The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - England’s World Cup setback and Durham’s fight for survival – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry and Marva Kreel to discuss England’s failure to qualify automatically for the 2027 World Cup and the uncertain future facing Durham.

This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faker others and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. The lionesses will have to go through the playoffs to reach next year's World Cup after their heaviest defeat in 17 years. We'll reflect on the loss to Spain and the win over Ukraine and ask where England go from here. Elsewhere, we'll look at all the Nations League results. The Scotland and Wales are promoted to League A, and the Republic of Ireland almost qualify automatically.

While domestically, Durham are on the precipice and looking for investors to save them. We'll discuss all that. Plus, we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. What's a panel we have today, and I missed you all last week. But Susie Rack, your roly-poly, had me tickled. How you doing? I should do another one, shouldn't I, just for, you know, like your benefit, really.

Let's just presume I've just done one. Yeah. Cartwheel this time. Upgrade it. Tom Gary, happy birthday to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. I took in a chocolate cake to the England press conference on Monday,

and Serena Veevan had a slice, which was lovely. Oh, such a teacher's pet you are. I'm expecting that. It was a lovely little, yeah, light-hearted moment in the end of season. Oh, I love that. Marva Creel, how you doing? I'm very well, thanks. Just got back from a little holiday.

Had to escape the North London Arsenal madness around me, so that was nice to get away from it. And come back to a bit more quiet, yeah. Yeah, Susie Rack in the background. And thank goodness this is not a visualised pod at the moment because there's some glee on her face, shall we say, and some kind of arm movement going on. Anyway, I'll let you decide what kind of celebration Susie's doing.

She's so happy with that Champions Cup. It's good. Anyway, she had her arms in the air, as you would do in a roller coaster, and it has been a roller coaster of a week for England. World Cup qualification came to a close, and ahead of Friday's match in Mayorka, the lionesses were the only team to have a 100% win rate, but that was unfortunately brought abruptly to a halt

as Spain cruise to a 4-0 victory. It was such a bruising defeat, their heaviest in 17 years, and one that put them on the back foot in terms of gaining the group's automatic qualification spot. They went into that final game against Ukraine with a slither of hope that they could still do it, responded well. They beat Ukraine 3-0, but Spain's 6-1 win over Iceland saw Sonja Bermudez's side book their place at the World Cup with England left to navigate the playoffs. Massive disappointment for England not to get that automatic qualification spot. We did know it was going to be tricky, but the manner of that defeat to Spain, Susie, where did it all go wrong on Friday? Yeah, it was very disappointing, wasn't it? I mean, I think there was like elements of fatigue there that maybe Spain weren't suffering quite so much given the league season or Premier League season went on until the weekend before. So there's a little bit more like match fitness in the body. But at the same time, like they had players that play in England and other countries as well. So it's not like totally like a complete excuse. And when we're talking about elite athletes at the top level of the game, like a couple of weeks should be okay to kind of dust.

off the cobwebs, but I think that it has been a very long season for a lot of the England players off the back of the Euro's into the summer and then into a very intense season. We know the league intensity is much higher than a lot of the other leagues, given its competitiveness around Europe as well. So, yeah, I think that was an element of it, but there was just a real lack of match sharpness. Like the passing was erratic, the movement was a little bit sluggish. And Spain were just really, really on it as well. and I think it was a shock that it was quite as bad a performance as it was,

but obviously we know that getting a result in Spain is notoriously hard to do. You know, it's a battle wherever you play them. So it was frustrating not to avoid such a heavy defeat that would have kept England's chances alive. If they lost one nil, then there would have been hope going into the final game. Although looking at the results of the final two games of the group, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. So I suppose there's a little bit of solace in that maybe.

But yeah, it's a particularly harsh way for it to happen with a defeat of that nature. Yeah, maybe a good reality check at some points, possibly, because it was the heaviest margin of defeat between England and Spain in their histories. And before that, the lionesses had back-to-back wins against Spain. So what did it tell us, Tom, about where the lionesses are right now? And was it just one of those games where everything went wrong? I think it was a combination of Spain being an electric form and England being really poor, as Susie alluded to. And it probably showed us just how well England played last summer in the Euro's final.

