The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Gotham FC handed the keys to New York City after title win – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Theo Lloyd-Hughes for an NWSL special, looking at the final between Gotham FC and Washington Spirit, as well as the season as a whole, and all of the latest news from the home nations

This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faker others and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. We have a National Women's Soccer League special for you after Gotham FC were handed the keys to New York City following their 1-0 championship win over Washington Spirit in the final. Reflect on the game itself, as well as the season. season as a whole. It's also the international break, so we're going to take a look at how the home nations are looking and react to the news that Tanya Oxtaby has left Northern Ireland to become Newcastle United's head coach. All that, plus we'll take your questions and we'll play some bingo. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football

Weekly. What's a panel we have today. Susie Rack, how are you? I am good. Love an evening record. Yes, I know. These are known as the Giddy records, usually, aren't they? Usually we record very early on a Tuesday, morning. Tonight is Monday night. Anything can happen. Dot, dot, dot, dot. And we have a debutante. Hello to Theo Lloyd Hughes. How are you? Howdy from Texas? I'm very well. Trying to get my touches in, you know, get a tackle in early and, you know, get those nerves out of the way. Excellent. No nerves needed on this pod, don't you worry. And as I said, it's Giddy Monday. So anything goes. Sophie Downey, how are you?

I'm good, thank you. I'm cold. It's winter. Well, yes, it is winter. I'm afraid. The hats get thicker every time I see you. I hear you. I put on a jumper today. That's about as far as I go. Although I do have a heated jule, because I was in Burnley at the weekend, and I very much needed the heated jule. And it was my birthday present from my parents, and I have to say, one of the best birthday presents they've ever, ever bought me. But it's about to get into cold weather season in New York, but it was very much given a heated treat with Gotham FC players being given the keys to New York in their celebrations because with the Cup competitions

taking centre stage in England this weekend, we're going to focus over the pond and the conclusion of the 2025 NWSL season. Sunday morning, Gotham FC were crowned NWSL champions at the PayPal Park in San Jose. It finished Washington Spirit Nill, Gotham FC1,

with the only goal of the game coming from USA International Rose Lavelle in the 80th minute. So, this is where I always, my brain just kind of goes, this cannot be right. When Carlos Amoros's side actually finished eighth in the regular season, but they've become champions for the second time in as many seasons. They scored a 121st minute winner in the quarterfinals and a 97th minute winner in the semi-finals. There was the now famous quote from midfield at Jaden Shore after their win over Kansas City is in the quarters.

Underdogs My Ass is what she said. Theo, tell me, what was the key reason for their success? How did they go about it? Well, I think you can't deny the quality in their squad and going back to what you, you know, you touched on there, eighth in the league table. People say the league table doesn't lie. But over the course of a season, a lot can change.

You know, Jaden Shaw didn't arrive until the 11th of September, I believe. So what was that? Nearly two months ago. So you bring in, you know, they spent $1.25 million to bring her in. She only plays the last, I want to say, six games of the normal season before the playoffs. start, that doesn't necessarily tell you a whole season, right? So they finished 21 points behind, you know, that's a lot of points behind the table champions

or the shield winners, as the Americans call it, the Casey current. But to Gotham's credit, you know, first round of playoffs and Jaden Shaw got a goal and assist in that game, they go and beat the current 2-1. So maybe if you can beat, a bit like boxing or something, if you can go and beat the best team in the league, maybe there is something to the American system of sort of winner-takes-all a mentality. But I think it's important to note, you know, Rose Lavelle missed half the season with an injury, esther missed the back end of the season with an injury

they didn't sign shore until September this is a team loaded with quality players when you could get them all on the pitch at the same time was the question and for Juan Carlos Amoros and all those fans in New York watching the parade today outside City Hall they had them all together in November

and that's what counts huge isn't it and Rose the Vell scoring the winner as well felt you know big time moment for a big time player beautiful goal as you say and also bizarrely her first ever NWSL title, which you can't quite believe. But, you know, she just brings something different,

doesn't she, Susie, to Gotham? How did she change the game as well? Oh, she's brilliant. And she's always been brilliant. She's a superb talent. The finish for the goal, as they said, it was stunning. It's the way she reads the role of the ball to the edge of the box and then just sort of appears from nowhere and just blast it in first time finish is just a really, like really beautiful reading of that that role of the ball and that movement that gives her space because no one else is predicting that she's going to move into that area. So it was really nice, wonderful, like magician of a player,

