The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Winter mailbag: who will Arsenal’s next manager be? – Women’s Football Weekly podcast

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey, and Tom Garry to answer your questions

This is The Guardian. free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers, and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Happy New Year, you lovely lot. We have a special episode for you today, a mailbag episode. We're always asking you for your questions, so this podcast is dedicated to exactly that, your questions. And if you listen every week, it now feels very strange for me not to say, plus we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football

Weekly. So I'm going to say it anyway. Welcome to 2025. Susie Rack, Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Fun times. We're back. You weren't excited enough for me for that, I'm afraid. Happy New Year, Fun times. We're back. You weren't excited enough for me for that, I'm afraid. Happy New Year. Fun times. Are you Christmassed out? I don't know.

I've had like cold flu over the entire Christmas period that I've only just come out of. So like, you know, it's been exhausting in that sense. But yeah, like I feel good now. I'm ready for the season to restart. Is that more cheerful? Yeah, that's more cheerful. And I'm sorry you were poorly. I'm ready for the season to restart. Is that more cheerful? Yeah, that's more cheerful. And I'm sorry you were poorly. I'm waiting for it to hit me.

I'm officially on holiday after we've recorded today's pod. So that's pretty much teed up for me to be ill when I wake up tomorrow morning, I think. Tom Gary, hope no such illness for you. Happy New Year. How are you? Happy New Year. I'm well, thank you. I had a slight

false start to 2025's football coverage driving to Nottingham Forest against Burnley in the Women's FA Cup third round yesterday to get I think around 25 miles on the ground before it was called off and then had a rather amusing phrase from our sports editor who rang me on the hands-free and his words were, did you know you've been cancelled? And I slightly chuckled to myself at the wording of that phrase. But thankfully, he meant the match. Wow. Oh, my God. I could never imagine you ever being cancelled. You're just not that type of person.

I was having a bit of a giggle, yeah. Fast forward another 20 years of your career and maybe everything you say right now will be forever inappropriate. We shall find out. Sophie Downey, I love the fact that you've turned up. First pod, you know I love your hats. You have gone all out. Please describe.

Is it a Stetson? Is that what it is? So it's not quite a Stetson, but it's close enough. I'm in Nashville in Tennessee on holiday and I was determined that I would come home with a proper cowboy hat this time. And so I'm now in my cowboy era. It looks incredible. I love it. Have you felt bereft with no women's football to watch

or grateful for being in the warm? I haven't felt bereft. I'm probably ready to come back. But I've been very much enjoying the break and, you know, getting some much needed R&R. Well, listen, it's lovely to see all your wonderful faces to warm up the January. Of course, if you're in warmer climes

and listening to this pod, then you don't know what we're talking about. But it's cold and miserable and wet and snowy and goodness knows what else here in the UK. It's pretty grim but what isn't grim is how brilliant you've all been sending in your questions on a variety of different themes and every single week when we finish recording the pod we all say to each other we haven't managed to get through all the questions that have been sent so to kick off 2025 because there's been no football not even one game to have reported on over the weekend, we've decided to do a mailbag episode and we're very excited about that. at the moment and the winter transfer window officially opened on the 1st of January. It runs until 11pm UK time on the 30th of January. There have already been a handful of signings with

Olivia Holt and Rebecca Knack both leaving FC Rosengard for Tottenham and Manchester City respectively. Everton have made some early moves bringing in forward Kelly Gargo from FC Nantes and Martina Fernandez on loan from Barcelona so first up a more general question I think from Georgie Marie on Instagram I'm sorry if it's Georgie Mary there's two y's in there which is why I said Marie you can correct me if you like are any of you expecting any big surprises in the transfer window? Susie? It depends what you mean by surprises, because there's obviously some big hitters that could make moves and where they end up could potentially be surprising.

So the likes of Naomi Germer, I'm really interested to see where she lands. There's been interest from across the WSL, from Lyon as well. She's such a huge player. I think Emma Hayes said she's the best centre-back she's ever worked with. So it'd be really interesting to see if she lands in the WSL. I imagine the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal City would all be very, very interested, particularly City after Alex Green was injured as well, even though they've obviously brought a player in already. But I don't know how any team couldn't be interested so like where she ends up I think will be particularly interesting obviously we saw the Keira Walsh uh rumors sort of kick into action in the summer

with the you know world record bid from Arsenal so whether they come back in for her and you know she's coming towards the end of her contract or whether someone else could sweep in and take her I think that will be the more interesting thing I don't think there's going to be too many surprises per se in that I think you know the people that we expect to move will either move or move at the end of the season but where some of them head will be interesting because there's always the ability for a curveball to be thrown in it's a window I think Faye where a lot of the work is going to be going on for summer deals on sort of pre-contract agreements, maybe that we might not hear about until later in the spring. But it's a huge summer when you've got players like Keira Walsh, you know, out of contract in the summer.

But not just her, you've got your brand, you've got Clara Ball, you've got Katoto, you know, probably one of the best strikers in the world. Potentially can move on a free in the summer. You know, there's such a long list of some of the biggest players in the world. We'd now, as of four days ago, only got six months left on their contract. So I think there's lots of people kind of jockeying for position. I think loads of those things are going on. And in terms of January in the WSL I think it will be quite busy I think there's a few clubs who've got business to do we're expecting Everton to be quite busy off the back of the takeover I think there'll be at least two more incomings there I think Liverpool will sign a couple of players wishing I could give a little bit more detail at the moment but we're early into the window still a lot more time to come and I think there'll be quite a few clubs trying to sign

Hayley Ladd from Manchester United player that we're very much expecting to be on the move in January to try and get a bit more game time she's hardly had a chance to play in the double cell this season and also don't forget the kind of Scandi clubs now most of whom are now you know at the start of a new campaign I think there'll be a lot of change there Hacken I'm expecting quite a few players to come out to leave Hackenen. Ruby Grant, I think the England under-23 player is one of those who I think will leave Hacken and lots of interest in the WSL and beyond.

