The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - The Lionesses round off a successful year and Tanya Oxtoby joins the pod – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Emily Keogh and Ayisha Gulati to review England’s wins over China and Ghana. Plus, Suzy Wrack joins Faye to speak to the new Newcastle head coach, Tanya Oxtoby, about her return to club management.

This is the Guardian. Hello, I'm Faker-Rothers, and welcome to the award-winning Guardian Women's Football Weekly. More on that in a moment, but the lioness is closed out 2025 in style, with two friendly wins against China and Ghana. George Stanway hit a hat trick in a clinical performance. at Wembley, while Lucia Kendall scored her first goal for England on her return to Southampton. We'll dissect both performances and look back on a hugely successful year. And as the international break draws to her close, we'll speak to the Newcastle United head coach, Tanya Oxterby,

as she prepares for her first game in charge. 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? Susie Rack is going to be joining us in the second half of the pod. but ESPN writer Emily Keio is with us. How are you? Very good, thank you. Love to see you. And you as well. It's been a little while. Aisha Galuti, how are you? Well, thank you, Faye. Thanks so much for having me on again.

Oh, yeah, well, I was going to say you were only on a couple of weeks ago, impressed on your debut. Now, before we get into the lionesses, I just want to say a huge thank you, because I did say in the intro, we are the award-winning Guardian Women's Football Weekly now because on Monday night, we were very privileged and honoured to have been named Women's Football Media of the Year at the Football Supporters Association Awards, which is a massive privilege because they're voted for by you. If you remember, we asked you for your votes all that while ago,

and you delivered. And it was a bit of a double whammy for the Guardian, actually, because the Guardian Football Weekly won as well. They got their title back after missing out last year. They are back topping the table. And we topped the table for the first time. And we were up against some real stellar pods, I'm sure of which you listened to many of them.

So we are very grateful that you chose us. And thank you very much. We might just mention it a few times, you know, here and there, every pod as many times as we possibly can. We'll be celebrating together next week because we're doing a live in-person pod at the Guardian headquarters next week. So I'll finally get to see the trophy,

which will be very exciting because producer Silas, producer Sophie and the wonderful Susie Rack went and collected the award on Monday night. I unfortunately had to miss out. So I'm very much looking forward to celebrating with the team. And a big thank you again. I'll tell you what, brilliant, brilliant year for the lionesses. And they brought an incredible 2025 to a close this fortnight.

Two victories rounding off their homecoming series. Serena Vigman's side kicked off the first international window of the year with a statement 8-0 win over China on Saturday. Georgia Stanway scored a hat trick, 75,000 witnessed that at Wembley. Beth Meath scored a brace and there were goals from Lauren Hempeltoon and Alessia Rousseau.

I mean, look, much has been made of the scoreline Emily in terms of the opposition, but England were impressive and clinical. Was it 6'1 that they beat China back at the World Cup in 2023? Eight from nine shots on target, which is pretty good. That is, I would say,

pretty much the kind of attacking performance we've been waiting for, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. I think we haven't seen a game like that in quite a while, but obviously with the changes, with the Nations League, we haven't had these sorts of friendlies where you've got quite a big divide between where two teams are at. Obviously, this China side haven't really played since September

when their season finished. So you could see there was quite a big difference between the two teams, and I think potentially had they been playing a team that was a bit more informed, it wouldn't have been such a heavy score line. But there's a lot of confidence to take from the game. And I think a lot of this, now this sort of friendly series was, it was about trying a new thing, switching things up, testing new things. And they were able to do that. So, you know, the school land probably doesn't reflect a lot of learnings. I'm not entirely sure what they may

have learned from that, especially with the other two friendlies in the past camp being against 10 opponents in both of them. So maybe they haven't had the learnings from these groups of friendlies that they would have wanted. But still, you can't take away from that scoreline at all. No, definitely not. Aisha, how disjointed were China? And were you? surprised by how bad they were? Yeah, I think it's interesting because this was billed as the European champions against the Asian champions. So it was deemed a really big match. Of course, the only one of this homecoming series that was at Wembley, so therefore had the biggest crowd. It was an amazing crowd, by the way, like really, really epic self-esteem's performance ahead

of kickoff was incredible. But, yeah, we didn't see the best of China, like absolutely what Emily said about them being totally, you know, out of season, out of form. that really did show. This isn't the disparity between the two teams by no means, but they didn't press England. The England just had all the time in the world. But like you said, they finished, like, you know, eight from nine shots. But they didn't do that last night.

