Manchester United Women vs. Newcastle United Women - 2023-24 Women's FA Cup, Fourth Round

Sunday 14^th January 2024
Fourth Round
Manchester United vs. Newcastle United

It’s 9.30 on a Tuesday morning, I should be listening to Christmas songs on Smooth Radio while I work, but instead, I’m trying to figure out Instagram (or ‘The Gram’, as what I believe the youngsters call it?) Anyway, the draw for the fourth round of the FA Women’s Cup is being broadcast on the social media website and what with the Fourth Round being the entry point for the top-level Women’s Super League clubs, it’s an exciting occasion. Imagine my elation when the draw is made – Newcastle, the team I’m following now, only get last season’s runners-up, Manchester United away! If you don’t know already, Manchester United play at Leigh Sports Village – but the actual stadium this time! Having seen the First Round match between Wigan and Chorley here from the outside of a cage housing a 3G pitch, it’s quite the contrast.

Regardless of whenever it turns out positively for me, I love the openness of the FA Cup draw – yes, the ‘bigger’ clubs enter at different stages, but unlike other sports, the leading names aren’t protected by a ranking, meaning they can draw anyone home or away. This makes any ‘meaningful’ tie (one against a big/notable club, a local rivalry or anything else) that bit more special – the draw is random and therefore, it must be a fate that this tie has been created.  This is a plum tie for the Magpies, what with their hosts being a leading WSL side, containing several England internationals and last season’s Women’s FA Cup runners up to boot – but it’s also a plum tie for me (and my wallet) because the stadium is a mere 7 miles away from my home! Two quid on the bus. I’m feeling as smug as a peacock in full plumage, let me tell you.

Primarily home to Leigh Leopards Rugby League club, Manchester United use the stadium to host their men’s reserves (since 2014) and women’s teams, since their creation in 2018. The 12,000-capacity stadium is the centrepiece of a council scheme that saw the regeneration of the local area, with other sporting facilities – the 3Gs we’ve already experienced, an athletics track, sports centre, swimming pool – as well as retail spaces, a hotel and the Leigh campus of Wigan & Leigh College. I feel it’s become a trend to deride 21^st-century development schemes as ‘pie in the sky’; poorly-thought out ideas that would never work in reality, but the LSV development has genuinely been a success in its remit to offer top-class sports, health and education facilities. It’s rather heartening then, to see a professional women’s football club and the thousands of people who come and watch them every other week continuing to add to that success.

I get to Leigh about an hour before kick-off, so to while away the time, I decide to get one of my ‘five a day’ (cider) in at The Whistling Wren, the evocatively-named pub/restaurant that sits close to the stadium. There are a lot of people in here already, so I elect to sit outside and take in the stark contrast to when I was last here, during the Euros 18 months ago. After enjoying a previous match in Group C between Portugal and Switzerland (a 2-2 draw), I was fortunate enough to grab a last-minute ticket to see the Portuguese take on Sweden on a sweltering hot day. 7,118 people came to see that final group match that day, as the Swedes ran out 5-0 winners. Pre-match, the immediate area was awash with supporters from all over the place and a real party atmosphere was being enjoyed, as the bright sunlight exquisitely mixed with the different types of people, colours and sounds that swamped the Leigh landscape. I was even wearing shorts such was the occasion – and I only do this in the gym or in Tenerife. Today, it’s not quite as warm, with the weather being something that a polar bear would wear a jacket in. But at least I have my cider to remind me of those halcyon days gone by.

The fact that it took until 2018 for a football club the size of Manchester United – arguably the biggest in the world – to establish a professional women’s team (especially considering all their rivals had already done so, and enjoyed great success), mystified many. There had been unofficial United teams in operation since the FA lifted their ban in the 1970s, but they were described as ‘supporter teams’ and initially played other unofficial teams of other clubs. As the women’s game grew and became increasingly more organised in the 1980s, ‘Manchester United Supporters Club Ladies’ emerged and were founder members of the Manchester & District League. This league would later merge with other regional leagues to become the North West Women’s Regional League (which is still in existence today, occupying the 5^th and 6^th tiers of the women’s football pyramid).