So, yeah, all sorts of different moving parts at the moment. But I think Susie's mentioned a big one. I think that's one of the most fascinating ones is Germer. So let's wait and see. Yeah, very much so. Similar questions from both Rachel and Kez Roy on Instagram. Soph, which team do you think needs the transfer window the most?

And what are clubs needing to focus on in this transfer window? And will they get what they need? And, and, and? That's a million dollar question, isn't it? Whether they get what they need. I think it's actually a really interesting window. I do agree that a lot of it will be thinking about the summer ahead. But I think when you look at a lot of teams across the WSL, other than maybe Chelsea and potentially Arsenal, although Arsenal do need some backup, say at right wing, I would say, there are a lot of clubs that are needing more players and actually look rather thin on the ground when they have one or two injuries here and there and we've seen that with Leicester we talked about it a lot in the first half of the season their lack of having a number nine they will definitely be in the market they have to be whether it's on loan or you know permanently for a number nine but the problem for them is there aren't that many clear-cut number nines out there going you know

available at the moment. I think another point I'd also bring up is it's a really interesting one that all of these big players are kind of coming to the end of their deals or last six months of their deals. And I was just thinking, we talked about it maybe a bit with like the Viv Miedema transfer away from Arsenal and them letting her go away on a free and then it just seems that we're getting to this sort of stage where we've got so many big players almost about to go away on a free when are these clubs going to start making business out of them because this is the time to sell them if you I know six months you're going to get less than what you should get anyway but like if you're thinking about the business model of those football and transfers and all of that,

they've got to start reaping some revenue from it at some point. So I do wonder when that will start to come into people's thinking a bit more. That's a really good point, actually. Away from that, but still on transfers, this is from Chris Clark on X. Does Chloe Kelly need to move away from Manchester City to ensure her place in the Euros squad? That's an interesting one. And Susie, you're nodding your head vociferously.

Yeah, I don't see how she can not be desperate for a move and not feel like she needs one. Serena Wigman already said towards the end of last year that she was concerned with how little game time she was getting. so the Euros aren't that far away she played such a big part last time round the idea of her missing it is somewhat inconceivable but if she's not playing there's only so much leeway that Wiegmann and her team can have I mean I get that they are probably aware that it's clearly quite a fractious relationship for Chloe City at the moment clearly there's been some kind of breakdown in relations there for it to be a case where she you know even with their injuries at the moment can't get on the pitch still as a starting player and you know they can make

allowances for that but like how many allowances can you make when you're going into a major tournament where you're in a group of deaf and defending champions as well so like yeah I think she desperately needs to move that and I think she would have moved if the injuries hadn't come in um and that's the thing that could throw the spanner in the works like they might want to keep hold of her because they are light on the ground but yet they were light on the ground towards the end of the end of the year and still weren't necessarily using her other than off the bench which um doesn't necessarily speak to getting game time, even with those injuries coming in as well. So concerning.

Where could you see her going, Tom? Well, Kelly was quite heavily linked last summer with Paris Saint-Germain, but since that story, there has been a change of management at the club in Paris. So I think that's still a bit of a question mark there. My own feeling is that the best thing for Chloe Kelly would probably be a short-term loan move for the rest of the season with that in mind you could you could bring in almost every club in the women's super league you know below the top three I think would all be contenders there and I certainly believe there's been some interest from Everton who she's obviously played for before whether that can become a reality I

guess it remains to be seen I think Susie's hit the nail on the head that the issue for Man City is whether they can afford to let Kelly go, given the other injuries in the squad. But I think following that Everton takeover, I think that's certainly something that they are looking to try and do, is try and really strengthen attacking areas there. So let's wait and see.

I think it also depends on whether or not Everton were able to get Catherine Kuhl from Arsenal. And Sophie was talking a moment ago about the transfer fee. So that's a player who we understand Arsenal are kind of open to bids for at the moment because of the fact that they don't want to stand in her way from getting more game time. But I think, you know, that would be quite a substantial fee. It could well have to be £100,000 or more to get a player like that these days with such a young talent. So that perhaps is another one to watch because if we do start to see

that kind of money for younger players, then it could be a trickle-down effect of fees elsewhere. Yeah, fascinating. Especially Everton could end up having the tale of two seasons if they recruit well in January, couldn't they? It would be very fascinating. Natalie on X wants to know whether there's any news about United signing a goalkeeper. She was also asking about Hayley Ladd as well, which I think we've covered.

Who wants to take that goalkeeper for United, Soph? I mean, it has to be a priority. I think we all outlined it in the summer, right? They've got kind of a young keeper coming through, but not ready probably to really be a backup to Fallon, Tullis, Joyce. And I think they've been quite lucky in the fact that Tullis, Joyce has been so, so good.

I would reckon she's probably been the goalkeeper of the season so far in the WSL. But if something happened to her, you do have to worry what happens to that that kind of backline and defensive um side of United you know that have conceded what three goals this season so the tightest defense in the league at the moment um so you would think it would have to be a priority I'm not sure if like anyone else knows who's might be in the mix for that but I definitely think they would be thinking about that and Tom mentioned about Hayley Ladd earlier you've got to think that for her especially ahead Anyone else knows who might be in the mix for that. But I definitely think they would be thinking about that.