I know we'll go on to talk about that performance in a bit, but their finishing was incredible. You know, it felt like every chance they created they just took. And that's what you get with the lionesses in full flow and full confidence. And it was really, really epic to see. then score eight really brilliant goals. I mean, listen, where there's a positive, there's always a little negative lurking around the corner,

and Serena Vigman was criticised by some for not giving younger players opportunities, particularly at Wembley. And in true Serena's style, she actually pointed out, look, there's eight camps left until the World Cup. And that very much puts that into perspective, doesn't it? What do you think about that, Emily?

Sometimes you kind of call for these big changes and you call for all of these minutes in rotation, but what's the point in putting out an entirely different squad that are never going to play together because if we're at this point you're thinking come in the World Cup some of the players that played last night

are likely to be part of that core squad if you rotate everyone then it's one game off it's not like you get a lot of experience or exposure from that you need to make one two three changes so that she can see relationships forming she can see what's building she can see where gaps are being made or where she's fixing gap

so I think it's an interesting concept that fans are calling for kind of all these big rotations when actually it's not it's not going to do anything it's not going to help England much so I think it's one of those situations where and I think everyone's always been quite critical of Surina for not rotating but I think she has rotated where she's needed to and she's made changes

where she's seen gaps and because it hasn't been you know six changes week in and week out everyone's like oh she doesn't rotate but I actually think she does when she needs to and where the gaps are so I think yeah you could argue that that there needed to have been potentially a few more minutes. I would have loved to see Enuk Denton get some more minutes in the game against Ghana. I think it was a little bit unfair.

She didn't get as much of a looking at towards the end of the game. She'd get two minutes. Something like that. I'm not entirely sure she touched the ball. But it was one of those where, you know, this is also a learning camp for them. They need to take things from these games. And if you rotate heavily, how much is that actually going to teach Shereena about what she needs for coming into the World Cup and in for qualifiers? So I think there's a balance and I think potentially, yeah, maybe one or two extra players could have seen some more minutes off the bench.

But overall, I think it was a pretty good in terms of getting more minutes into plays. I mean, look like someone like Lisa Kendall. You know, it's incredible. She's probably the talking point at the camp. And, you know, six months ago she wasn't even on the radar. So that's something that's come from the past few camps into this one. So I think there's always talk about it. But I actually don't think it was as bad as people are making it out to be.

So the lionesses then travelled to the south coast for their first ever meeting with Garner at St Mary's Stadium. Much changed side, as we've said, much changed game as well. It was a two-nil win in the end, thanks to goals, as we've mentioned from Lucia Kendall. And Alessia Russo making the scoreline look a little bit more comfortable in the 95th minute. It was a very, very different challenge, wasn't it, Aisha? What did you make of England's performance in this one? Yeah, it was a different challenge, like you say. I think Garner were definitely on it in a way that China weren't.

They didn't give England the same space that China did. But also, like Emily said, Serena did make those changes for yesterday's game. And that group of players, I mean, they've not played together before. It's such a new team. And it was really interesting hearing what Serena said post-match because it was like, oh, you really impressed with what you saw. And again, in typical Serena style, she didn't say, oh, yeah, it was really nice to see those new players getting up. She's like, you know, there were good bits, but there's a lot of improvement

to be made and really kind of called out certain players and how they should be improving, which I rate, because she, you know, she wants to say, I'm giving your opportunity, go and grab it, but equally, this is where you can improve. And I want you to improve. I think yesterday was a great example of some of the pathway that England have been creating and seeing that on the main stage. We have to talk about Lissia Kendall scoring at Southampton, the club that she spent her youth, you know, the best part of 10 years then.