It was a reminder of what an achievement that was. The Spain team are insanely good and technically wonderful at football. and you have to be absolutely at your top, top level. Everybody in the team has to have a good game. Everybody has to defend well. And if you think back to how well Leah Williamson and Jess Carter played in that final in Basel, rock solid at sense. And actually, if we think back to April at Wembley, when a lot of him and Mawainesey Morgan

both faultless as well, that has to happen. And this was a reminder of what happens if you're not all playing that well and how easily they can tear you apart. I also think, and I apologize to Susie who's having rant about this already quite a few times since Friday. I think England approached

the game completely wrong. In terms of their tactical approach, they totally didn't read the situation in the group. We're probably paying too much respect to Iceland and Ukraine because Vigman's incredibly respectful coach, isn't she? She never assumes that anyone's

going to be anyone else. She's never so arrogant as to a state or assume that England will be Ukraine. But we can say that because we're just being realistic. This group boiled down to two head-to-head games. against Spain.

And England were one nil up on I could get. That's how I read the situation. And England should have gone there for a draw. I'm talking deep line, five across the back, play ugly, slow down the clock, fight, battle, like play all the haulsory, like you're going there for a draw. And that is an absolutely amazing result. And instead they started the game with a high defensive line. They attacked.

they went like I just they were sitting higher I didn't understand that that it was the same formation as they would play against iceland or Ukraine I didn't understand that and with the very very luxurious benefit of hindsight I suspect Veman wishes they had also been a little bit more defensive in the game but anyway it might not have changed much in them would probably lose anyway because Spain was so good and we really need to also have the context of how I unusual it is for the World Cup finalists in qualifying and giving them a little bit of slack as well. A frustrating one, isn't it really? Because I think it went to, for me, they went a bit too attacking.

Although I did say to someone, we'll get onto this a little bit more afterwards, but I did say to someone yesterday, partly to have another two competitive games that they wouldn't have had, you know, with the playoffs. The second round could be quite tricky for England. It could be Belgium, could be Scotland, could be Switzerland. The first round, I feel sorry for whoever gets England. I think it's a total waste of time. I think we're talking 15 in an aggregate.

The list of teams, one of them, Kazakhstan ranked 100th in the world, over two legs. England would much rather have gone to play. Brazil and are friendly. The Americans in a friendly. Australia and a friendly in terms of preparation for next summer. So that's the downside. England fans can relax. England will surely still go to the...

of tournament in Brazil. And Vigman, as we know, actually had needed the playoffs before the 2019 World Cup with the Netherlands, still all the way to the final. She's still a wonderful tournament coach. And we can still be optimistic about next summer, but it's the lack of time to experiment now because Vigman will treat them as competitive games and probably play the first choice 11 for all four. So that's a difference, I think, compared to what we would have looked at with autumn. It's very rare I go positive. And Tom Garry turns me negative. and then reverts it back to positive again. There's that roller coaster analogy I was talking about earlier on.

It was a joy. Serena Vigman Mava described it as a hit on the chin. Look, it ultimately didn't matter, but the response against Ukraine perhaps restored confidence ahead of the summer break, which could be important? I'm going to do the roller coaster again and maybe say no on that one, because I don't think, in a way I don't think either of those. games taught us that much more about England that we didn't already know in that. We know that

even on their sort of worst day or when they're just okay, we know that they can put our performance like that against Ukraine. I didn't even think it was particularly an amazing performance. I don't think we even, in that sense, learned something more about England and thought, oh, actually, no, we can play this incredibly dynamic football and very technical and on the ball. It wasn't like they showed us that, which was the thing that was the massive talent gap against. Spain. So I don't think we learned that much more in that Ukrainian game, although, of course, yes, great to just get an easy, comfortable win. And then also some players getting a chance as well, I've been killed about it. I thought that was great for her to get that chance. But in

terms of, yeah, the Spain game, I don't think we learned that much more. I think in terms of a hit on the chin, I think one like that's been coming for a very long time. In fact, we've possibly even had them, but just in moments where it hasn't really mattered. Like, I think a lot of the response to that game has talked about the lack of that sort of that talent. gap of real sort of technical on the ball, midfielders and just everyone just playing incredible football as Spain do. But I think in games, that game against Brazil, we were sort of outplayed recently. I think even against France, we had that in the first game of the Euros. We've, we've seen that quite a bit with England, but we know that's not what England's strong point