like one of the best technically skilled US internationals ever, I would argue, not long returned to action in that she had six months out with an ankle injury towards the start of the season. So really significantly important for them. And in a game like that where things are pretty time, and creativity is being stifled a bit. You need a player like that

who can pull something out of the bag and step up in the big moment and the fact that she, you know, scored the free kick in a game earlier in October to ensure that they got a spot in the playoffs like speaks to kind of the significance that she can play. But yeah, I mean, she's just so good. It's nice to see.

She's had a career that has been really stifled or interrupted. Interrupted by injury. And, you know, you kind of saw her shine at the time. in the IT World Cup and then it's been a little bit stopped start with injury since then. But to see her hit the form she's hitting now both for Gotham and for the US is quite exciting and nice. Yes, nice. I like that. Not so nice for Washington's spirit. Back-to-back finals, back-to-back losses. Where did it go wrong for them on the night, Soph? Yeah, absolutely gutting, isn't it? To lose two in a row is not a good record.

But I think it was a lack of creativity. It was a big problem. on the night. I think they had an XG of 0.49, seven shots and zero on target. So that kind of sums it up. I mean, there was that injury as well to how Herschfeld. And they kind of persisted and kept her on the pitch. The coach afterwards said, I probably should have substituted her because you could see in the build-up to that goal, that channel that she was trying to mark and kind of was hobbling around, kind of left the whole spirit defence kind of disjointed in that. So that was a problem. They've also been having injury problems.

They couldn't use Trinity Rodman until the 55th minute. She's had a MCL sprain. He's also been out with a back sprain as well. You need her attacking creativity, right, to really get things going. And it was kind of that in the night. Yeah, that's not the, I mean, obviously any kind of injury to Trinity Rodman

is going to disrupt things for them. But actually across the season, Theo, they've been disrupted. Jonathan Haraldes leaving mid-season for Leon. Adrian Gonzalez is then taking over. What have they got to do in the off-season to try and go that next step, turn the silver into gold, if you like? I love that, silver into gold. It's very interesting. I mean, yeah, they're kind of quickly becoming the bridesmaids of sort of American women's football as much as they won't like that.

I think, Faye, they'd love to be talking about turning silver into gold. But I think right now they're trying to turn silver into dollars and to salary cap space because the big story around this team is, can they keep Trinity Rodman? and the end-of-sail salary caps at $3.5 million. You know, Susie, so if you yourself could maybe tell me closer to what maybe Arsenal and Chelsea spend on their squad, but people believe it could be double that,

maybe more than double that. And so these end-o-sale teams are getting priced out of top players. And the build-up to Saturday's final in San Jose, you know, I was there, I can tell you what, we spoke about Trinity Rodman's contract as much as we spoke about the game. And this is the most recognizable,

the most high profile, potentially the best player on the US roster right now. And as so, you know, very well put, she's really struggled to get on the pitch. But, you know, she is a big deal to this team. And I think before they can even start about building and winning a trophy in next season, everyone is talking about can they keep Trinity Rodman. And, you know, it just seems like it's up in the air. We're hearing a lot of, you know, agent speak, a lot of transfer gossip,

some really good stuff reported at the Athletic, actually, about a local club in the USL Super League, which for English listeners is sort of like Division 2, officially not Division 2. But for someone to understand, it's sort of like a Division 2 club in Washington, D.C., has basically said, we'll double quadruple her salary, allegedly, to bring her to this Division II club. So it's all getting quite silly, but I think if the NWSEL changes the cap rules, keep Robben, Michelle Kang, the owner, obviously owns London City Lioness, is not afraid to spend money. So maybe, you know, silver into gold, maybe it's just about spending

money. Well, yeah, that feels like that that's across the board nowadays, isn't it? Spend money and get success. I'm not quite sure how that then affects, well, I am sure how that affects the rest of the pyramid. It affects it negatively, without a doubt. However, we do need more investment in the game. Let's look at it from an English perspective, Susie. We've spoken a lot about the US internationals, but what about the England internationals? Because Jess Carter and Esme Morgan both featured in the final. How do you think that they've both developed their game since they've been in the States? I think they've both come along hugely. I think it's reinvigorated both their careers massively. Obviously, Morgan not getting a lot of game time