What an incredible story for her. That knee slide when she scored that early goal. That was in the sixth minute, I think. I think that maybe we thought that might open the floodgates. It didn't happen to be the case. It was a case of maybe missed chances rather than taking chances in the way that they did in that China game. But something that really stuck with me when we spoke to Lucy Bronze

in the mix zone after the China game. And she said, I hadn't even heard of Lissia Kendall before the start of this season. and I was like, I love that, that sort of brutal honesty, but it just gives you the story about Lucia Kendall and how far she has come and also just how bright a talent she is. And I think those are the positives we have to take from yesterday,

those young players who have so much more to show, and also maybe those players who have been on the peripheries and haven't been getting the time that they need. Mayor Letticea, I'm so pleased for her to be getting some minutes. She's brilliant in defence. she's been great and Anna Morehouse. Wow, what a story for her to get her, yeah, England debut. She said again in the mix zone, I'm just so pleased I can finally call myself a lioness. And that is a real great story for her too because she just really deserves to have that against her name.

Yeah, she's been in so many camps and just not got any minutes. It's so tough. But, you know, these players are crucial part of the squad and people tend to forget that. You know, they're just as important behind the scenes. But let's talk about Lucia Kendall's goal. Serena Vigman joked she'd celebrated that goal as if she'd won the Champions League, which I thought was quite funny. And why wouldn't you celebrate it like that in those kind of circumstances? But I wonder, and especially bearing in mind what Lucy Bronze said in the mix zone as well, do you think kind of her emergence is maybe the biggest thing that's come out of this homecoming series? I think definitely, I think.

definitely she's the talking point really in someone who potentially there was a lot of raised eyebrows when that camp came out in October of who is this player I think unless you were watching Aston Villa or potentially watching the championship WSL2 last season and previous seasons you wouldn't have known who she was and that's simply just the landscape of women's football at the minute where it's hard to pay attention to every single club and she wasn't getting in the look in I knew quite a few of us knew her from owning around the 23s and kind of the odd sort of game here and there I spoke to her a couple of years ago at Southampton, but hadn't spoke or done much with her at all in that time, and that's

just where we're at. But yeah, I think it's an incredible story, and I think it's an example of the fact that if you're giving an opportunity and you take that opportunity, the doors are open. You know, there's no way she now doesn't get called up for the World Cup qualifiers, and she's taking opportunity and has grabbed it with two hands, and that's what you have to do. And I went up to do the under 23s game against America on Monday, and that was so interesting seeing how many of these players are in really good touch. probably going to give some headaches this arena because again

we've got a lot of injuries at the minute in the England squad so there are a lot more movement around the squad but if you look at the under 23s and who's kind of on the fringes there's a lot of talent there that if they're performing at club and they're performing in that setup

there's always an opportunity to come into that senior side so it's just a really exciting time I think for these younger lionesses that can see that if they do perform well there is that opportunity and almost just having that example it's something to work towards. So it's a great story

and I think it's great for her as well like scoring at your home club and where you grew up. It's what fairytales are really. So I'm not surprised she celebrated in that way and I think anyone would have done the exact same like you said. So it's just a lovely way that we can round out these camps with such a positive note about such an impressive young player

who no doubt there's going to be so much tension on now going into the second half of the season. So it's just so exciting. Yeah, it really is. And let's look back on the camp. and the year, actually, as a whole. Serena Vietman talked many times about the importance of playing

non-European opposition in these friendlies. What would you say, Ayesha, are the biggest learnings from doing that? We've seen England play the Euros recently, the Nations League, these matches which were deeming friendlies, I can see why Serena doesn't necessarily want to rotate in the way that we spoke about because how often are they playing the opposition

that aren't the European team? even at a club level in the Champions League and whatnot. And it is a style of football maybe that we are more familiar with in what we're seeing from the European teams. For example, Spain play in a similar way to Barcelona. And it's that style that the English players are becoming used to playing against. Now, I would say I'm not sure how much they learn from the China game in terms of how China play, because I don't think that is how they play,

because they are a much better team than that. Ghana, however, yesterday. They're sort of resilience, and they weren't really letting England get in in the way they sometimes do. But also, Garner's world ranking, I can't remember off the top of my head what it is, but it's pretty low. And I think there was a lot of talk about, especially from them, from the Garner camp, saying, we're not that ranked team. We are the emerging team in the African region. And I think for them as well, being able to play against England. And I think they did very well, you know, they put such a great show of themselves.

of African football and it's something that we don't get to see much. And it makes me really excited to see more of these African and Asian nations for the upcoming World Cup and of course those qualifiers too. I think they're 67th by the looks of things. Six in Africa. They've gone down a little bit on the points. I mean, I don't always look at the rankings if I'm honest. Well, neither do they by the sounds of it. Well, yeah. Well, I mean, they wouldn't, to be fair. If you're number one, you look at the rankings. Yeah, we quite like our ranking at the moment. Exactly.

