Explained: the end of the WSL season and why some teams are not happy (2024)

Other contributors: Sarah Shephard, James Pearce, Gregg Evans

While clubs in the Premier League and Championship continued their Project Restart preparations on Friday, with some moaning about how many private jets they will have to book to get to away games while observing social distancing and the choice of hotels on offer, the top two divisions in the women’s game were settled by a vote of the Football Association’s board of directors.

The exact result of that vote has not been revealed but it was not unanimous, which suggests the meeting must have been quite exciting.

Not as exciting as the last round of games, though, or what was shaping up to be the most thrilling finale in Women’s Super League’s history, but Friday’s decision does at least reflect the balance of power after those five games on February 23.

Here, The Athleticexplains who won what and why, who has grounds to cry and what this means for the future of the women’s club game in England.

Who will be having socially-distanced parties this weekend?

Manchester City had topped the table since December but were only one point clear of unbeaten Chelsea when the music stopped, having played an extra game.

With the FA opting to settle the table on a points-per-game basis, the west Londoners leapfrogged them to claim a third title in six years, this time by 0.1 of a point, a margin to remember for future pub quizzes.

Arsenal finished a further 0.1 of a point behind City in third place, which means there was only a fifth of a point between the three best sides in England this season but very few will dispute the fact that Chelsea were the pick of them.

Emma Hayes’ side won 12 and drew three of their 15 WSL games, scoring 47 goals and conceding just 11. They topped the mini-league between the top three, doing the double over Arsenal and taking four points out of six from City, and they also beat Arsenal at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground at the end of February to win the League Cup.

Manchester City might feel a little aggrieved to have missed out after leading the way for so long but they twice had the lead against Chelsea at home on February 23, only for their dogged rivals to twice peg them back and then take a late lead themselves. In the end, a 3-3 draw was a fair result and appeared to have set up a thrilling race to the finish line — but then coronavirus struck and the race was run.

In the Championship, the result was far more cut and dried as Aston Villa also went unbeaten through 14 games to comfortably lead second-placed Sheffield United by points gained and points per game.

OK, they’re the winners – who lost?

If anyone is looking for another example to highlight the disparity between the men’s and women’s games in England, they could do a lot worse than just focusing on Liverpool. While Jurgen Klopp’s men are only a couple of bio-secure games away from glory, Vicky Jepson’s side become the first team in England to be officially relegated on points per game this season. Another good stat for the anoraks.

The two-time champions justnever got out of the blocks, picking up just three points in their first 11 games, and, as The Athletic reported earlier this year, there are serious questions to be asked on Merseyside about where the women’s team fit in the bigger picture.

It is understood that Mike Gordon, the president of Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group, is determined to answer those questions and plans are being made to make sure the team bounces back at the first opportunity next season. Four of the squad, however, already knew they will not be getting new deals and confirmation of the drop may see one or two more get released.

In a statement published on the club website, Liverpool said they were “disappointed” with the FA’s decision to end the season on this basis and restated their belief they could have met “all the operational requirements” to finish the season’s fixtures “when safe and proper to do so”.

But that is as far as their public annoyance goes and the rest of the statement focused on this season’s positives, a commitment to keep growing the game and an auf wiedersehen to the WSL.

What have the winners said?

Not a huge amount yet, although The Athletic understands the Chelsea squad immediately held an all-hands Zoom call to get the party started when the FA decision was confirmed at 11am. Hayes is expected to say more on another conference call with journalists on Saturday.

In a statement on the club website, she dedicated the title win “to the frontline workers who have been the real heroes throughout this pandemic”, thanking them for “their tireless efforts to keep us all safe and healthy right now”.

The former Chicago Red Stars coach then said “a lot of blood, sweat and tears from every player, at every club, has gone in to this season and it is important we recognise that and celebrate the fact we have ended a highly-competitive season as champions” before thanking Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich for his “incredible support”.

Like Liverpool, Hayes also wanted the WSL to finish the remaining 45 games but she did not labour the point and finished by congratulating Manchester City and Arsenal on their “wonderful seasons”, and thanking her players and staff on an abridged but still remarkable season.