at City, Carter sort of drifting to the edges of Chelsea in a sort of final kind of months there. And I think it is a bit of a testament to both that they had the ambition to go and try and develop and sort of stay at the top level and not kind of be complacent. Morgan could have stayed on the, sat on the bench at City for the foreseeable. But, you know, if you want to get in the England squad, you've got to kind of be ambitious. And Carter could have wound down and thought, when I'm coming to the end, you know, let's go and play lower league teams in the WSL and most would have had her.

So, like, I think it shows ambition and, like, a desire to still kind of fight for their careers and their international careers as well. And then obviously there's benefits for England, too, having players play in the States. You know, the fact that both of them were mid-season when they come to the Euros, like, there's huge benefits to that. They're match-ready.

So they're not players you have to necessarily get ready. So I doubt they'll necessarily be in the same place by the time it gets around to the World Cup or whatever, but there's advantages there for English players playing in the States. And they've settled in well, like both of them. Yeah, really loved seeing their celebrations joining in as well overnight. Ten Machuinger, let's talk about her, because named most valuable player MVP, by the way,

I feel like we need to bring that over here. Like, player of the match just doesn't quite sound as cool as MVP, in my opinion. But it's the second season in a row, she's been MVP. She finished the league as top scorer as well. It's really interesting because she's Malawian, isn't she, Sof? Is that right? Yes, she is. So when you have such an incredible player, but playing for such a small country, she doesn't kind of get the same international recognition.

I think that perhaps a player for, you know, one of the more successful countries does. Do you think that's fair? I think it's always hard, especially when you're looking at like award season and especially in a year like this year where you have many international competitions. And, you know, the ones who come out on top are generally those who, do well for their country but um she's ridiculously good i think she has it all as a forward wide player you know she can run obviously she's got the pace to burn but then she's got that real intuition of when to make those runs she's really good defensively as well i think for a ford

and then she's that poacher in the box and her stats just say all right she's the top goal scorer with 15 goals this season she became the fastest NWSL player to reach 30 regular season goals so she's just knocking off those records every time they come and And she was a real, like, key player. And I think they missed her when, you know, she was injured in that playoff round. They really, really missed her presence. And you could tell that, you know, they really needed her on the pitch and not sitting in the sidelines. Whoever won on Sunday would have been considered a surprise ahead of the start of the playoffs, to be honest.

Kansas City current with the out-and-out regular season champions. They won the lead by 21 points, as Theo mentioned earlier on. What kind of set them apart across the campaign, Theo? And is their concern about how big that gap was and then how they didn't convert that into getting into the final? Well, I think we've already touched some injuries play a huge part. You lose 15 goals at your team for that game against Gotham when Gotham's welcoming back, Esther and Navelle and Chadian Shore

obviously coming in on the transfer. I think that played a real part. They also beat a Zanerato, who actually did play that playoff game. Vladko and Onovsky, the former US coach who now was taking the current this season, he's actually just stepped down to become a sporting director rather than the kind of head coach manager. He said that she was playing on MCL strain in that game, although you wouldn't notice it the way she played. She's a fantastic player. It's called at Wembley, obviously recently. So again, English listeners would be used to her. But I think, yeah,

the KC just weren't at full capacity, full fitness. And I think credit to Gotham as well for taking away what they offered. Obviously, you don't have to mark Chowinger, but, you know, they've got very good players, Ali Senton, is a US member's national team player, kind of coming in to replace initial prince, Canadian. gold medalist was, been in this league for a long time. It's a very good player. I think they were kind of presented with the two best chances Casey had on that day. And it's those moments under pressure when the game kind of slows down when you're one-on-one

in the box. And Nichelle Prince and Ali Sittal couldn't take those kind of two best chances of the day that you thought, oh, that was Chewinger, maybe things are different. So credit to Gotham, because in that game, I think Gotham really cancelled them out. I think Jalen Howe, we haven't really mentioned her name yet, the centreback who's actually just been called back into the USA team for this upcoming window. She is really Gotham's underrated star player as the holding midfielder, the disruptor.