And, you know, deserved it as well. Special year for the lionesses, hasn't it? It's 17 games, 12 wins, one draw, four defeats, back-to-back European champions, which, in fairness, I think none of us would necessarily have thought in those opening games of the Euros was possible. They've done it and they've done it. it the hard way. And actually, sometimes I feel like that is more satisfying in many ways.

But how do you think they're going to be reflecting internally on the year? I mean, what a year. They won the Euros again, back-to-back champions. Their win percentage on paper is technically lower than in sort of previous years. But who cares? To be honest, you know, we look at that yearos as well. Did they play their best football? Absolutely not. were there a few fluky moments of course but that's tournament football

and when you go home with the trophy nobody cares and then we start looking at actually the mentality of that team which is the shining light throughout the tournament

throughout the Euros that togetherness that never say die attitude that to me is the beacon that shines from the lionesses this year I think when we look back

at the last Euros they were just a level above all those other teams beating teams really emphatically throughout, maybe not quite in the final. But this year, it was just about everything that surrounded it and just that attitude and everything that came with it. So, yeah.

Well, it's going to be very different. You know, it's all very well talking about winning the Euros on home turf. That is vastly different to going abroad in Europe and winning it, let alone going abroad. Don't forget, the last World Cup was in Australia. Tricky conditions. And it's going to be, you know, over in Brazil, which will also be tricky.

ricky conditions. So there's lots of work to do behind the scenes. Funnily enough, Serena Vigman says she enjoyed Euro 2025 more than previous tournaments. She said it was insane how the games developed, but off the pitch it was really calm. And I can understand that because there was less scrutiny in some ways, perhaps, not being home euros. But let's talk about her contract, because that runs until the end of the World Cup in 2027. She said that there haven't been any discussions yet about extending it. These are her thoughts. 2027 is coming. I'm still really enjoying the job. I think the team is still enjoying that I'm around. I think that's important too. Let's see what the future's going to bring. I'm very relaxed about it.

I don't look forward. I don't plan my career a lot. I just know what I really enjoy. And I always want things to be fit for my side and the other side. And then we'll see what comes on my path. I mean, look, she's outwardly very calm about it. So surely we all should be as well. Aisha. Why wouldn't you be calm about it? You've reached five successive major tournaments in your managerial career and, you know, won three back-to-back euros. As far as credentials go, it doesn't get much better than that. She is one of, if not, you know, the best manager of all time. You know, she is a legend in the women's football space and beyond, in the football space, actually. And England want to be doing everything they can to keep her. The FA need to do that. I'm sure they know

that and those conversations they have a good relationship and I think when the time comes it's going to be not really a big conversation I would hope she'd want to stay and feel like she wants to do more but who knows if we win the world cup equally that could be a perfect time for her to close that chapter so who knows but I'm not surprised she's relaxed about it looking forward then to the world cup and football waits for no one world cup qualification starts in in March we've got a little bit of a break before then. But an away game against Ukraine is the opening qualifier. And then we host Iceland. Spain also in their group, would you believe. What do you make of England's chances? When are we ever

going to have a year we're not playing Spain, I think is the question. But I think it's really interesting because it's two quite unknown teams of this lioness's side. They haven't played Iceland in a really long time. And looking back, I'm not entirely sure when, if they have played Ukraine before. So it's two teams that are relatively unfamiliar and that is always going to be a bit of an anxiety producing situation because you like, it's the fear of the unknown, I guess, right? So it can do all the analysis, but actually having a bit of experience and coming up against these players or these teams, it's a whole new challenge for them. It's going to be tricky. I think obviously with Otana Bonatti now out for pretty much the whole season,