is. Our strong point is that when we get to tournaments, we play brilliantly, you know, sort of all together, defensive football, bodies on the line. And I just don't. think you can do bodies on the line defending constantly throughout all sort of qualification stages. And maybe that is a problem. Maybe we do have to look at what is our plan B when all our players aren't fully up to it or aren't fully fit. But yeah, I don't think either the Ukraine game or the Spain game have taught us that much more. But I do think it is one for Serenus to go, do I just continue like that? Because it is sort of working. And if we get so, you know, Brazil when we go far, then that is still working?

Or does she look at how do we switch it up when we do have to play a very talented team and can we actually match them? Yeah, it's really interesting because I think you almost want this to happen now rather than the World Cup. But she has been adaptable in previous major tournament. She has had a plan B when players have been injured. I'll go back to Kira Walsh in Australia and she had to find solutions. And she's usually pretty good at that.

But I kind of agree with what Tom said earlier in terms of the naivety and exactly what you said, Marva, that we didn't learn anything from the Ukraine game particularly. What we did learn is that they're wasteful, which we've known for quite a while, actually, no shots on target against Spain, chances not converted against Ukraine. How concerned are you, Susie, about this kind of lack of creativity and clinical finesse? It's definitely a worry. The lack of creativity in particular is what most concerns me. It's almost like we've not got the pieces of the puzzle to fit quite right yet in that I don't think we've worked out the best way to get the best out of Lauren James in an England shirt yet. Like they've tried her in the 10. It didn't quite work out. They've tried her out wide. Like she's more effective there for sure, but still we're not getting the best of her. And yes, she's had obviously her various injury

problems that have disrupted any kind of rhythm she's been able to gain or momentum. But I feel, you know, feel like you've got to be kind of finding that best role for her. And I think we've got a lot of great individuals, but not necessarily a great unit. You know, in the Spain game, you have a less seriouso starting in the number nine. And then you drop her back into the 10 and put hemp centrally. That, again, didn't quite work either. It didn't really, like, I didn't see any kind of new energy from England after that. change and the wide players coming on, Kelly and Mead, to any, like, significant extent,

you know, the odd moment, but like no more than they were having beforehand. And that doesn't feel like a formula that works, but yet there wasn't that much else available on the bench. I was disappointed not to see Jess Park come on. I feel like her drive and vision and those sort of, you know, kind of ball at the feet runs into the box, like offered something a little bit different maybe. I was also surprised. I know, you know, Ella Toon is a safe pair of hands in big games and, you know, it's had a bit of an up-and-down season and stuff herself, but I was kind of slightly disappointed not to see Lucia Kendall start again, given how well she played against Spain in the reverse fixture, which just, again, is a little bit different. And then, you know,

with Russo playing so regularly in the 10 at Arsenal, still switching between the two, but more regularly there. I don't, I think we've got great puzzle pieces, but all to different puzzles at the moment and they need to figure out. And this is going to sound a bit extreme, a bit like too cool, right? It may work out to be a huge success or it may end up being an incredible failure. But I feel like the men's team that's been put together for this World Cup has been done on the basis of a team of players that he thinks will work together in their various positions and things like that, rather than the individual quality of the player. And I think that may, like I say, may or may work out

and prove to be brilliant or prove to be idiotic. On the other hand, I think we've just not got quite enough of that team focus on the women's side. Yeah, it's a little bit too, like trying to fit the individuals into it in a way that doesn't necessarily complement and build the team as a whole. Yeah, and that is really interesting because Thomas Tuchel did say that to me right, At the beginning when he was given the job, in October 2024, he said he was going to pick the best group of players to take to the World Cup, not necessarily the best players, which is controversial because as England fans, we all want the best players to be selected. But sometimes they don't necessarily gel together and make that complete jigsaw puzzle that we've just been talking about.