She actually broke an opt-a-record, 15 duels she won in the final on Saturday first ever player to do that in an end-o-eself final game. So I think, yeah, she's really one to watch in Gotham. You know, Juan Carlos Amros may be Spanish, but he sort of has this way of figuring out whatever the other team does best and taking that off the table.

And I think that's what Casey weren't able to do in the best game. And also, KC, you know, so I've mentioned it, Chwinga is an amazing presser of the ball. And this KC team was so organised defensively. They really move. The way their lines move is amazing to watch. Very, very well coached.

And when the other team give you the ball and say, come and beat us without your best players, I think that sometimes Seifles team. So Gotham, again, did very well to not kind of show their hand. And it was a tough tactical battle for Casey to figure out. Yeah, it's interesting because WSL fans will probably remember when Carlos Amoros, because he was a joint head coach, quite a rare thing, actually,

with Karen Hills at Tottenham Hotspur, and he's really come into his own since he's gone over to the States. Let's focus on the other end of the table. Chicago Stars finished bottom, tied on points with Bay FC, who had the better goal difference in the end. They both had kind of fairly positive 2024 campaigns, Susie. So where did it go wrong this year? Yeah, I mean, I think there's a number of factors.

Obviously, Chicago Stars lost Mal Swanson, to pregnancy, which is obviously a wonderful thing, but not ideal when you're trying to compete in a league. They fired the manager six games in because the results are so bad, lost five of those. So there was a lot of change there. At the other end, you had Bay FC who were investigated in March for coaching staff reports locally of being a toxic environment and things like that. So like they've had struggles that have impacted across the course of the season for both. There are signs. of hope, I suppose, looking forward a little bit, you know, in the fact that Chicago have

got Martin Shoggren coming in from Hammaby in January, and Hammaby have been really exciting team to watch. So, you know, there's promise there. Bay FC, meanwhile, obviously they've got Kaye Cossington in charge of Bay Collective, like such a critical component for England, Anya from the England set up as well. Really fantastic woman from Lettico, Madrid, I think she was at, who has also come into their team, their like leadership team together. And they are leading the recruitment of a new manager and are big advocates for progressive way of doing things and a player-led environment-focused, like approach to building teams and clubs. So I think there is good signs there too. So I don't think

it's, you know, kind of complete disaster. They've got the benefit of the American system in that there is no relegation. So there's not that threat. So you do have the opportunity to turn things around and stuff in a different way and sort of, you know, start from a blank slate come a new season. What about the other playoff team, so Portland Thorns, Orlando Pride, Seattle, Rain, San Diego Wave, Rassing Louisville. Whose season kind of impressed you the most? Well, that's a big question, so I'm not going to go through all of them.

But I think maybe from a more personal perspective, the one I was keeping eye on with San Diego Wave because of obviously, you're on a side of Val coming in, and I really thought his style of football would kind of suit the NWSL and it proved to be I mean I guess they started the season pretty well they went on like a five or six match on beaten streak around the April May time which really set them off of that playoff place

and they have a real diversity I guess in terms of attackers and goal scorers I think they had something like 13 different goal scorers throughout the league so their positive signs there and to reach a playoff was really good for them I watched the one against Portland really tight game there's lots to build on for them

The other one that caught my eye, maybe this is more biased because it's more of an English, but Laura Harvey at Seattle Rain, they finished 13th in 2024, and they got into the playoff positions this year. They finished fifth, I think, this season, a marked improvement. I was going to ask Theo, though, how the whole chat GPT thing went down in the NWSL because, just for the listeners, Laura Harvey admitted in an article that she had used chat GPT to do her tactics to prepare for the opposition. I don't think it went down too well over here.

So I was wondering what it was like over there. Yeah, I mean, look, so whenever I get a text from an English person, you know, the time difference, I wake up about 8 in the morning and I've got a bunch of messages and they're from English people talking about the end of Usel, I know it's either really good news or really bad news. And the amount of people that reached out to me to be like, what's going on here? Who's Laura Harvey? What, like, what's going on?