having that surgery to her leg. What does that look like for Spain? They've got an incredible squad, but a lot of it has rotated and been centred around Bon Matty in the middle. So it's an interesting time, I think, to play these teams because a lot of things will be looking at England going, you know, they won the Euros, but then you look at sort of the Nations League that they've had in the past. And it hasn't probably been what we've expected of them and sort of the table-topping sort of landslide

that you would expect from the European Championships. Yeah, it's been slightly lackluster in the past. So I think you're looking at, if you're Ukraine or Iceland, and especially Iceland having been at the Euros and probably have a quite disappointing run at the Euros, you'll think actually there's an opportunity here. So, you know, it's such a strange sort of group of talent because you've got kind of two of the top teams in Europe

and two that, you know, Ukraine came up from League B. So it's a very different look than what we've probably seen from the Nations League. But I think, again, for fans, that's so exciting that you're going to potentially travel to these countries to see these other teams as well. So, yeah, it's an exciting time. and I think England will fancy their chances.

I think having this also is probably they want to make a statement this year. They probably didn't make the sort of statement that they were hoping to last year, even though they won the Euros, which is quite an interesting thing to say, I guess. They'll fancy their chances. And I think when you look at the format as well, even if they don't top that group, they have a really, really good chance of going through the qualifiers, through the playoffs and into that World Cup. So you definitely think that all being well that they would be there.

I remember Iceland being coined as the dark hauls of the Euros. and that kind of never really came to fruition. But I'm hoping they don't become the dark horse in this qualifier group. Yeah, that would not be fun. We still don't know where the lionesses are going to be playing Ukraine. When England men played Ukraine a couple of years ago, it was played in Poland in a place called Rotslav. So we'll wait to find out where that is going to be,

obviously, with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. We mentioned Spain earlier on and actually they retained their Nation's League title. They do do well in that tournament. It was an emphatic 3-0 victory over Germany. 55,000 fans at the Estadio-Metrippolitano in Madrid. Sonia Bermudez's side without Itana-Bormatis, as you mentioned, ruled out for five months having surgery on a broken fibula.

France, meanwhile, finished third. They edged past Sweden in Stockholm but needed an extra time goal from Kelly Gargo to win 4-3 on aggregate. Wales ended their 12-game winless run. Well done to them. It was a narrow three-two victory over Switzerland, Sophie Ingle, Hanna Kane and Lily Woodham all on the score sheet for Rianne Wilkinson's side. Scotland, meanwhile, held off a China comeback to win three-two in Spain. Melissa Andriata's side scored three and three minutes in the first half, thanks to a brace from Kirsty Howitt and a goal from Kirsty Hansen. There was a concern, though, for Chelsea's Erin Cusbert, who was stretched off with a head injury.

She was thankfully released, though, a few hours later, so wishing her the very best. It's been a pleasure to have you both on. Thank you so much. M, see you soon. See you soon. Thanks for having me. Aisha, catch you, no doubt, at an award ceremony somewhere in the future. See you soon, Faye. Thanks for having me. Take care. Thank you very much. That's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly.

In part two, we're going to talk to Newcastle United's Tanya Oxtabee as she prepares for her first game in charge. Welcome back to part two of the award-winning Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Susie Rack is back. I have already waxed lyrical, by the way, and thanked everyone for voting for us at the FSA Awards, but I want you to tell them briefly about the night itself, particularly a selfie that you legged it over for it was noted.

Yeah, so Declan Rice won men's prayer of the year. I'm a journalist, right? Like, I don't fan girl much. I don't ask photos of players ever. I don't do any of that. But I'm a lifelong Arsenal fan. And when he was doing his speech, I knew, you know, men's team have a midweek game.

He's not going to be sticking around. He's going to be dashing off afterwards. It's like, I've got one chance. one chance do I do it and I was like if I do it I can't go now while he's in the middle of his speech I'm going to have to go literally as soon as he stops finishing and we were one end our table was one end of the room

the exit was completely at the opposite end so the second he stopped speaking I literally jumped up said to producer Danielle and producer Silas that I was going for it and legged it carrying this very heavy trophy across the room dodging through tables people laughing at me launched through the doors into the lobby and there he is being sort of shepherded away quite quickly.