Let's talk about some of the players, Tom, that she left out as well and didn't use. Because, you know, understandably questions over team selection. Agi Biva Jones not in the squad at all against Spain and then unused sub for Ukraine. Freya Godfrey still hasn't made her England debut. What do you make of some of the choices that Serena Vigman's making with regard to personnel? There might be stuff that we don't know about the players in terms of load and things like that. Those two really surprised me.

I give you the Jones to not play any, you know, minutes across the camp, given how much she was thriving in the World Sevens tournament, I can only assume that Serenia Vigman didn't take that into consideration in terms of form at all, because she was the best player in that tournament by quite a distance up there with Melvin Mallard as the two standouts and didn't get a chance. So that was a bit odd. And I think that St. England had got to be quite wary of because there are now no friendlies for the next 12 months. So as Nations League will begin in February.

So there's not many chances of players on the fringe to be tried out in a more experimental way. And I felt very sorry for Frey Godfrey to not even be named in the 23. I didn't understand why you would have a defender on the bench instead of Freer Godfrey against Ukraine. Ukraine, who had 19% of possession, you only competed six final third passes. We didn't need to have spare defenders on the bench for that game. It was a chance to give attacking players a chance to show what they can do. And that felt really weird to me.

I feel quite sorry for she had a very impressive season for London City Lionesses and is the sort of player that England need to be starting to bed into this squad for not just this World Cup, but looking beyond to the next Euro. So that was strange. Just Park, certainly in the first half of the doubles-old season was one of the standout players in the league. We'll be really disappointed with the lack of minutes she's had in this camp. And the other part, I suppose, Mayor Letitiae also played quite well last night,

admittedly against a very inferior opposition, but her stats were quite good right back. So it's always a difficult transition, isn't it? Because the players that Vigman has trusted have been so magnificent in the major torments. We're talking Lucy Browns, you know, Ella Toon, obviously the core of that team, you know, and it's understandable that she wants to give loyalty to that group, and she knows that group can deliver in big gains,

but there also has to be an element of gradual evolution, which I'm not quite sure we're seeing just yet. And then the other one I would say is that England will be really looking forward to see Michelle Adjiaman back, because as Susie alluded to, we haven't really got any backup striker options at the moment. and there's a great one that hopefully we can welcome back who was exceptional last summer. So not all doom and gloom, don't panic England fans,

but there are minor concerns, I think, about how little opportunities some people are getting. Let's talk about the playoffs. England now face, well, we don't know yet. Could be anybody. It's seeded, which is slight positive to it, you know, more tension going into the autumn and jeopardy in terms of they may not qualify. We have spoken about it before, but now the campaign is kind of over Marva.

And when we kind of look at the number of other teams that accumulated so many points and still didn't automatically qualify, does this format feel, not just unforgiving, but also slightly unfair, or is that just me with my England lens on going, oh, we should definitely automatically qualify? No, I think even if we had automatically qualified in Spain or in our position, I'd be thinking the same thing, that two teams like England and Spain should be automatically qualifying when getting that many points from a qualifying group. And also, you want the best teams to be at the World Cup. And a lot of people said that kind of about the men's World Cup. and comparing to Italy, for example,

but, you know, Italy men didn't do their job, whereas I'd say in this qualification round, England, women and Spain did their job to get that many points and even just the seeding of it in the first place that you could have the two teams who have gone up against each other in the World Cup and in the Euros,

find themselves that only one of them can get through automatically. And then you look at just how it's seeded across the board and who's getting through in terms of the playoffs. I think I don't, I don't quite see the benefit of it. I understand that having some more competitive games generally as a whole makes the season and the year a little bit more interesting,

a bit more entertaining. Of course, we always talk back to that sort of 20-0 win, but as a whole, when it then gets to this point and then you've got the matchup of the first rounds of qualification, we're still going to see things like that anyway. And then moving forward as well,

you might get a few real, upsets that at this stage of women's football, I don't know it is good for the tournament as a whole. I don't know if these kind of won off playoffs and having some of the better teams, you look at the teams that are going to be in the qualifiers when it's Netherlands and in Sweden and then even, you know, we could be playing Belgium or Portugal and some of these teams that then it could just take a bad game. It could take one sending off. it could take something crazy like that to mean that some really expected teams don't make it to the World Cup. And I just think, I don't know if we win from that as a whole.