Like, I mean, people that don't even watch women's football, right? And again, I think when that story crosses over, you know, again, it's either a really good story or it's kind of a bad story. So I think it was a bit embarrassing as someone, you know, working in journalism that doesn't like AI or finds that AI is a bit scary. But when you take a step back and you do listen to the podcast and the whole podcast, I think what she did and said isn't as bad as it sounds. She sort of basically said she asked AI and it suggested playing a back five and then she sort of said like, I did this funny thing to her staff and then they decided to try it. It's sort of like it's not like she was just letting AI pick the side.

but I think everyone, and myself included, a bit scared of AI and think it's a bit nonsensey. It does sound really bad to have people and football managers, obviously, making that decision. It has, at least in the eyes of the fans and sort of the online, which isn't everyone, it's really created a bit of a schism. And actually, Assistant Coach Scott Parkinson, is really beloved by the club and by a lot of fans across the league. It's been the end of himself for a long time, English guy. He actually went on social media and wrote a very, very long post about people being

way too harsh on her for her comments. And I do think he has something to say about something kind of being taken out of perspective. Even if in its core you're sort of like, oh, we don't really want to see this. I think, you know, Laura is a very successful coach, one of the best coaches in End of Wales history. And what people have kind of said about her because of a couple of kind of jokey comments. I think it has gone a bit too far. But she's actually out of contract this off season. So might be an interesting one to watch.

Although she's been in Seattle so long, you know, 10 years with a break in the middle, I don't necessarily see her going anywhere. As anybody heard, I'm sorry to bring this name up on this pod. to be honest, but I watched Have I Got News for You the other day. And I've never heard anybody else say, chat chibit, as weirdly as Boris Johnson or AI, A-I-A-R-G-T-T-T. That's news to me. It's been a long time to watch how we've got news for you, but I've got to get my, I've got a VPN. Watch that clip. Fire up the VPN, watch the clip.

I'm sure it will be somewhere on the internet. It was quite something. Listen, before we let you go, Theo, obviously we've got a couple of new expansion teams in 2026, Denver Summer FC and Boston legacy FC but I kind of want a bigger question for you really Theo in terms of what you're hoping to see happen over the next few months to make the NWSL an even better product in 2026 tell everyone who's not a massive fan of the NWSL yet why they should be watching I think and I say this is a huge you know WSL fan I think it is the best league in the world top to bottom I think it's pretty indisputable 10 11 teams in this league are very very

good and I think could easily finish fourth or fifth, sixth in the WSL. Is there a team that could maybe go and win the Champions League? I don't know. We'll know a little bit more in February when there's that FIFA Champions Cup weird thing in Wembley where we're at Arsenal, Corinthians and Gotham and the African Champions League winner all going to get together. But I don't think this is necessarily a league for falling in love with sort of one mega team like you might do in traditionally in European football or South American football.

but I think when you're trying to catch a game that's going to give you surprises entertainment really exciting players a really global mix of players as well I think that's really underrated the league obviously has a lot of Americans the American NCAA college system the national team has a huge reputation

but I actually think the best thing about the end of the sale right now to anyone who wants to go check it out is the amazing mix of players 49 different national teams were represented in the end of sale this year I think some of the most entertaining footballers here in the

end of the cell, not necessarily the best teams. If you kind of, you see the distinguished that I'm making. And obviously, you know, every league has a bit of personality. I think League at Emeki is feminine. If you ever go watch that listener, you know, I think the Mexican league's phenomenal. Canadian league's really coming up. There's a lot of great leagues out there, and they all offer something different. And I think for the end of Brazil, it's about having teams that can go tete-a-tete and

kind of really knock into each other and have crazy games. That's basically what the league is built on. And it's very exciting. We love a crazy game. And we've loved your debut as well. Theo, I hope you'll come back on soon. Oh, absolutely. Thanks so much for being here.

And I hope you all either watched on replay or stayed up till three in the morning watching the final, whichever one it was. Replay, I'm afraid. Replay. I need my sleep. When Férym kept saying Sunday morning, I was like, wasn't Sunday morning? Well, I was. No, no, I'm glad you all watched it. And it's, yeah, a good cup final.

Emma Hayes was there, and she was saying before the game, it sort of felt like a bit like an FA Cup final. And she's right. The Cup final feel where everything is on the line for a big game is why we all watch the game. those emotions, those scenes. That's why we watch the game and that glitz and glamour, the end of itself does deliver. And the keys to New York City, who could ask for more? That's wonderful.