I just went, Dick, please, can I have a photo with us and our trophies? And he was so lovely. And Sam Matterface very kindly took photos on my phone for me. And I walked proudly back through the room having not made a complete tit out of myself legging it across the hall for no reason. So that was fun. Amazing. Well, listen, when I'm on the England men's camp next time in March, I'm going to say to him,

you've got, you had a photo of the trophy before I did, which, which is brilliant. Listen, we've got a very special guest with us today that I know for a fact, Susie Rack, you would also sprint across a room to try and get a photograph. Oh yeah. I've had a few photographs with her myself, but that's because I like to call her a friend.

Tanya Ogstabee is with us. Just before the international break, the news broke that Tanya was leaving Northern Ireland to become the new Newcastle United manager after an extensive period of recruitment. She's been on the pod, friend of the pod numerous times, so we thought it'd be a great opportunity to get her back on

and find out all about her return to club football. Big change. How are you, Tanya? I'm good. Thank you for that wonderful introduction and definitely a friend. I apologise in advance for my voice because it's hanging on by a thread.

So I don't normally sound like this, but I'll just rock with it. Is this what it's like? Back in club football and that's it, you're on the training pitch more than you are normally, and it's gone already? It's gone already. It's all over.

It's all over. My voice is just wondering what's happening. But, no, it's been a great week, really, really good week. So good to be back on the grass every day with the players. And everyone here has been so kind and lovely. And, yeah, certainly can't complain. I think you need to get yourself a megaphone without a doubt. That's the that.

Or maybe that won't necessarily endear you to your new players if you've got yourself a megaphone. They're running the other direction. What's it been like so far? So you're settled in nicely? How's it been? It's been a little bit chaotic. Obviously, I'm not quite sort of relocated up here permanently yet. So family is still down in Surrey and I'm up here.

So it's been a little bit of back and forth. But it's been amazing. Being on the grass every day with the players, we've got players coming back now from international duty and really looking forward to working with them and building towards our first game together. Sounds like an absolutely logistical nightmare from a personal point of view and I don't envy you it.

What was it about Newcastle that drew you to the project when you first started of having those conversations with them. Externally, I've always kind of watched what they were doing and thought, oh, that looks like a great project and, you know, they're building something special. And I think when the conversations sort of started more in depth than we were kind of discussing about the ambitions of the club and what they felt they needed and maybe the skills that I had

to be able to bring to the party on that, it just felt right, you know, whilst it was a big jump going from obviously international back into club football from a family point of view, It just felt like it was the right time. And I think on the flip of that, like to be able to see my son every morning and every night and not have large chunks of time away as well is going to be beneficial to him. So it just made sense.

Yeah. I'm not going to make you look back too much, but a couple of years you were at Northern Ireland. How do you reflect on your time there? I'm really proud. I'm proud of everything I did there. I think when I walked into it, I think you try and do as much research as you can about what you're going to walk into. But until you're in it, you don't really know. know. And I think where I found the program and where I left the program are in two completely

different places. And I suppose the transition of the squad and kind of where the squad is at now in terms of really good young players with really good cultural architects from a senior player point of view in and around it, like whoever steps into that role next is got a really good foundation to build from. And I'm really, really proud of the work that we did there. And I'm going to miss the people because they're amazing people. I think the players and I were really, really sad. when we were saying goodbye, but I think we also knew that it was probably the right time for me to move on. Newcastle obviously coming back over here, been on a clear trajectory in the past couple of seasons with back-to-back promotions into the WSL2. The club haven't hidden their ambitions of reaching

the top tier. What have conversations with the board been like in terms of that sort of long-term strategy moving forward? Exactly that. You know, we want to be in WSL1, want to be competing for trophies, want to be winning things, which obviously, like from my point of view with my time at Chelsea, just it meshed, it meshed really nicely. But on the flip of that, it's about building it in a sustainable way and making sure that when we do get there, that we're ready in terms of our processes and the people and all the bits around it. And that's one thing to say it, but it's also another thing to show actions to do it. And that's probably been the thing that's impressed me massively about the club is, they put their money where their mouth is, or their actions