Bethany England, the WSL’s second-highest top-scorer this season with 14 goals, tweeted to say this was “not how any of us wanted to find out we’d won the league” but added “proud is understatement” and being “champions is an unbelievable feeling”.

That slightly bittersweet vibe can be detected at Villa, too. The picture of the women’s team proudly topped the club website under a banner headline of “Champions” on Friday afternoon but coach Gemma Davies was another to say she wanted to finish the Championship season on the pitch.

But, like Hayes, she also came across as a very contented coach and one who can look forward with confidence. The women’s team have flourished ever sinceWes Edens and Nassef Sawiris bought the club two years ago, and chief executive Christian Purslow and deputy chief executive Paul Tyrell have both been committed and enthusiastic backers of Davies and her squad.

An indication of this support was the recent decision to hire former England star Eni Aluko as the women’s team’s sporting director. It is understood that she, Davies and the executive team are already lining up high-profile, experienced players to join the side next season.

The players have already toasted their achievement on a conference call and are now desperate for the men’s side to drag themselves out of the Premier League relegation zone so they can have a double celebration at some point later this summer.

Right, no major grumbles, then?

Don’t be silly — this is football and deciding titles, a promotion, a relegation and two Champions League places (Arsenal miss out and they will not get City’s place regardless of the Manchester club’s Financial Fair Play dispute with UEFA, as that only applies to the men’s team) without playing all the games is never a cause for universal joy.

For example, it cannot just be us who detects a hint of gritted teeth to City’s statement.

“Manchester City Football Club understand and accept the method used to determine our final league position of second for the 2019-20 Barclays FA Women’s Super League season and our subsequent qualification for the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2020-21,” they said. At least the sponsors will be happy.

But the real anger can be heard from below the Championship, where the decision to null and void the seasons from the third to the seventh tier has reprieved the Championship’s last-placed team Charlton, winless after 12 games, and left Sunderland, 11 points clear at the top of Women’s National League Northern Premier, and Crawley, nine points clear in the Southern Premier, wondering what they have done wrong.

Tony Farmer has been involved in women’s football for 30 years, launching Chelsea Ladies in 1992 and managing them until 1997.

“Whatmessage has the FA sent to the 1,500-plus clubs below the Championship by deciding they could not have their seasons decided by ‘sporting merit’ but the WSL and Championship are special and different rules apply?” Farmer told The Athletic.

“They have effectively sliced the top off the pyramid and have left themselves wide open to a legal challenge or appeal from Liverpool. Is that sporting merit?

“What’s the justification in removing relegation from the Championship? Null and voiding the National League is no reason not to relegate from the Championship if they are going to claim sporting merit has been used.

“Are Aston Villa more deserving in allowing promotion on points per game than Sunderland, Crawley, Barnsley, Wolves and others further down the pyramid?”

Watford were the team nine points behind Crawley but with three games in hand they thought they were well-placed for a promotion charge.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting, to be honest,” one of their players told The Athletic. “I’d hoped they’d want to even up the league in the Championship rather than run it with 11 teams again. That seems a bit dumb to me when there are clubs ready to step up. How can you relegate from one division and not the other?”

What is still to resolve?

Most obviously when this season’s Women’s FA Cup will be finished.

Like the men’s competition, it was suspended at the quarter-final stage but unlike the men’s competition, with its large domestic and international broadcast contracts, there appears to be no hurry to complete it. This means it is likely to be pushed until after the start of the new WSL and Championship seasons on the weekend of September 5-6. More on that is expected soon.

“Firstly, I would like to thank the clubs for their ongoing collaboration and support throughout this period,” said FA director of the women’s professional game Kelly Simmons. “They have played a crucial role in helping to shape the decision-making process, with the welfare of the players and clubs first and foremost.”

That might be true of the top two tiers but that is certainly not the consensus further down the pyramid.

“Women’s football has made huge strides in recent years, and the FA has been at the forefront of investment and support to help grow women’s football at every level of the game,” Simmons added.

“Our commitment to the women’s game is unwavering and we will continue to work closely with the clubs to ensure we come back even stronger for the 2020-21 campaign.”

Nobody will argue that women’s football is not in a much better place than it was a decade or even five years ago but that will not stop some wondering why much of that progress appears to have been forgotten by the game’s national governing body at the first sign of trouble.