Maybe in many years to come, I think it's great when you have a bit of an upset. But currently and where we want to see the World Cup next year is we want to see the best teams there. And I don't think this format particularly allows for that. Well, to be fair, Sweden didn't really do their job. They finished 30. Well, yeah, Sweden did it. We'll discuss that later. I know you've been working all of this out, Tom.

The draw for the playoffs is on the 18th of June. Who might we get, basically? We know that England will play one of the following eight teams in the first round. So the draw, as you say, 18th of June and over two legs between the 7th and the 13th October, England will play either Lithuania, Kosovo, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Belarus, Croatia or Kazakhstan. and assuming that they can win that over two legs, then in the November-December international camp, they will play one of a long, long list of teams,

which cannot be any of the sides who finished second or third in League A of the National League. So they cannot play, for example, the Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Italy or Norway, or any of those sort of major tournament regulars. But they could play Belgium, they could play Scotland, and they could play Switzerland and they could play Ukraine again in that second round. We will know all of this, the draw on the 18th of June.

I agree with everything that Marva said, and I think that it's really important. I mean, I was listening to the radio this morning and heard someone say, oh, it's the first time England women have failed to win their World Cup qualifying group for nearly 25 years, which is a factually correct sentence,

but needs the context that we have only got four automatic qualifiers this time, and it was nine automatic qualifiers from Europe for the last World Cup. It's a major, major rebamp of the format. with a huge expansion of the playoffs. So kind of being in the playoffs is not the disappointment that it might have been in previous tournament cycles.

I completely agree with that and with Marva as well. It's mad, isn't it, that England finish on 15 points, which is higher than the top of Group A, Denmark on 14, higher than the top of Group 1 in League A, higher than France's 13 points at the top of Group 2, and only behind Group 4, Germany, 16 points, level on points with Spain. Like it's literally insane. Sophie, producer Sophie, described it to me as being very bottom heavy,

this qualification process and the playoff system and the fact that so many places go into playoff places rather than into automatic qualifications. It feels like totally lopsided. It should be top two from each and then a smaller playoff system for me. I feel like that's the logical thing. And I agree with Marva. Like it can seem like sour grapes,

but we 100% would be saying the same if it was Spain finishing seconds. Like, it would just be a completely diminished World Cup if we didn't have one of those two teams in it. Like, that's just a reality. And again, what Tom said, when you hear the list of possible opponents in those playoffs, it's not good for them.

It's not good for England either. Like it's just, For me, bad all round. It's a really, really ill-for-out format. Yeah, it's a discussion, and it's been a discussion since we found out the format, and we knew that it was going to be an issue. But anyway, England are in the playoffs, so we just have to embrace that and hope that it works out favourably, and the lionesses are indeed heading out to Brazil for the World Cup next year. Right, that's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly.

In part two, we're going to look at some of the other World Cup qualifiers and discuss the situation currently going on at Durham. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So qualification is now wrapped up and there were plenty of headlines across the continent as Germany, France and Denmark joined Spain in securing their spot at next summer's tournament. France were given a run for their money by the Republic of Ireland in Grenoble though. Carla Wardside earned a famous win over the Netherlands on Friday, putting them within a win of automatic qualification.

In the end, though, it was France who earned the vital narrow victory, a 1-0 victory, in fact, thanks to an outrageous overhead kick from Melvin Mallard. Disappointment in the end for Carla Warden her side, Susie. They have to go through the playoffs as well. How much of a statement, though, have they made in this group stage? Surprised a few people, perhaps. Yeah, hugely disappointing and a hugely impressive campaign from them and a massive statement. I think what Carla Ward has been able to do in a relatively short period of time in charge of this team has been hugely impressive. You know, they've not got the like superstars from top to bottom of that squad. They've got kind of the standout individuals. But, you know, the way she's managed to get them playing as a unit and really like lent into the mentality piece and like the psychology of playing together and playing as a unit.

and believing that you can do something as a unit, I think is really powerful and, yeah, hugely disappointing for it to sort of end the way it has with them in third rather than, you know, could have topped the group at the start of yesterday, right, at the start of the final match. But that's, yeah, massive testament. And you would like to think that they would also come through a playoff campaign at a World Cup for the second time based on the performances that are putting in.