By the early 1990s, the club approached Manchester United for support and formal recognition – which they got; they agreed to let them use The Cliff, United’s training complex at the time, were allowed to use the name ‘Manchester United Ladies FC’ and were even advertised in the men’s matchday programme. It seemed, what with women’s football steadily growing and moving towards professionalism in the early-2000s, that Man Utd would be at the forefront – then new ownership happened. In 2005 – ironically, the year that England hosted the 2005 Women’s Euros in the North West – Manchester United scrapped their women’s side. The sweeping changes brought in as a result of the takeover by the Glazer family saw several cuts made, which included the women’s club. Instead, they decided to concentrate their resources on community coaching for school-age children – but with no organised team to play for at United, girls had to search for a senior side to continue their progress in the game. Apparently, The Manchester United Foundation (the community initiative assigned to youth coaching) would coach as many as 3,000 girls in age groups up until under-16. Naturally, competition for places within other clubs was already high – especially considering they had their own youth players to develop – so with a smaller pool of professional clubs to choose from, it’s not hard to see that a lack of a senior team at United would have been an impediment for many girls to progress further.

As women’s football continued to progress throughout the 2010s, the noise about how the biggest and most well-equipped football club in England not having a senior women’s team was deafening – by 2018, they were the only Premier League club to not have a women’s side. Perhaps finally realising that there was some long-term commercial viability in the women’s game, United announced the formation of a professional women’s club for the 2018-19 season, which was immediately parachuted into the Championship. Appointing former England captain, Casey Stoney, as head coach, United quickly recruited a strong side (which included several players who had played in their youth set-up but had to leave to pursue a career – such as Katie Zelem and Ella Toone). United won the league at a canter, earning a promotion to the WSL and have since grown steadily – last season, now under the management of Marc Skinner, they finished as runners-up to Chelsea in both the league and this very competition – a second-half goal by Sam Kerr separating the teams at Wembley last May in front of a record Women’s FA Cup attendance of 77,390. Clearly, they’re a club on the up – it’s just a shame they couldn’t have formed a decade or so before!

United have made a somewhat slow start to this season – with expectations high after the relative success of last season, Skinner has come under criticism from a section of the fanbase. The supporters’ displeasure at performances has led to cardboard ‘Skinner Out’ signs being spotted at games. Currently, United are points behind leaders Chelsea in the WSL, they didn’t get past the group stage in the League Cup, and they were knocked out of the Champions League in the second qualifying round by Paris St Germain, leaving the FA Cup as their only realistic prospect of silverware. You’d imagine Skinner, whose contract expires at the end of the season, needs to win it to stand a chance of holding back the critics and earning a new deal. In fairness, it does seem he’s been hamstrung a little; he’s had to contend with several injuries to key players and then there’s the ongoing ownership saga at Manchester United, which has undoubtedly affected their ability to recruit and retain players. Alessia Russo – starting striker for England in the World Cup – apparently had a contract offer withdrawn in the summer and so left on a free to sign for Arsenal. Recently, INEOS billionaire, Jim Radcliffe, has purchased a stake in the club and taken over the running of its football operations, with plans for the women’s side not clear as of yet.

Another key part of the United team is goalkeeper Mary Earps, who this week came to national attention once again, winning the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award. Voted for by viewers, it’s the second year in a row that an England Lioness has won, with Beth Mead taking the trophy home last year. This has rather, shall we say ‘upset’, some viewers who have labelled the win as a ‘box ticking exercise’ by the BBC as aside from winning the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper in the World Cup and being a key part of England reaching the final, Earps ‘hasn’t achieved anything’ of note. Personally, I think heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson (who was voted third) should have won it – she did, after all, win gold in the World Athletics Championship that year. But as the award is voted on by the public, it’s only logical to assume that it’s the fact women’s football is more popular than athletics is the reason why Mary won the award. More people are aware of her and what she achieved and voted that way. Maybe critics should bear that in mind the next time they say ‘nobody watches women’s football’?