Theo, take care. We'll see you soon. Yeah, thanks so much. All the best. That's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. And part two, we'll take a quick look ahead to the international break. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Women's, football weekly. So international football returns this weekend. The lionesses are hosting two final friendlies of the year. They're going to meet China at Wembley on Saturday before facing Ghana in Southampton. Serena Vigman announced her squad last week. We did mention this.

Freya Godfrey received her first call up. And Newt Denton also returns. More graduates from the under 23s, Susie, which is what we've predicted. How good is that? Yeah, it's brilliant. I mean, it shows how good the setting up of that under 23s team has been at building this pathway between the youth teams and the national team. It's a real like step up into it. And I think like a lot of those players have spoken about how good it is at preparing for that environment because they try. It's hugely important at cultivating that proper players and readying them for for the senior side. And I mean, Fred Godfrey, well, I've had a wonderful season so far. Her two goals against Tottenham in their 40 win over London City

I think were really a testament to the way she's performed so far this season. She's always been a talent and it's nice to sort of see her doing so well and she deserves it. She really, really deserves that call up. This is the time to be experimenting as I keep saying with the starting 11 because there's no pressure.

Plus like it's okay to lose sometimes. I think it helps sometimes of progression. Good and bad injury news which you know we always kind of expect. Lauren Hemp, Jess Park, Grace Clinton, all back. We know Michelle Adjimang is out for what will be a long time with that ACL injury she picked up. Alex Greenwoods out, Hannah Hampton, Leah Williamson as well. Jess Carter's been given time to rest after winning the NWSL championship

and Lauren James is going to continue her recovery at Chelsea, which all seems very sensible when you think about it, Zof. Absolutely. It's that time of year and you know, you're not really playing for anything until April, March, April, for the World Cup. qualifiers so you've got time to let these players rest and Jess Carter has had a phenomenal year in terms of what she's done but she's played an awful lot of football she played a lot of football during the Euros she didn't stay for the celebrations in Trafalgar Square she flew straight back to Gotham to play in their next game and then has pretty much been with them since then to their run to the finals and the trophy and she will have to be back with them as well for the Champions Cup that starts at the end of January I think you really have to credit Vigman a lot

of coaches wouldn't do that and I think sometimes Serena gets criticism herself for not, you know, changing around players. I think it's a bit of a myth myself. I think the amount of young players that have come through the 23s in recent years and being given an opportunity and the amount that have actually stayed in the seniors rather than flip-flopping between the two is testament to the fact that she is willing to give youth a chance. One of the stand-out players in the last camp was Lucia Kendall against Australia. She was player of the match.

So these players are getting their opportunities and that's what you need, as Susie said, that's what you need these windows for. We'll remember the 2023 World Cup game against China, which is the last time that England faced them. What are we expecting to see from them five and a bit years? Oh my God, I can't add. Two and a bit years on, Susie. I was thinking 2025, I was like, no, that's not right. Big, big difference.

I mean, they've got Ant Milisich, former Australia manager in charge. So they're a bit of a different looking team to what they were back then. all teams go through change in that time. They've not had the best run of results against top sides of late, free nil loss to the US in May, one or draw with Canada, fairly decent in February,

played to Japan, most recently, nil nil-nill draw. So against the higher ranked sides, they're struggling to make anything happen. So I wouldn't expect a huge challenge, but then again, I kind of hope that they're able to test England's creativity and ability to break down a team that may well sit back against them

and not necessarily give them a huge amount of space to play at the back because that's one of the things they always struggle against in major tournaments. So that's sort of kind of what I would like to see. But wherever we see that is another thing. Not going to lie, a little bit jealous of Wales and Scotland, both heading to Spain for a couple of friendlies. Wales faced Korea, Republic and Switzerland. Well, Melissa, Andrea Atta's side are going to test themselves against Ukraine

and China. Give me some sunshine, please. I need it. All sunny for Tanya Oxtabee, Northern Ireland, not in action this fortnight. And on Saturday, it was announced that their head coach Tanya Oxtabee is leaving them to become the new Newcastle United manager. She signed a four-year contract in the North East after two years on the international stage. What did you make of this news so forth when it came out? I was surprised and not surprised at the same time, if you can be both at the same time. It makes sense for Tanya, I think, to, you know, You know, she has a family in England as well. But to go to a club with such big ambition,

we all know the ambitions of what Newcastle United have in terms of reaching the WSL. And it's a real project where she can start to shape things, I think. It kind of stuttered a bit in early season this year, but they've got some really, really good players to work with there, and she's got something to really build momentum towards. So I can really understand her making that move.

