a lot, you're going to have these head-to-heads. Yes. How similar will this be with Man City over the course of the next few weeks? Yeah, a lot of similarity, but with Lyon maybe we had more space between the games so now against City it will be four games, 12 days and three different competitions so I think yeah it's rare in football but we are really looking for it and yeah we are really

excited. Do any of them change in terms of like the tactical side? So I thought it must be really fascinating going against the same manager three times in a row because you start to understand what the other is doing. Do you then have to try and avoid getting into a managerial battle almost? Most importantly sometimes when you play them like three days after, everything is fresh and yeah it's sometimes harder. So I just said when we played Everton two games in one week, I knew the second game will be tougher for us.

So yeah, it's always the case, but for both teams. So it will be the case for their manager, for me, but I will be ready for that. So I was going to say, is there any temptation to mix it up and to change things to try and get an edge? I think you need to stay confident on what you have been doing for different months now and several months. But also if you feel like something didn't work on the game you had before and you know something can work better, maybe make a change, but every game will be different. And I'm guessing maybe in four games we'll have to rotate the squads because I don't see any player being able to play four games 90 minutes and to still be able to perform. So every game

will be different. I was going to say I'm sure all of your players would love to play all of those games every single minute but they won't get the chance. Two final questions to finish up. Now, I wanted to go back to this from the last time that we spoke. You said that you're still working on your English, but your English is magnificent. Thank you. I wondered at what point do you switch into French on matchday? Is it if you want to say bad words or if you want to say good words? You know during the game I'm with my assistant coach talking to her and yeah most of the time... Is this on headphones? Yes headphones. And is that all in French? Most of the time yes.

So yeah when bad words come, it comes in French for sure. Even in training sessions, sometimes in training sessions when I'm not really happy, I have this bad word that comes in my mind. It's not a nice word in French, but the girls start to smile sometimes because it's a known one. Even the English persons will know this one in French. Most of the time, again, I think it's really important for me when I'm coaching to just give confidence to my players. So even when sometimes I can have some negative words coming into my mind, I just make sure I share with Cami, but not with the players.

And the final one, Sonja, it's Mother's Day on the horizon soon. And I wondered if there was one thing that you got from your mum that you're really proud of And if there's one thing that your kids take from you what you'd like it to be I would say just be happy, you know enjoy life This is what I got from my mom and this is the message I want to give to my kids Life is sometimes hard. So don't make it harder and just enjoy because yeah when you are healthy that's the most important. I just learned two days ago I lost one of my friends he was so young and yeah he was sick so yeah just enjoy life and don't make things hard or difficult when it's not

needed so yeah happiness is something really important for me. Nathanael Moczko Wonderful to hear from Sonia Bompastor there. And Jen, I always find that you're such a fascinating listener. Jen Harkness I honestly could listen to her interviews all day. I think the way that she just has this unreal balance of the competitiveness and wanting to win and the focus on the task at hand with this real sort of natural human instinct that she understands people and she understands life. And I think as managers to get that balance is so hard. And she just sounds like a kind of person that you'd want

to play for, right? And I could listen to her all day and I think she gets it. She's been there as a player and is doing it now as a manager. And I think for her to get, you know, her first piece of silverware was for Chelsea was huge and to get it in the first opportunity of doing so absolutely massive. And yeah, I just genuinely think she gets the balance so well and is awesome to listen to. I think you have to give huge credit as well, Ellen, to the fact that she says it's all about winning when you get to this stage of competition. You go into winning mode and you try to be efficient as opposed to perfect.

Love it. Just win. Train, recover and win games. I just love it. She's just, when you say it like that, it's just so simple, isn't it? And obviously you do all the hard graph, you do all the hard work, the preseason, the training, off the field, the analysis. But ultimately it's about winning games. And yes, you have a philosophy that you want to play by. You have formations, you have tactics, everything. But it's about getting the job done. And that is what it that is what football is about.

And that is why they've won so much, why she's won so much as a player and obviously as a manager. And I think I would have really liked to have been managed by her. I think she would have been amazing. I feel like I would have scored a couple of goals. I would have really enjoyed my time. Maybe my hands on a couple more silverware. But no, I feel like the players really thrive under her and I think it's really exciting.