And Tom mentioned about Hayley Ladd earlier. You've got to think that for her, especially ahead of a Euro 2025 in the summer, where she is going to be wanting to shine for Wales, she needs to be playing regular football and to be able to be in her peak condition for that tournament. And I think the real priority for Manchester United as well in terms of incoming has got to be goals. We're talking about the lowest scorers in the top five now. And there's some way off the title in terms of the number of goals that Chelsea are scoring. That's where Man United are really lacking

in the goals department. So I think whether it's this window or the summer, that really has to be an area of focus for them to try and bring goals in. I feel like every single pod we do, we mention the Arsenal managerial situation. Kananda, again, so, so many apologies. I'm not sure on Twitter handles or this is in fact an Instagram handle, Kananda or Kanande. Renée Slagers and Arsenal most seem to consider

she may not want the job. What are your thoughts? Have there been any updates? Well, I had some conversations about this this morning and I think what we can tell Arsenal fans is that the kind of process to find the long-term head coach is coming towards a conclusion. I'm not 100% sure if it will be finalised

before the cup ties this weekend, but certainly I would expect there'll be some kind of announcement before the first league game back. It's been a long search, hasn't it? From what we understand, you know, Arsenal have been speaking to managers

from all around the world. They've interviewed a whole range of candidates over multiple rounds. Our understanding is that René Slaggers is one of those people that has been interviewed, which I suppose is no huge surprise given how well she's done in the interim role. And I must say, I've spoken to a lot of people in the last fortnight or so who really would like her to get the job. I think that seems to be the sentiment amongst the fan base, but also there's a lot of people in the game.

But at the moment, Arsenal, everyone involved in the process is really keeping their cards very close to their chest. Renee Slaggers, to answer the question we've had there, at no stage in the past three months has she ever intimated whether or not she wants the job or whether she's not ruled herself in or out. But yeah, our understanding is she's one of the people that's been interviewed. I would expect some news on this over the next few days. It's something that Arsenal have been determined to try and exhaust all avenues

to find the best person they can. And I suppose the results that Slaggers has had in interim has kind of given them a chance to do that. You know, there's a lot of people involved in this. It's not just, although it's being led by Claire Wheatley, you know, it's not just Claire Wheatley, the head of women's football at Arsenal, who's doing this.

You know, you've got people from the recruitment teams in both the men's and the women's arm of the club. You've got Jason Aito who stepped up to replace Edu and you've also got the likes of James King, director of football operations, all involved in the process. So it's quite a one club search. And I think it has now, I believe there'll be more news by the time we do the next pod.

Okay, right. I'm on tenterhooks already. We're going to stay with the WSL, but kind of away from transfers. And actually, I'm going to massively apologise to Raphael Iberg, because I don't think we covered this at the time. An email was sent in on womensfootballweekly at theguardian.com.

Any more of those you want to send our way, please do. Dear Guardian Women's Football Weekly team, this was from the end of November, by the way, so apologies, it's not been answered yet. Thanks once again for your podcast. A weekly brush of fresh football air, especially in glooming November. Insert January.

I'm officially out of goalkeeping questions for now, so I'm going to move up to the midfield. I actually have a question that's quite literally coming out of left field. The player that's impressed me the most week in, week out this season so far is Sandy Baltimore. I was just wondering why Sonia Bonpastor was keeping her in such a defensive role, even though she's shown that her offensive impact could be incredible and she could therefore score a lot more points for my fantasy WSL team what's your take on this thank you for that Raphael firstly we have not even mentioned fantasy WSL because I gave up after week two I don't know how everybody else is doing I haven't even looked at the table I'm just terrified I know I'll be rock bottom, but on Sandy Baltimore. I think there are two reasons for this.

Firstly, the injury to Niamh Charles that ruled her out from the start of the season, from pre-season. She dislocated her shoulder in a pre-season friendly, and that kind of forced Sonia Bonpasto's hand into finding a solution to the problem. I think they've tried a number of things occasionally ashley lawrence was seen out on the the left hand side has never really put in you know a top level performance in that position and sandy baltimore is someone that bon pastor knows pretty well as well um and then i think the other thing as well well as the form of guru writing as well um you know down that left side she's played in the 10 at times, Guru,

but she is much, much better, we know that, on the left side. And she's been scoring goals for fun recently as well. So I think those two things have come together a bit to make sure that Sandy is probably playing that more defensive role. It's going to be interesting what happens now because Charles is back fit, raring to go. And she would, you would probably imagine, be first choice in that left-back position.

So it's going to be interesting to see how those pieces come together. OK, this is from Kat Kenzie on Instagram. With the Brighton Stadium news, how do you feel about new stadiums rather than using main ones? What do you reckon, Susie? I mean, I'm not averse to new stadiums rather than using main ones do you reckon Susie I mean I'm not averse to new stadiums but I think that on the whole it's a really really difficult issue because in so many areas land is such a big problem like for any of the London clubs it's impossible to build separate stadiums for women's teams because the land is just like at such a premium so like there are clubs that it

can work for the ones outside of london in particular where there's a bit more space where that land is a bit cheaper that kind of stuff but i also think that you know there's we're on quite a good path with the men's stadiums um and arsenal showing the way of how you can steadily build those audiences and attendances and you know I figure like personally like if a club is gonna spend a significant money on their team and their facilities for their women's team there are better places to use that money than a new stadium like you when you've got a pre-existing men's stadium that has huge capacity, that you can work towards filling, that you can even fill sections of and have it be quite an effective crowd.