I think as well, like Northern Ireland, you know, she had a really good two years there. They got to two playoffs for the Qualifold. but the problem with Northern Ireland is there is a serious lack of resource and that's always going to be an issue and so you probably if you're an ambitious manager it would seem that you probably reach a ceiling quite quickly in terms of what you can achieve with them if you can't have the resources they don't have you know they have a league over there but it's not the strongest league in the world they certainly don't have the investment that's needed and

they're going to have to think really carefully I think about who their next manager is and whether you have tenure at the helm or whether you have an interim you kind of have that ambition to progress and challenge yourself all the time. And I think that's been missing actually since Euro 2022. I would agree with that. Hopefully we'll speak to Tanya soon. She's a friend of the pod. So hopefully we'll find out how she's getting on up in the north-east very soon. By the way, we found out the quarter-finalists of the Subway Women's League Cup. That's never going to make sense to me. It's never going to trip off the tongue. They were finalised over the weekend. Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool and Crystal

Palace are going to feature in a drawer that's going to take place on Tuesday. evening. So if you're listening after that, you'll know who's playing who. Right, we've got some emails to read out. This one comes from Lincoln. Dear Guardian Women's Football Weekly team, I've been a women's football fan for a while and discovered the pod before the 2023 World Cup in my home country of Australia. Haven't missed an episode since and I had the pleasure of attending my first ever WSL game recently, which was the North London Derby featuring a few Matildas while I was visiting London. Despite the nil-nil-nil scoreline, it was a great experience.

It was fantastic to hear your pre- and post-match analysis of the game and every WSL game as well. And I felt like an expert at Brisbane Road, despite never having seen these teams in person. You have a great league and one for our A-League women to aspire to and a podcast that always delivers entertainment and great analysis. Keep up the great work and thank you. Thank you, Lincoln. No question in there. And I feel a little bit like I'm just like, you know, reading out praise for us. But it's nice to hear that on a Monday evening.

Okay, so a reminder as well, we've got that email. from Raphael Iberg last week with his bingo card. We didn't get a chance to get into it in full. And I think we'll have to play bingo after the next WSL round when the international break finishes. But I just want to read some of them out because they did make me chuckle. So it's a bingo card with 24 numbers.

There's a bonus at the end as well. Number one, so Chelsea's unbeaten run reaches 50 games and the rest of the league decides to simply give in. Is that going to happen? It's not going to happen this year, is it? I don't think so. No. Someone in SW6 suddenly realizes Becky Spencer is still part of the squad

and maybe they should go check on her without going as far as giving her some game time. Susie, we mentioned that in the pod last week. There's a lot of Chelsea in here, by the way. Oh, this one, you'll like this. Mayor Letticea, this is number four. Mayor Letticea plays her 200th consecutive game as centreback for United. Serena Vigman decides to treat her as a striker on international duty. I'm here for it.

I'm here for it. experiment. Yeah, well, listen, we did it with Mully Bright. Why not with Mayor? Oh, this one, bearing in mind what we've been talking about, 22, Trinity Rodman storms into the WSL on a record-breaking fee and contributes to making square 16s historians job harder. Excellent. And I think I might go for this one. Number 18, Arsenal failed to win the league for the seventh consecutive season, but get to keep their bragging rights for being the only English club to win the WCL, UWCL, I should say, twice. I mean, that's happening, right?

Like, that's just reality. So, I mean, you can already tick that off the bingo sheet. That's brilliant. Lovely. I love the effort in that, Raphael. Thank you very much. We'll keep an eye on those and maybe read some more of them out throughout the season. Keep having your say.

Send in your questions via X. Email us at women's football weekly at the Guardian.com. This is a reminder, as always, as well, to sign up for our biweekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do is search moving the goalpost sign up. Susie, have a good week. Back at you. See you soon, Sof. Great to be back.

The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Joel Grove. Music composition was by Laura Iodale. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens. This is The Guardian.