The defensive solidity is like really impressive. You know, this game was only lost by, one goal against France who have been in decent form of late. And yeah, like they've shown that throughout the qualifying campaign. So, yeah, I think there's some really good stuff to be built on there. Yeah, a really good basis for a team that can go on and go a little step higher and they did maybe at the World Cup in 23 should they get there. Good news for the Home Nations as well who are in League B.

Scotland and Wales both won on the final day to secure League A status. Northern Ireland finished third in their group, but all three still have the chance to make the World Cup. They are going to be unseeded in the playoffs, however. What do you make of their chances, Marva? This is the good thing. We've talked about the negatives of the playoffs, but I think when you look at these teams, this is where the positives do come in, like Susie was saying, in terms of UEFA's prioritisation of some of that kind of mid-to-bottom-level teams,

is that you can just go and do something amazing. And we've seen it, even I think Northern Ireland there wins again, Malta were very impressive and then you look at whales who have really stepped up as well. I just think when it gets to a playoff, you never quite know. And that is where the benefit of this system comes in. But particularly for Ireland, very disappointed for them because I just think to even be on the last day with a chance of automatic qualification, I don't think anyone would have guessed it from that group, but can definitely go in with a lot of actual hope, I think.

and a lot of positivity that they've taken from that. Yeah, for sure. Just a reminder as well, the draw for those playoffs will take place on the 18th of June. Let's go back to domestic matters, shall we? Because there's a potentially significant story brewing with trouble in news emerging from Durham Women's FC earlier on this week. The club released a statement on Monday with a plea for funding and investment. the Barclays WSL2 side are fighting for its survival. This is what they said.

Durham Women's Football Club can today confirm the club seeking office for investment into or the complete purchase of the football club. The club's been in prolonged talks with potential investors for several months, but these have fallen away in recent weeks. And unfortunately, without this additional investment, the club doesn't have sufficient funds to operate in a fully compliant way in the Barclays Women's Super League 2 for the 26-27 season. We've today informed staff and players that unless a buyer or investor comes forward within the next 21 days, the club will have to cease operations at all levels.

Just a reminder for anybody who doesn't know. Durham are one of only two fully independent clubs involved in WSL football. We've received an email from Jim Hearson about this. Hello, team, following the Durham news, are we getting closer to a time when the top of women's football is solely inhabited by teams associated with big men's clubs and those with Michelle Kang style backing. This is something we've spoken about and we've predicted previously, Tom. What do you think? Yes, sadly, the side of that is the direction of travel very much so. And that news was a really sort of stark reminder of the real fragility of the financial situation in the women's game. Durham had been a very stably run and

well-run club for a long time in the WSL2 for the past 12 years. And quite a few things need to be pointed out here. First of all, they can still be say. There is just under three weeks. And as we understand it, the club have been inundated with contact over the past 48 hours from various different investors, potential buyers. And the challenge is a timeframe because they had so many other conversations that were quite advanced over the past few months that have then fallen through very late.

It's left them with very little time to turn around to meet the deadline to prove they've got the funds for next season. I believe they essentially need to raise around a million pounds to prove they can fund next season and they've only got three weeks to do it. So they'll be in, they will have plenty of offers. I believe they already have plenty of offers, but the challenge is going to be organising everything in time and they might have to choose between, say, for example, like a sort of a short term fix where an investor comes in and pledges some cash, but it's not like a long-term solution to make the club financially profitable or holding out for a buyer with longer-term business plan and all that sort of thing. But that's going to be harder to,

you know, you're not going to complete the sale of a football club in three weeks, realistically. So it's a tight time frame. It's come because of really a lot of rising costs associated with the full-time minimum professional standards in the lead, the extra staff you have to employ the minimum salary floor versus. is the distinct lack of central income in WSL2. You know, WSL2 clubs are being asked to lose money at a moment to meet all the requirements. We've got to be wary of a few things. We saw last year FIFA reporting 83% rise in transfer fees,

and the FA reporting is 75% rise in agent's fees year on year, but then Deloitte reported a 25% rise in revenue for elite women's sport. So those numbers are very far apart. So wages and transfer fees and agents fees are all soaring at the top end of the game, but the revenue is not rising at the same rate. So clubs are losing money. It's very simple. So we will continue to see this sort of challenge, I think, unless that situation can resolve itself in a different way.