We saw that in some of Arsenal's earlier crowds. I think back to when they hosted Chelsea on the opening day of the season, it was just the little block opposite the dugout that was filled with about 8,000 to 10,000 fans, but it was really effective. There's a way of building atmosphere despite the stadiums being quite large. I just think if you've got some of the clubs outside of London, the ones outside of Chelsea and Arsenal who are going,

oh, yeah, we've got enough money to build a stadium, then I would like to see some of that money going into players going into the training facilities and that kind of stuff first for me I think that would be the priority for that money for me but yeah it's not a terrible idea like I think you know if a club is investing well like Brighton is and is uh you know has all of those conditions in place in the first place it's a good alternative. That said, the Amex is a great stadium to play in as well. So it's a tough one.

I was just completely about to say that because I think the Amex provides a perfect opportunity to, you know, it's not the biggest stadium, but it's big enough to build into. And I think you have to give kudos to Brighton, but at the same time it's very nice headline to be able to say you're building a women's specific stadium but what happens when you get beyond that when what happens when you get beyond the capacity of this new stadium and

then you're going to have to send them into the Amex anyway it just seems like a weird kind of stop gap that doesn't seem to make sense financially to me and I'm just seems like a weird kind of stopgap that doesn't seem to make sense financially to me. And I'm just thinking like what happened in the NWSL, right, with the Kansas City Stadium. Obviously, a really good addition to the league. And it was a great PR that it was the first women's specific stadium that was built in the NWSL. But it is, you know, quite frankly, tiny in comparison to some of the other stadiums in the NWSL, but it is, you know, quite frankly, tiny in comparison to some of the other stadiums in the NWSL, you know, even thinking about where Seattle play, you know, at Lumen Field with the Seahawks, that's a huge, huge capacity. And then you've got this women's specific stadium,

which I think is like 12,000 or something, or not even that. I can't remember the specific capacity, but point is, I do think it kind of limits you for the longer term growth. You've got to be thinking beyond short term, you know, five, ten years. You're thinking about the next 20 years. Yeah, Chelsea renovated Kings Meadow and put a lot of money into it. Arsenal invested quite heavily in Borehamwood Stadium, putting money towards new stands and facilities and things like that um but both clubs outgrew it within the time that those plans have been decided to them being completed like they're both too small for them now so yeah you've got that risk haven't you of like you putting a lot of money into something that you very very quickly outgrow like the game is

growing at such a rapid rate if england won the euros in the summer who knows what attendance is going to be like next year you know it's such a quickly changing environment and these projects are like really long-term things you know planning and permission all those kind of things don't come easy so you're yeah you're potentially looking at years and years and years of building a stadium that then isn't fit for the new purpose that you need it for. Really good point and really good question. Thank you, Kenzie. Kez Roy on Instagram has asked, what aren't Liverpool doing as well this season

and what can be done? I mean, that is a big question. We did think that they'd be pushing this season, Tom, didn't we? But it's just not quite happening for Matt Beard's side. Yeah, I think fans of Liverpool have good reason to be disappointed right now because you had so much optimism after last season. But I think the challenge they've got is trying to kick on and improve

from last season's impressive fourth place was always going to be really difficult unless the football club were prepared to really heavily invest in the playing squad. I think there's been good investments in the training facilities. There's been good investments in the ground share with St Helens to improve lots of things at the club. But the squad still feels a little bit, shall we say, bottom half funding-wise. And that's backed up in their budget,

in their financial accounts. And that's just been Liverpool's policy for a while, hasn't it? Of not wanting to necessarily really spend big. They want to build slowly. But I think that they might have to rethink that soon. Otherwise they will get a little bit left behind. That's been hampered by a lot of injuries and having a bit unlucky.

The good news as we're recording this pod, as the club have said today, that Maria Herbinger should be back in training this week after her groin problem. And also that Sophie Roman-Hogg, after her ankle issue, you know, should be able to be back in the squad by the time they're back in WSL action on the 17th of January. So those are two bits of good news. I suppose it shouldn't all be about that. There are on-pitch issues as well.

They've not really taken their chances this season. They've been very wasteful in front of goal. There were draws earlier in the season. I think it was against Crystal Palace and also West Ham, where I think they really missed their opportunities and that should have been four more points. But yeah, they'll be one of a number of clubs right now looking at the table, you know, with six teams

with under a point per game. And I think all of those six teams, you know, that's a terrible record. But, you know, I appreciate that it's a short, it's a smaller league and it's difficult to judge too harshly, but less than a point per game is a dreadful record and

all of those six clubs on that will be disappointed right now at this point in the season, Liverpool included, and they're going to need to read to improve after the restart, that's for sure. Quick one on Arsenal, Susie. Alfresco on Instagram has said, what do you think Arsenal need to do to have the potential to start

winning trophies Get a new manager I don't mean a new manager necessarily just pick a manager It's a difficult question isn't it when they're in flux and change like if they continue with Rene Slegers

who's done a fine job it'll be interesting to see how they cope at the end of January against Chelsea and City and back-to-back away games and things like that that like I've said that from pretty much the moment she came in I really would love to see how they navigate those two games whoever is in charge and that will determine things because the squad is there it needs a little bit of strengthening maybe but like renee has shown that you can deliver tactically um to produce uh with the team that is there like that's the thing like it's definitely possible so yeah if they can stay injury free recruit a few more more players, a little bit of depth. So I've mentioned on the right wing earlier, I think that's correct. Like then you're in theory competing.

I think there's a lot of psychological barriers to get over though. Like, you know, they really need an FA Cup or a league title to kind of get over the psychological barrier of not having sort of won either of those trophies for quite some time now um question on the winter break and i feel like i know the answer to this already so this is from the her game to chelsea account on instagram should the winter break be shortened to avoid the fixture rush usually around march april April time? I would say no, and it's not actually that long when you account for the FA Cup. And you have to have, if you're going to give players two weeks off, you have to have a week, you know, to get back into training and stuff ahead of the restart.