Like you said, Gem, she just seems like a really nice human being. She has that great balance of we're working here, but then like, are you okay? What do you need? I'm a human being, you're a human being, player and manage a relationship, but then human to human relationship is so important. And that again, that seems so simple, but hardly any people get that right. Yeah, I love the efficiency aspect, what you touched on just there. I think we know what it's like, right? When you get to this point in the season and you're in four competitions

and it is a hundred percent about play, rest, recover, what tweaks are we making for the next game and it is being efficient. I love that. You're not training for two hours. Training becomes reduced because you're playing three games a week. And I just love the hearing a manager and knowing that they've been there and done it because that is exactly how it feels when you're a player. You're trying to be the most efficient. You're trying to get the most amount of sleep. You're trying to do exactly what you need in order to be in the best physical condition going into the next game under a short space of time. And it was just, I just love listening to her speak because she's been there, done it,

and she's now managing a team that are in the exact same position that she was season after season at Lyon. Okay, what should we look out for over the course of the next few? Ellen, what have you got on your scout report card for us to get stuck into over the next couple of games? Oh god, absolutely no idea. I just want to see, it must be so challenging to play each other four times in a row. And Sonja did say when they played Everton, that's about the second one was the hardest one. So I think Chelsea have got more depth than Man City. So I think Chelsea have got more depth than Man City. So I think Chelsea are probably more likely

to make more changes, to create that intensity that they want to create, especially in that midfield, the likes of Hermano, Aggie Beaver-Jones, I think they'll be included a lot more. I do think she will play Millie and Lucy every game. I feel like she will. Actually, Lawrence has got some great energy, actually, though, on that right-hand side. So I feel like it's going to be more tricky for Man City to be able to keep that intensity and that energy

for four games because their bench, I'm not sure whether they'll have a bigger impact as what Chelsea's bench could potentially do in the starting line-ups. Yeah, both games coming up this week for you on Five Live and on BBC Sound. So, Champions League game Wednesday night followed by the WSL match on Sunday afternoon and then it'll be just one left in that quadruple. Sunday's match will also be live on BBC One so make sure that you check that out. live as we'll get stuck into the latest from the Football League and beyond. We're punching well above our weight already, we're a part-time team in a full-time league. Hopefully we can stay in the league and that ASDA, we're in a great position at the moment and long may that continue. That's 72 plus, the EFL podcast only on the Football Daily.

Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily, the bottom, Liverpool beating Man United but arguably the result of the weekend saw Crystal Palace, bottom in the table, pick up just their second league win. They beat Aston Villa 3-1 to really blow the relegation battle wide open. Ellen, this is a massive result for Palace with just eight games to go. Where does this leave them in terms of the rest of the season? Does this give them the momentum that they potentially need to go on and potentially survive? I think this is absolutely huge. I think that was a six pointer for them.

I feel like a draw wasn't good enough for Palace. I feel like them winning against Villa, getting the three points and now being one point behind them with the likes of Everton, Leicester, and West Ham still to play. I think it's huge. The momentum that I reckon in-house that's created will be absolutely massive.

And I don't want to say it, but I just think that other teams could be dragged into this. And I think all the pressure is now on Villa. So if we look at the table, who you see in potentially dragged in, Ellen. So we've got Palace sitting bottom of the table with nine points. Villa are 11th with 10 points, Leicester City

12 points in 10th and then West Ham 9th with 15 points. Is that where you draw the line or do you potentially drag Everton in there, Spurs? No, I think Leicester and West Ham could be part of that conversation, probably more so Leicester with the fact that Palace have still got them to play. But then I just think that them winning, Palace winning. So I think Schmerrard coming in, I think he's made huge changes psychologically for that team, culture-wise, just giving them the belief and desire and fight. And I think that's what they've needed. And they showed that against Aston Martin. They didn't have huge amounts of possession. I think Villa actually played better. It was them actually having the belief to go on and win the game.

Just one thing on Palace, I'd love to get your thoughts on Jen. They didn't have a huge amount of the ball against Villa. Is there a bit of a blueprint here in terms of staying in games and then making your moments count because we can see that the games coming up, they've got Leicester at home, West Ham at home. They've also got to play Arsenal Chelsea City. Do you potentially just say, listen, we write those off and we focus on the games that we know that we can pick points up in and then when the key moments come, make sure that we're in a position to take them. Yeah, I think key key moments in a game, especially if you're up against, you know against teams higher in the league than you are, you look at set pieces and you look at counters

and where the palaces goes wrong set piece and mistakes at the back, but you have to be efficiency talk about taking your chances. But I'm looking at the bottom three, Leicester, Villa, Palace. I think Leicester will be okay. They've been pretty consistent over the past few seasons. What I love about Leicester, they're able to adapt with who they're playing against, right? The top teams, they bank up, they play it safe, they go on and play other teams. Palace is remaining, I think they can get something out of Everton, I think they can get something out of West Ham. The other games, they look difficult, but if you're looking at, I'm more worried about Villa at this point in time, with five losses on the bounce, that's really tough, but Palace have to look at key games that they know that they can pick up points because

