As the 12 teams start their campaigns, we look at each side’s chances of going up and who will occupy the relegation places
The Women’s Super League 2 season, which gets under way on Friday when Watford host Burnley, comes with a tweaked format and the introduction of a new fixture. After the expansion of the WSL this summer, only the WSL2 champions are guaranteed promotion and the teams finishing second and third will contest a new, pre-qualifying match to determine who will face the WSL’s second-bottom side in the end-of-season promotion/relegation playoff decider. But which of the 12 sides have the best chances of going up. and who may occupy the relegation places?
Head coach Charlotte Healy. Last season 4th. Predicted finish 2nd.
The division’s top scorers last season, Bristol City’s inconsistency and a tendency to concede too often meant they finished five points off the top three. After a productive-looking transfer window, achieving at least a playoff place feels realistic. The club, owned by the Mercury13 group that also controls FC Como Women and FC Badalona Women in Spain, do not lack ambition. The re-signing of the defender Brooke Aspin from Chelsea is a boost to their backline and they will hope Lotta Lindström can help to replace the goals scored by Lexi Lloyd-Smith, who has left to join the top-flight side Crystal Palace.
Manager Jackie Bachteler. Last season Promoted from FAWNL. Predicted finish 8th.
Champions of tier three’s northern section after training full-time last term and completing an “invincible” season without a league defeat, Burnley have strengthened with an array of players with first- and second-tier experience, including the former England, Manchester United and Tottenham striker Rachel Williams, the former Chelsea, Reading and Newcastle defender Deanna Cooper and the former Birmingham captain Christie Harrison-Murray. Another, the Northern Ireland goalkeeper Jackie Burns, said: “We all know that it is very challenging [in WSL2] but we know we are capable of competing and actually putting our name out there as Burnley in this league.”
Head coach Willie Kirk. Last season 10th. Predicted finish 11th.
For a couple of anxious weeks in June, there was uncertainty as to whether Durham would reach the start line for this campaign. They issued a plea for investment, warned they would have to fold without an urgent cash injection and were saved by the local businessman Geoff Thompson. That was followed by the appointment of a new coach, Willie Kirk. Durham have been a continuous presence in WSL2 since its formation in 2014 and have frequently exceeded expectations, so underestimating them is dangerous, but for how long can this doggedly determined club defy the odds while the wealthier clubs around them spend significantly by comparison?
Manager David Wright. Last season 9th. Predicted finish 5th.
Ipswich did well in their debut WSL2 campaign last season to steer comfortably clear of relegation by winning their final three league games, and they have carried that momentum into the summer. They have raided the Scottish champions Hearts’ squad for three signings among more than a dozen in total, including Hearts’ top scorer from last season, Georgia Timms. No doubt their technical director, Sean Burt, previously Hearts’ head of recruitment, found his contacts book useful. With the former Spurs midfielder Kit Graham’s loan move made permanent too, the Suffolk club could be dark horses for a top-half push.
Manager Rick Passmoor. Last season Relegated from the WSL. Predicted finish 4th.
Winless since 14 December, Leicester endured a torrid campaign last term and were relegated in agonising fashion when they lost a penalty shootout against Charlton in the inaugural playoff. Inevitably, that prompted a vast number of senior players to depart, including good internationals such as Chantelle Swaby, Jutta Rantala and Hannah Cain. The relegation of the men’s team to League One cannot have helped the side’s resources. Nonetheless, any doom and gloom talk would feel hyperbolic: there remains a decent core of WSL-level players and they have done well to sign Sarah Mayling and Poppy Pritchard, as well as Tottenham’s Araya Dennis on loan.
Manager Tanya Oxtoby. Last season 6th. Predicted finish 1st.
After drawing nearly half their games last season and not scoring enough, Newcastle have attempted to add quality to their forward line in a search for the goalscorers who can fire them to promotion. The arrivals of the former Manchester United forward Martha Thomas from Tottenham, the Republic of Ireland forward Leanne Kiernan from Liverpool and the Scotland striker Kathleen McGovern – who scored 51 times in 65 games for Hibs and has 10 goals in 14 matches for her country – should propel them to the promised land.
Head coach Tom Mallinson. Last season 7th. Predicted finish 6th.