I will always say this, wherever I go, I will protect the winter break with my life. It's a treasured thing in the women's game. I think there are so many factors around it, why we can't just copy what's been happening in the Premier League. The schedule has got so busy in recent years. Players are playing, international players, players are playing basically all through the summer,

bar maybe a couple of weeks off. And that's happening consecutive summers as well. We haven't had a proper break for quite a while you also have to remember that these players the players coming in from overseas don't have the kind of resources that they do in the men's game where they can up and move their family with them and just buy a house a lot of them are probably living in club accommodation shared accommodation and they also don't have their families with them over Christmas so I think it's super important to give them that time to go home, refresh, be with their families for that period.

I understand that there is a marketing thing around Christmas, but actually when you think about it, the men's game takes up so much space in that period in itself. So how do you get the wiggle room to get your own narrative across in that time frame? So yeah yeah definitely protect it um with everything I think I think we would all say we've all needed it so I can only imagine how much the players needed it as well to just have some time off to to relax as someone who works in the men's and women's game I like honestly I don't think I would be able to cope

if uh if Christmas had both uh sets on it would just be too my brain hurts already I'm joining Sophie on the barricades if it ever if they ever come for it I'm there I was I was actually saying to someone earlier on today I think I merged like three football matches that I'd been at individual with totally different teams in each one I merged all the key incidents from those three games into it being one game. It's like, no, it wasn't. That's how it feels at the moment.

And as you say, you know, the players, they need a rest. It's vital. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters.

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I'm going to defer to our resident expert, Mr Tom Gary, who I happen to know has been flicking through the Champions League rulebook to find the answer to this. I feel bad being called an expert on this because I had to be corrected on this as recently as about an hour ago. But no, the answer to the question is that clubs in the quarterfinals can register up to three new players. And they can have played for another team in the group stage, unless we've misinterpreted the rules, which are very confusingly worded. We have to explain to people, you and Sophie were going on point 32.0 and clause XYZ.

Yeah, the rules essentially start off by telling you that no player can play for two clubs in the same season and then all the caveats start to come in uh i think the simplest way to explain it at this stage uh is yeah the the for the quarterfinals onwards now you know players players won't be kept tied if you're one of those up to three new players you could register so hypothetically one of the english clubs could sign a player from a Champions League rival who has played in the group stage and they could be registered

for the quarterfinals, which don't get underway until March. So we've still got quite a long wait for that between now and the quarterfinals getting underway.

A couple more questions on the Champions League and Europa League. Do the UWCL quarter and semi-final draws in February need to be earlier for fans because there's not enough time to plan or book? Big, big nod there from Susie. Obvious one. Yeah, I think we're all nodding. It's just ludicrous that it's not done as soon as group

stage finishes so that fans can prepare, so that teams can prepare. Like, you know, if you're one of the smaller teams in the draw, though there's not many small teams in the draw, albeit, then, you know, you're potentially struggling to kind of set up those fixtures and get the money in place and all that kind of stuff. So, like, I just, from every point of view, it's inconceivable to me that you're not doing it as soon as the group stage is done. It's crap for fans.

It's really, really, really that um you are given barely any time between the draw and the games to plan to book time off work to book travel hotels like all of that all of that stuff it's just it's just rubbish um and then also ticket sales you know uefa enforcing quite rightly that, I think because of the VAR stuff, that they will have to be played in big stadia and less the stadia that they have. So I think Real Madrid can play in their stadium because it's VAR friendly. But most of them have to shift over to the main stadia to play. Ticket sales, I think it's really interesting. Arsenal, if I'm not wrong, have already gone on sale,

despite not knowing their opponent and the exact date. Because they've done the research and we know that what Arsenal have done around you know ticket sales and women's football they've done the the lead in time for selling tickets and they've they've worked out that you know they need that period of time I think UEFA probably forget that it's not the men's game yet where you know you put a game on sale and it will go in two weeks you know they'll sell it out in no time. We're still building here.

We're still building audiences across the Champions League and across the leagues. And they need a bit more time with that lead in the messaging to get the messages across. There's an awareness of it as well. Obviously, the men's Champions League format has changed this year, but you know pretty much the windows. Now there's more games. Obviously, that's changed slightly. But if somebody asked me right off the top of my head without going through my calendar when the women's Champions League is so bitty that I just always forget when it is.

So fans aren't automatically going to know that it's not quite as straightforward another topic of interest that you've all been sending in questions over the course of the season and and the last few days is the future of the women's football pyramid and expansion we get a lot of questions throughout the season on this and i keep saying we're going to do a proper uh pod on it we will do. We just run out of time every single week. But Nag has asked us on X, when will the Barclays WSL and or championship expand? It's the age old question that we bring up all the time. Do we know any more?

I know that they had said, look, let's get our feet under the table. First of all, before we discuss it. But are we any further along, Susie? No, we get very little information about what any change will look like at the moment it's sort of continue as is and you know while they you know kind of were sorting out the broadcast rights deal the Barclays deal and the sort of necessary financial side of things and I suppose you know got to be fair to them they are a startup you know they say that a lot but they they are and they're new to this and they are trying to get to grips with rallying the league that said when will it expand it should have expanded like two three years ago in my opinion like you know the scope is there to do it both of the championship and the WSL it should have happened already and the longer it goes on with neither of them expanding then I

think there's a real issue there and it's holding back the development of the game and undermining the development of teams in sort of tier three tier four in particular uh you know there's some really really strong sides there who are investing well. We've talked about them before, who have really earned the right to move up and test themselves and up their investment. Instead, we've got this bottleneck where teams are stuck and then you run the risk of ownerships getting bored of being stuck where they are and that investment dying off. And that can't go, that can't be allowed to sort of be a status quo for too much longer. There's a few questions on this theme, but with slight different angles to them.