they've proven that they can do it against Villa, 3-1, unbelievable result. But the key moments like being tight defensively, solidly, if you don't have the ball for long periods of time, then go take advantage of what that team gives you. Go counter on those mistakes and be so clear and specific on your set pieces and how you're going about them. And that's the bottom of the WSL, but who might be coming up from the Championship to replace one of those sides? Well, after Charlton dropped points over the weekend, it leaves Birmingham City and London City Lionesses as the main contenders. Birmingham lead the

way three points ahead of their main rivals, who do have a game in hand. I'm delighted to say that Birmingham head coach Amy Merricks joins us on the podcast. Welcome Amy, how are you? Thank you, I'm good thank you. Thanks for having me. Now it's wonderful to have you off the back of another good weekend. It is shaping up to be a real battle isn't it? Oh yeah absolutely. It's a really competitive league. I think it's the most competitive it's been yet to date. We knew it'd be challenging, but we're just really focusing on ourselves. So we just keep moving with the momentum at the moment. Amy, take us into that. Why has it been more competitive this season and what's made the

difference? I think a large part of that is the personnel in the teams and the recruitment that's taken place. I mean you see the likes of Newcastle coming into the league and they've recruited and really invested. I think we've seen more WSL, NWSL and top European players join the league than ever before, which increases the competition element of it. Every game's a challenge. So yeah, I would say personnel plays a massive part in that. I was at Birmingham a few years ago, and we were professional.

A few years ago. Math. I'm so glad that you took that and I didn't have to say it. Well played, Amy. And we were professional, but we weren't't professional if you get my drift and I wanted to kind of ask what the club kind of looks like now professional wise like training at Wast Hills all the games at St Andrews it seems like the club is finally being

like really appreciated invested standards funding like is you talk talk us through from from your side really. Yeah, there's been significant change, even in my time, Ellen, and I'm sure if you were to come into the building now, you'd be like, wow, we actually had Karen Carney come in pre-season, speak to the team, and she was amazed by the changes that had happened across the training ground and the support the team were getting. I guess to put it into context, when I came in at the back end of last season, all of the staff were in cabins in hearts with minimal space, sharing that space. There was nowhere to have lunch as such, limited access to the gym and now we have full access, we have priority on the site.

There's been a brand new building built in the centre of our training ground where the players have a player lounge, an analysis room with not just the rooms but what is in the room. We have your big touchscreen analysis equipment, etc. It keeps changing day by day. I walk in every day and I think there's someone new here to support the infrastructure. For us, it's really about being WSL ready, making sure we put the foundations in place. We know everything takes time, but it's making sure that the players have everything that they need to perform and the backing has been incredible. they need to perform and the backing has been incredible.

That's what I was going to say. Obviously WSL is the ambition, you want to be there, but you want to stay there. What are the kind of the things that you are implementing? And I've also like obviously looking at you from afar in terms of the players you're bringing in, Van Egman obviously, Franch, the goalkeeper, obviously started at the weekend as well, but you've got really experienced players as well that have played in both Championship and WSL. I've played alongside Lucy Quinn before, we all know what Quinn's like, and also Lee. You've got some really experienced, but then you've got some younger, and I feel like you've got a nice balance to potentially then stay in the WSL. Yeah, for us it's always been about players that are WSL ready and WSL potential. We have some real exciting talent that we truly believe that we nurture them and then we give them the best development and the environment that they will also be WSL ready.

So we work really hard with our recruitment team in terms of getting that balance right. And of course, as you all know, Ellen, to win titles, you need players that have experienced winning and competing as well. So those additions were important for the experience and the culture. You know, we need leaders here. We need players that know what it's like to be in a high performance environment. We certainly don't want to settle. And then just the backroom team, I think we're maybe one of only a selection of clubs that have the likes of a full-time nutritionist to really make sure that every player

is getting exactly what they need. So that's just an example of something that we do. We really want to give the players the best opportunity that they can be in WSL ready and competing for promotion. That's it. That's why we all do it, isn't it? And I think the more clubs that we see take that route and really provide female athletes with the care and the support that they need, we'll just see the game continue to grow. So yeah, and obviously that's part of Hope's remit.