where their ambition is and that fills me with a fair bit of confidence that actually if I get my part right on the pitch that we can obviously elevate and go the whole way. Listen, you're in a bit of a talent hub

aren't you in the North East as well when you think of the likes of Beth Mead, Steph Horton, Jill Scott as well. You know, it's an incredible hotbed of talent, that area. How much emphasis is there at Newcastle in terms of

building a pathway for the next generation of local girls? Yeah, there's a massive emphasis. When we talk about doing things in the right way, that's exactly what we're talking about. So, yes, we want to be competing. We want to be, obviously, winning things. We want to be performing at our best. But we also want to make sure that we're developing our own talent.

And I think that's not just about the players. That's also the staff. Fernie's been in with me today. She's obviously part of our pathway, but she's in with the first team and she's, you know, in and around it. It's exciting because you think about where we could be in five years time. And actually, that's probably a little bit scary, really. 100%.

coming in in the middle of the campaign can be tricky. Obviously, they've not had the most consistent start to the season, currently four, ten points behind Charlton. What are those first priorities for you as you head into this first game against Southampton? Because I imagine it's, you know, when you're coming in mid-season, it's really hard to decide what takes the focus. Yeah, there's just no like magic one to just be like,

okay, bang, bang, bang. I think it's trying to prioritise, as you said, what's going to give us our biggest bang for our bark. this squad is really talented and that's the most pleasing thing is as you say results have been a little bit mixed but we're still in and around it which is great we've got the talented players in our squad to be able to execute that so it's about consistency of when and where to do the things that we're asking them to do obviously the international break makes that a little bit more difficult because we haven't had everyone in but at the same time it's allowed me to work with the players that have been here so it'll be a really good test for us on monday night like southampton are doing really well there's not much between us in terms of where we sit in the in the in the league table. So it'll be a really good platform for us to see where we're at and test ourselves and hopefully get a fair few learnings to then, you know, we want to use the next three games between now and Christmas to sort of really judge where we're at and laser focus some of those priority points as well. You mentioned the culture that you'd built at Northern Ireland and

building that dressing room culture that kind of fits with your leadership style as well is really important. So in this context and all the learnings that you've had over, over your time as head coach and manager, what defines a Tanya Oxtaby team, do you think? Clarity around what we're going after and how we're going to do it. And part of that is obviously having a difficult conversation at times with players and staff, which I'm okay with. I'm Australian, so I'm all right with that. When we talk about culture, for me, culture is behaviours. So let's define the behaviours that we are willing to go after and that we are willing to exhibit every single day. And if we're not doing that, we need to call each other out on

in the right manner because we have to hold each other accountable. So at the end of the day, if we're saying we're going to be respectful, what does respect actually mean in terms of behaviours? So even if we need to have a difficult conversation and you're not going to like what I'm going to say to you, possibly, I'm going to do it in a respectful way so that you can really hear what it is I'm saying because we have to grow together and we have to learn together. So once we've all agreed on that in terms of what we're going after, then we live and breathe by it. And as hard as that may be or as rewarding as that may be at times and you're going to get bit of a sliding scale with that. I think that's probably one of the biggest things for me

at Northern Ireland is, you know, I'm not picking you this time and it's a really difficult conversation for me to have with you. Just as much as you don't want to have it, I don't want to have it, but it has to be had. And here is the reasons why, and here is the evidence why. And at the end of the day, that's just being respectful to people. People just want clarity on things, whether that's the way you play, whether that's decision making, all of those bits. So that's for me the piece that I want to try and get implemented and consistently going after, you know, between now and Christmas so that the players are really clear from their point of view. The next block of fixtures, your first block of fixtures,

free before the winter break, what are you hoping to take from those? And then does the winter break fall at a really fortuitous time for you in that sense, in that you've got time to then reflect and work on everything you see in those three games looking into the new year? Yeah, I think you're spot on with that. Obviously, we've got our three games before the Christmas break. We've got some players that we're working to try and get back to fitness. which will give us a really good opportunity to get some work into them

and hopefully have them close to available for the next blocker games. But at the end of the day, I want to see the things that the players are able to really grasp and what we're asking of them and the things maybe they're struggling with a little bit so that we can then work across, you know, the time that we have together before the next block of fixtures. So I actually think it comes at a really good time because we've got a couple of different variations of fixtures too, which is good. So we'll see a little bit of every sort of phase, if you like, and areas of our principles of play.