And I've got a number of questions actually from Nag, always sending in questions on on lower down the pyramid which is really vital but let's take this one from dougley fish who's asked on blue sky whether the top two divisions get bigger to maintain loading on players or given the cliff edge between levels two and three should levels three and four broaden before expanding the elite they say i'm assuming that the women's game wants to avoid some of the pitfalls in the men's game and then kind of on that theme Chris has also asked as a fan of a tier four side how do we go about growing the game and changes to the number of teams promoted sitting here in January and Norwich City season is pretty much done as only one side goes up that's something

that I personally think has needed to happen for a long time. Too many of the leagues have only got one up, one down and there are massive bottlenecks and we've seen so many instances of teams who've narrowly missed out on promotion despite beating several teams in the league by double figures, scorelines in individual games and then knowing you've got to go and play that team again

the following season. It must be utterly demoralising for both those sides if you've lost 12-0 to a side and you've got to play that them again you know how am I not in a different league to them next season and I think that that needs to change I don't think we're likely to see an expansion of the numbers of teams in those lower leagues anytime soon because I think we have to keep in mind for the team say for example in tier five or tier four where it's an amateur setup funding wise you know that a lot of those teams are fundraising just to cover the travel costs to get to the numbers games they've got at the moment but to add in

more fixtures and particularly given some of the facilities and the pitch availability I think that would become a real challenge if you suddenly started to add in say four more home games but you know I'd love to hear different views on that if other people have got different opinions. But certainly from some of the clubs I speak to at that level, with the number of waterlogged games they have, I think they would see it as a struggle to finish the season if they suddenly added in a lot more games.

What I do think should happen, and I think probably is more likely to happen, is that if they are to expand in the league, the second tier will be the one that will be done first I think that's where there is the most pressing need for more teams and more games and so to ensure I mean Sheffield United for example I think are going is it seven weeks without a league fixture just as a one example out there so I think there's a real need for players in the second tier to have a more consistent schedule over the course of the calendar year. And hopefully that will come in soon.

That hopefully answers one of Nag's other questions as well about one team coming down from the championship, two up from the FA Women's National League and the plans to kind of level up tier three. It's just the question is, what goes first? Not chicken or the egg, but it is a little bit like which way around do you do it how do you filter it what's the what's what's the best way around and I'm sure this is something that they're they're trying to work out behind the scenes with the FA which non-WSL club are you most impressed with and why who wants to take that I can um yeah uh non-WSL club, I think,

well, that includes Championship, doesn't it? So we've gone on all season as well about the Championship and how tight that league is. I think the way that Birmingham have actually rebuilt themselves is quite impressive. Over the last couple of seasons, they really had to do that after they got relegated from the WSL. And I think the fact that they have put in,

they've acquired a really good international squad. They're definitely built with the idea in mind to get back into the top division. They haven't just gone, oh, well, we've gone down. That's it for us now. They are really trying to compete at the top level of the game again. And definitely when I speak to Amy Merrick, the manager and people at the club, their aim is definitely to get back into the WSL so I think

that's pretty impressive I think when you look further down you had you know Nottingham Forest going pro I think that was this season right there are clubs in that third tier at the moment who are really trying and working hard to build themselves within the game. And I think that's where that conversation before is really crucial, is because they need an incentive to keep going with that. You know, they have shown an interest in investing in what is essentially a semi-pro slash amateur league. They are kind of bringing up the levels a bit in terms of their investment and in terms of the way that they see their size developing and instilling professional football,

so full-time football, as it were. So we need to give them somewhere to go. And that has to be the ultimate priority, because without incentives, owners and stuff can get a bit lost, I think. And on that theme, could I give two shout-outs? One to Watford with their new women's football board with real women's football expertise,

which is so refreshing to see. And also to Durham, like what they're doing there, competing with all the big spenders to be just a point off the top in the championship. I think they are probably the team of the season so far. Durham were my shout out. I was going to say Durham as well. Honestly, I always look out for Durham.

When you look at that league and you go Birmingham, Bristol City, you've only really got London City and Durham kind of independent from a men's team. And London City have got money thrown at them and big stars coming in and things like that

and still Durham are level on points with them. How? It's incredible. Absolutely. I did have worries and look look I might be you know saying this from from a position of of absolutely zero expertise with football up in the up in the northeast and what's been going on but I've always had an eye on Durham because I love what they do and I did fear that with Newcastle going up that they would get swallowed by it, you know, just from a... And I'd love any Durham fans to get in touch and let us know whether that was a genuine concern

or what the state of play is up there. But absolutely smashing it. And always, I think last season was maybe an anomaly, but usually they are there or thereabouts, aren't they? Every single season can i add in bristol city as well because i think along the same lines as birmingham city when you go down it's very easy to just say especially with a club like bristol city that doesn't have the financial clout of some of the other clubs um they have very much looked at themselves and produced a new

women's strategy to try and you know state their claim about where they stand for women's football in the southwest of England and they are pretty much the you know the only club at that who have been at the top level of of the women's game in the WSL for many years I know they've come down and gone up again or whatever but the fact they understand that responsibility for girls football in the southwest and how they need to be driving that forward. And they have a huge catchment area. So I think the fact that they stood up after they went down, got relegated, they lost their manager in Lauren Smith, you know, things could have gone completely pear-shaped, but they've actually sat down and really thought about what they need to do next