That's certainly what she's coming to do. And we both did that at Brighton. We know how to build and sustain and it's about getting ready, isn't it? 100%. I think as players, you want to feel loved, appreciated, and you want to then see it for yourself as well. So it's amazing to see, you know, everything that obviously you're all implementing and you're banging the door and being like we want more, we want more and obviously, you know, Hope has been a huge part of that, hasn't she? And obviously, has she been a huge influence for you as well from your path in coaching as well? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, obviously, I assisted her for five years. So I was really fortunate actually that Hope came in and

gave me that opportunity to stay and grow at Brighton at that time. And then obviously when she left, I also grew again because then I was thrown into the realms of interim charge. So that was brilliant to work alongside her. We have similar values but we're also very different in our styles, so I think we complement each other. But I think the biggest thing is we know what it looks like to be WSL ready and we know how to sustain it once we get there and it's certainly not easy. I think we see now the WSL has progressed even further beyond certainly when we was there, so we really have to push more and I just want to touch on as well. We also as a club want to make sure that those that have helped the club get to this point continue coming on a journey with us. So you mentioned Lucy Quinn. There's

also like so Christie Murray, who has also been for a significant amount and she's leading the way for us both on and off the pitch in a moment. Amy, can you just tell us a little bit about Hope Pell for perhaps some of our younger listeners that maybe haven't come across what a huge part of the women's game she's been. Can you tell us a little bit about your interaction with her, but also the legacy that she has within the game? Yeah, of course. A massive legacy in the game. I think if you look back at what she achieved at England over 15 years, but she built there a full-time contracted model for the international player,

built up the age groups as well, significant impact. So I took it from right at the beginning and grew into what it was. And then at Brighton, very similar, when she came in at Brighton, there was, I think, three members of full-time staff across the women and girls department. And when I left, we had about 30 to 35 members of full-time staff leading the women and girls department. Not only that, we were in a top flight and had sustained it with incredible foundations there. So, you can see why she's been brought in at Birmingham.

She knows how to build something. She's a fantastic support for myself. She's obviously overseeing the whole side of the women and girls structure and how it runs day to day. So I probably don't see her that often during the weeks, but we speak near enough every day on what we need to do next and where the team is. Massive support for me and I think she's really led the way for females across the game.

Amy, can I just ask quickly about, we talk about support and we've talked a lot about new mums playing and being supported at their clubs and how incredible it is to have kids around the changing rooms and in the clubs and being supported in that real family atmosphere. I'd love to know how Louise Quinn's getting on, how the club's supporting her and how the girls have taken all that on board as well. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what an adorable baby as well Dara is and we're delighted for Lou. And do you know what, she came in the other day and she was just absolutely glowing. I

think it's really important that players have the support to be able to live their lives as well as performing on an elite stage. We're trying to put in as many measures as we can to support Lou in the whole process. She's actually just returned today from her initial first stint of paternity leave. We worked alongside Lou. What do you want your paternity leave to look like? How can we break it up? What would you prefer? How does it align with the schedule? We made a really nice compromise. I think she got exactly what she wanted. And not only that, it doesn't stop there with just the paternity leave. Now it's about me and Lou actually making sure we're communicating effectively and she gets the time she needs to go home and be with baby and mom of course. But

and we keep saying to her, please bring the baby in. That's what it's about. We all want to meet that. So I think you know what I think a lot of it is, is maybe we don't talk about it enough, do we? We don't, I don't know, historically, do we do we ask the players enough what they need and what they feel they want to feel supported and cared for? That's what I see. I just said to Lou, look, how do we support you? And I hope had the same conversations with her too. It's a part of life. We want people to be able to enjoy that as well as being a professional footballer. Amy, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on. Just before we let you go, let's go into full cliche mode. Are you planning for next year or just taking it one game as it comes?

Yeah, one game at a time. Our process doesn't change. So we just keep pushing forwards and enjoying it. Best of luck for the rest of the season. Thank you so much for joining us, Amy. Thank you guys. Take care. Good luck. Thanks, Amy. Thanks guys. Bye bye. And that's where we'll leave it for today. Remember, part two and part three of the Chelsea versus Man City Quadruple. Alive on this week...

Alive this week on Five Live and BBC Sounds, Champions League quarterfinal first leg is on Wednesday at the Joy Stadium and then on Sunday it's the WSL match from the Etihad. Myself, Ellen and Jen are back next week. We'll catch you then. This is the football story of the century. It's pandemonium, it's ecstasy. It's an authoritarian regime. For the past 15 years, English football has been dominated by Manchester City. Eight Premier League titles, six League Cups, three FA Cups, one Champions League. And they've won three!

And more than a hundred charges. Somebody turned up at the Etihad Stadium and effectively served papers. I'm Clive Myrie and this is Football on Trial. The Manchester City charges. They believe they've got irrefutable evidence. Listen on BBC Sounds.