so we can get a good mixture of things. So I think it does come in a really good time, to be honest. Yeah, something that the club doesn't really need to put focus on is, you know, their supporter base in terms of growing it because it's already really, really strong. It's obviously a part of the world that lives and breathes the game as well. So how much are you looking forward to meeting all the fans for the first time at Gateshead on Sunday?

Well, I actually, I was up for the Everton game and I wasn't obviously coaching it, but I was up for the day. and just did a Q&A with the crowd and honestly I was blown away like I've never experienced anything like it it was it was amazing um gave me goosebumps when I walked out like the way that they just you know embrace you and um how much they love the team and that's the stuff you dream of like you know when when I was playing like you get 10 people to the game and half of them throwing chips at you but um you know like the the the passion that the supporters have for this club is it's just amazing and my job is to make sure I give them a product that they can get really

really excited about and yeah I'm I'm so looking forward to Monday night after that experience you know against Everton because I just think like if that's how excited they get a you know at a cup game that probably doesn't have a lot of meaning to it because it's a bit of a dead rubber imagine what that place is going to be like when we're you know right in the thick of it and and there's points on offer and obviously they're they're going to get behind the girls It's exciting. Yeah, I said Sunday. That's just force of habit.

I meant Monday under the lights. Very exciting. Listen, it's been so lovely to catch up with you. I hope no chips are thrown on Monday night. And we'll be keeping our fingers crossed for you. And hopefully we'll catch up with you later on in the season. Awesome. Thanks, guys.

See you soon. Brilliant stuff. Tanya Ox to be there, new head coach at Newcastle United. Right. Listen, a few bits of other business to bring you because news broke last week about plans to change the format of the Subway Women's League Cup. So from next year, teams competing in the Champions League are going to be excluded from the competition to help with player loading.

A Swiss model league phase is also being considered in place of the current traditional group stage. Clubs have voted the proposals through, but they're subject to FA approval. So we keep you posted on that. And a bit of news for you, the host of Euro 2020. has been announced. Germany have won the bidding, beating a joint bid from Sweden and Denmark and one from Poland as well. Having been out in Germany for 2024, it was great fun for the men's euros. So I think they'll be really good hosts. And hopefully they'll have learned from some of the transport issues that we had while we were out there. They've got a fair amount of time to sort that out at least. But that should be great fun out in Deutschland. Got a brilliant email from Jeff Harrington. I want to read. read you. Hi, it was mentioned a while back that Canada is strangely missing from the long list of countries able to watch Women's Champions League matches through a subscription to Disney Plus. I found this out the hard way when furiously searching for an Arsenal game early

in the early stages of the tournament to no avail. Fortunately, I remembered I'd created a free account with UEFA and when I bought UEFA TV, there was the game as well as all the other games being played that day. You have to watch the game live and there are no replays except for highlights and goals. Fortunately, this works well with the time difference where I live, but I hope this helps some frustrated viewers. I look forward to hearing the pod every Tuesday. Thanks. Jeff in Chester, Nova Scotia. Brilliant. I love it when we're getting a bit of advice. Thank you very much for that, Jeff. Susie, lovely to see you. We'll be it briefly. I can't wait to see you in the flesh next week. I know. It's going to be weird. It is going to be really weird.

I was so gutted not to be with you on Monday night, but I can't wait to have a group, a team group photo. with the trophy. That's what I'm trying to say. Didn't quite come out of the way I wanted it to. Anyway, I will see you then. See you all then as well. A special pod coming up for you where we'll all be in person. Could be a little bit like one of those giddy pants Monday night ones. I have a feeling.

Keep having you say, send in your questions via X or email us at Women's Football Weekly at the Guardian.com, just as Jeff did. And as ever, a reminder to sign up for our biweekly women's football newsletter. 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.