to rebuild the club, to get themselves back to the top level but also about inspiring the next generation I know that's said a lot and I really don't like those words but it is about bringing girls in the southwest area into football how they can kind of get them involved get them engaged and produce lionesses and players of the future. Yep it's vital it really is right let's look ahead to the summer and speaking of the lionesses Euro 2025 as well with our england hat on slightly but actually rachel was asked on instagram with a swiss hat on how do you think switzerland's prep for hosting the euros is is going how are they looking i was out for the draw uh in lausanne and found out a little bit more about their preparations I think so far it's pretty positive there are you know there's a lot of more and more buy-in from sponsors and I think

one of the things that you'll notice if you're a fan going out to the tournament is the public transport which is being provided for free for ticket holders I think that's going to be a really welcome boost I was very impressed with the organisation of that draw event compared to similar things we've been to in the past. And I think it was nice to see a lot of the locals getting in behind it as well. So long way to go still. I think it'd be nice to see a little bit more engagement from government at the top and also from perhaps a lot of the men's football stars in the country

and the big men's clubs. But in terms of how the cities are getting behind it and how I think from an organisation of the logistics, I think everything we've seen so far has been quite promising. OK, fingers crossed then. We'll keep you updated on that. Thanks, Rachel. Sue Klesnick's on X has asked,

Susie, what's the prognosis on Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood making the Euros? Not another major tournament missing key players, please. Unfortunately, that's the way it goes, Sue, doesn't it? But how are they both looking, Susie? I mean, they've not officially ruled themselves out or been ruled out. But like you'd have to say that Alex Greenwood's chances of making that tournament are incredibly slim

after undergoing surgery. Obviously, Hemp has undergone surgery as well. she's slightly ahead of Alex Greenwood in that sense by about a month but like it's not looking great I mean if either of them or both of them even are recovered enough ahead of the Euros they won't be match ready necessarily so it's going to be potentially a bit of a risk to take them you'd hope that maybe hemp can get back and play a couple of games before the end of the season and maybe get a little bit of match time in before the tournament but i mean personally uh you know she's not said it it's not been announced but i think greenwood's chances of making the euros are incredibly slim oh that's really depressing finally arena polikopova on Instagram.

This is a very broad one. I wonder which way you're all going to go on this. What are your goals for 2025 and what are you most looking forward to this year? There's a big exhale of breath from Sophie. So I'm going to start with you, Soph. Goals for 2025. More hats.

More hats, yes. Buy a hat wherever wherever I go every country I go to that would actually be a lot of hats so maybe not but yes I think most looking forward to this year certainly for me it's going to be the Euros in the summer there's nothing quite like working in major tournament for a person on a work level and I'm also really hoping if England qualify to get to Morocco for the under-17 World Cup. So that is on my pipe dream. But in terms of my goals, I guess, work hard, stress less. I love that. Tom? My goal is to shoehorn in as many sandwich-related puns

relating to the new sponsor of the League Cup as possible into Guardian News Copy. Don't sink! The thing that I'm most looking forward to, definitely, I think those Euros group games between England and France, England and Netherlands and England and Wales. So, so special. Really looking forward to that. I think particularly the Netherlands game with the orange wall of fans that they'll bring, I think that'll be a really special occasion. So that's going to be fantastic. Susie?

Obviously the Euros, but I'm going to say Champions League knockout stage as well because I think, you know, obviously three English teams in there, really exciting time, like potential for at least one of them to go quite far in the tournament is there. So that excites me quite a lot. And those Champions League away days in particular are just a lot of fun to cover,

particularly when you get into sort of the latter stages of the tournament. There's a real buzz. It's really nice to cover it as well. You're away for a couple of days. You get to see the city, see the vibe. The final the final in lisbon i'm gonna eat as many pastel donatas like it's like i can like until i vomit basically i'm gonna eat them and then i will be ready to go again and yeah so i'm really looking forward to that in terms of goals for the year say i know right less on the podcast maybe oh you haven't told people what i bought you for christmas i'm wearing it i'm wearing it i've got a oh i didn't even notice a hoodie that says i know right from face suzy's

favorite catchphrase although most of the time now on whatsapp she says it's so much she literally goes ikr oh yeah for everything ikr i love it so yeah less of that although now it's my catchphrase i feel like i shouldn't limit it too much because you that although now it's my catchphrase I feel like I shouldn't limit it too much because you know it's it's become a thing do you know what's really funny about that I was actually looking at that because I can only see like you from the head and shoulders I actually was looking at your hoodie thinking that really suits you I really like that you chose it you bought it I know I know I did i honestly i saw it online i was like that is that's got suzy rack's name written all over it i should have worn my tapau t-shirt um but it's

too cold i'm not wearing a t-shirt in my in my booth um i'm also really looking forward to the euros this year obviously and i've got two goals one of them similar to um what Soph was saying in terms of work more stress less but mine's actually work less stress less work more efficiently I would say and sleep more uh probably and my goals are to find the best gluten-free and vegan restaurants in switzerland ahead of our trip yes you're so good at doing that we've had some great meals yeah we have we have that's that's my mission i'm gonna i'm gonna put together a little a little menu card uh for the best restaurants we can find uh right, any other business? So let's very quickly look ahead at the fixture list

for the FA Cup fourth round when football returns from the winter break this weekend. I won't go through every single fixture, but a few I'm pulling out. London Bees against Rugby. In fact, I'll go through the lot because otherwise I'm just going to get messages from people saying, you didn't mention my team. So London Bees against Rugby. In fact, I'll go through the lot because otherwise I'm just going to get messages from people saying you didn't mention my team. So London Bees against Rugby Borough.