And for Durham, I think all of us would agree. We wish them well because that's a club who've been incredibly good and loyal servants to growing women's football for the last 20 years. and their situation is one that other clubs have experience before and sadly I think others will experience again. Yeah, I just find it hugely depressing and it's the reality of where the game is going and how rapid the growth has been

with little consideration of what that impact will have on clubs like Durham who, you know, don't have a men's parent club or, you know, kind of like venture capitalist, like investor, right? that investment is distorting the women's football market in so many ways from the point of view of wages, from the point of view of transfers. And I'm not saying that transfers shouldn't be high and wages shouldn't be high. Yes, they should, but it's the rate of growth, that big money coming in at those top level clubs or from the parent clubs, you know, the men's financially strong parent clubs that then. takes the game beyond those at a very, very rapid rate,

particularly if you then adapt regulations to sort of fit what they can afford, but not what the bottom can afford to, or at a rate that is just slightly above what they can afford, so that you're still driving aspiration at that bottom level, but aren't putting it beyond the reach of those clubs who are doing, you know, Durham had been doing it in a very financially sustainable way for a very long time. And we bang on about financial stability and sustainability all the time. And the reality is we're moving to a model where it operates like the men's game

where every single men's club pretty much makes huge losses every year. But has enough of a turnover that they can deal with that, right? Like having has enough kind of financial weight behind the ownerships and stuff to be able to take that financial hit. So I just find it really, really, really depressing that, yeah, we have a situation where a club who has been doing a lot of really great stuff partnering with the local university and various local businesses up in Durham, like bringing players through that region,

like champion in football in that region when Newcastle and Sunderland weren't really in the game. Like that is so depressing and I hope it prompts like a little bit of introspection from the league on like the rate of growth and the demands for change year on year when a few years would just give clubs a little bit of time to prepare for those changes a little bit better. Yeah, absolutely. And it's a story that will no doubt progress over the next few weeks and we won't be able to keep you up to date with it on the pod. I'll explain why in a second,

but we will be keeping you up to date with it across all the Guardian channels. That's it. That's our final show for a little while. Women's football's taking a break, which means that we're all taking a break over the off season, which is much needed. I say we. Susie's painting fences. I'm over in the US covering the Men's World Cup. Tom, you have a young child, so I don't think there's ever a break for you forever in an end.

Marva, please tell me you're taking a break. Yeah, a little one. I mean, I'll probably be up at 2 a.m. watching World Cup matches, but we'll call it a break. Yeah, that's on the sofa. That's fine. That is a break. We will be back, though, ahead of the new season, ready for everything to kick off all over again. and if any big stories break you will hear them discussed on the Guardian Football Weekly pod with Max and Barry. One of us will be jumping on, no doubt, to report it as well.

But of course, the work never stops. And you can read women's football articles in The Guardian and on the Guardian.com as well. Marva, it's been a pleasure. I will see you soon. See you soon. Enjoy the World Cup. Thank you very much. Tom Gary, I'll miss you over the summer.

I'll miss you too. Safe travels around America. Susie Rack. I don't even know what to say. Saying goodbye is so hard. or what's the phrase? I can't remember. I don't know. Parting is such sweet sorrow. That's it. That was the one I was looking for.

I was so emotional. I couldn't even think of it. To be fair, at 6am here. I will be in touch and non, and we will get that coffee when I return. I look forward to the Instagram updates. Oh, yeah, packing updates and random photos on my Instagram, if anyone is interested. Keep having your say. send in your questions via X. Thanks to all of you, by the way, over the season for sending in your thoughts. We love reading them. So keep doing it over the summer. You can email us as well over

Women's Football Weekly at the Guardian.com. There's also still our bi-weekly, women's football newsletter, moving the goalposts that you can sign up to. All you need to do is search moving the goalposts sign up. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Silas Gray. Music composition was by Laura Iodale. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens. This is The Guardian.