Leicester City against Stoke. West Ham against Liverpool. Arsenal-Bristol City. Chelsea-Charlton. Exeter City against Sunderland. Cheltenham Town against Wolves. Brighton against Durham. Blackburn against Portsmouth.

Manchester City face Ipswich. Aston Villa-Bristol Rovers. Everton Everton Tottenham, Manchester United West Brom, Crystal Palace Sheffield United and Fulham against London City Lionesses. Newcastle obviously have to wait to play their fixture against the winner of Nottingham Forest against Burnley because that was postponed, as Tom said at the top top of the pod because of snow this weekend. Very quickly, all of you, anything in particular that stands out? Any fixture you're most excited about? I'm going to Craven Cottage on Sunday for Fulham against London City. I think that's going to be super interesting to see how that plays out. And also it's like five minutes walk from my house. So really, really handy.

So I'm doing that one. So I think that will be particularly interesting for me. I like the look of Brighton-Durham. You know, we've just been picking up Durham. You know, it's always good to see how a strong championship side does against a WSL team. I mean, in many ways it highlights how big a gap there still is, but I always enjoy those fixtures because it gives teams like Durham

a chance to really test themselves against top opposition. And at a point of the season where they're challenging at the top of the table, that's invaluable experience as well. I know we're meant to focus on some of the lower-ranked sides at this stage of the competition, but I think it's a big, big game for West Ham and Liverpool, two sides with no hope of winning the title or getting in the Champions League. And if they want to have put a really positive spin on this campaign,

a cup run and maybe going to Wembley is the sort of thing, the only real sort of thing they've got left to do that. So I think there's a lot riding on West Ham-Liverpool, in my opinion. Yeah, love that. Agreed. Just as a note, in other news, former Leicester manager Lydia Bedford's been named head coach of Cagliari Wild one of the six teams that are going to participate in Canada's new Northern Super League that starts in April and then that actually reminded me about an email

that we were sent in the middle of December that we didn't get a chance to read out it was from Mark Trotter and actually it started on Manchester United, but it went a bit further than that. It was Manchester United, a Canadian perspective was the title of it. Hi Faye, Susie and guest presenters. You asked, so I'm writing as a United fan that could really do without Sir Jim's chatter.

If you remember, this was after the game the other week. I've been a United fan since Brian Robson moved from West Brom, but more recently, since 2019, I've really enjoyed following the women's team, especially as we can watch most games live in Canada and it doesn't hurt to have Canadians on United's team either. The dynamics here have been completely opposite

with the Canadian women's team generating interest in the men's team. Thank you to the GOAT, a.k.a. Christine Sinclair. And now the men's team have a great following as well. As a Toronto FC season seat holder, as he calls it, I would love to see a Toronto team in the NWSL. And most Toronto fans would agree. I suspect the majority of Man United fans would love to see the women's team competing at the highest level, but that will only happen with the full backing of the powers that be the fan base of the women's games increasing and surely it's just a matter of time before board members of clubs realize the power this audience brings how much time feel free to discuss well we have discussed that previously mark and thank you for

your email on women's football weekly at the guardian.com but so Soph you've got a little bit of news regarding potentially Toronto it's not quite NWSL but talk to us a little bit more about the Northern Super League. Yes it's a super exciting time for Canadian football it's the first time I think that they've had a professional top tier league coming in it's the Northern Super League it's starting in April and it's been formed by a company called Project 8 which is co-founded by Diana Matheson, who's a former Canadian international. And I think there is a lot of excitement around this. And while there is also, you know, kind of understanding that it's going to take time and leagues don't just, you know, have success overnight, it's going to take time to build but I think for Canadian football not having a professional domestic game has held them back for quite a while in terms of developing their players and they've done well because they've had the NWSL across the border where

they've most a lot of their players play but in terms of when you're starting to think about getting you know young girls into playing football and giving them a pathway you kind of need that pathway in country so I think it's a very exciting time there's going to be six teams so uh you mentioned Calgary World there it's going to be Halifax Ties um Erin McLeod has joined there 41 year old goalkeeper but so much experience Montreal Rosers, AFC Toronto, Ottawa Rapid and Vancouver Rides which is going to be my team because I love Vancouver I live there for a while so I'm very excited I'm hoping to nab a trip out there at some point to see them play and see what's going on

but I do think it's going to be a really exciting time for Canadian football to start to put themselves on the map and they will always have the problem of having the NWSL so close to them but I think there have been noises from the NWSL about supporting the development of the league as well. And, you know, Diana has a lot of support from fellow professionals. She's very, very well respected. So I think it's going to be very interesting to see how it goes.

Yeah, fascinated. Brilliant one to end on as well. Feel excited already. Any Canadians out there listening, let us know your thoughts as well. And you guys, I've missed you so much. I mean, obviously, I've missed all of you listening as well. But these three in particular, I've missed over the last couple of weeks where we've not had a pod. So I'm looking forward to us starting again next week.

Sophie, it's been lovely to see you. Thanks for having me. Yeehaw. Tom, take care. Look after Blake you too happy new year happy new year to you as well

Susie see you later alligator I'll see you from Tenerife actually next week I'm doing the pod a la Soph not from an airport

but I'll try and put the beach in the background for you that's for sure I know right I know right I know she knows she knows everything that's why sure. I know, right? I know, right? I know.

She knows. She knows everything. That's why she's on this pod. Right, keep having your say by sending in your questions via social media or emailing us at womensfootballweekly at theguardian.com. We love reading them out and we will be making more effort to do that

and I'm sure have another mailbag episode very soon. Also, don't forget to sign up for our weekly women's football newsletter, a reminder every week. 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.

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