Speaking of which, over four-and-a-half thousand people have turned up to Leigh on this gloomy Sunday afternoon – a good thousand of them being from Newcastle. On my way to the stadium, I pass several coaches that have driven down from the North East – and Old Trafford. There’s no train station in Leigh, with only a guided busway offering a connection to Manchester. So, to get as many United supporters to Leigh as possible, United’s travel club lay on transport to every game at LSV. Interestingly, I think this makes for a better atmosphere – getting on board with your fellow supporters outside the ground, the coach offers an environment for people to unite in anticipation and camaraderie. A solitary car journey confines people to their own bubble, whereas the coach fosters interaction and connections; views are aired, songs are sung, hopes are declared. When you arrive at your destination, you carry all of that into your seat, as you try and affect the game with your cheers. And some coach providers allow you to take bags of cans on, which I suspect is fuelling many of the Newcastle supporters who are shouting ‘Tooooooooooon’ in the East Stand right now.

As for me, I’m sitting in West Stand and I’m cursing myself for not getting here earlier, as it’s quite packed – I usually like to sit on the end of a row for easy entry/exit so I don’t bother people. However, on this occasion, I’m having to squeeze in between two groups of people and as I turn to the only available seat, I see it has bird shit on it. Typical. Thankfully, it’s dry and as I use an old Aldi receipt to wipe my hands just in case, I’m struck by the realisation that we’re in the fourth round now, with thousands coming to games instead of hundreds. Those times when I could rock up 5 minutes before kick-off are long gone now. Aside from us in here and the Newcastle supporters opposite, there’s a decent number of home supporters behind one goal, while the other (the terracing) is closed – but there are several United flags erected there and somewhat fortuitously, the colour scheme of the LSV itself is red, white and black (which were Leigh RLFC’s traditional colour scheme, before they rebranded to ‘Leopards’ last year). It’s easy to imagine that all this works to provide a ‘home feeling’ for United’s supporters and players, which can only help the atmosphere, driving the team forward – many women’s football clubs don’t have a specific home to call their own – one that they’re able to deck out in their colours – so any perceived ‘home advantage’ will be minimal. Here, everything is in place for them – even the colour scheme.

United have named a strong side for the visit of third-tier Newcastle, which I wasn’t expecting, as England players Ella Toone and BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023, Mary Earps, start. However, they’ve just returned from a mid-season training camp in Malta, with their last competitive game being a month ago, so it makes sense that they’ll want to brush off the cobwebs by naming their regular players in today’s team. Earps is definitely winning the battle for popularity amongst the supporters here too – I know this because there’s a plethora of cardboard signs telling me so. This is a unique phenomenon in the women’s game – the only time I’ve seen signs at a men’s game, it’s usually a bedsheet asking for a manager’s head or of late, requesting a player’s shirt. This has received criticism from the football community, citing ‘fan entitlement’ which has ‘gone out of control’ – and with the women’s game offering easier interactions, it’s been an issue that has reportedly made some players uncomfortable. In fairness, I don’t see any shirt request signs here today – they’re just saying how great Mary is. They’ve used glitter pens and everything, it’s quite impressive.

What isn’t impressive, at least in my opinion, is Manchester United’s mascot, Fred The Red. The anthropomorphic representation of a devil looks like a cartoon character from the 90s, all garish and shiny, complete with a nose and stupid grin on his face. Here he is now, waving to us and slapping his badge to chants of 'Fred The Red' from supporters. I feel sick. He’s wearing number 55 and as I’m Googling why that’s the case, I instead come across an article that says he’s the highest-paid mascot in the Premier League. Allegedly, he gets £70,000-a-year – that can’t be right, surely? Seventy. Thousand. Pounds. Even half that is a fantastic wage to wear a foam head, wave at people and just generally piss about at events. If anyone at United is reading this – I know times have been hard with the billion-pound investment and everything – but I’m willing to help out and do it for just £30k. Meal and travel allowance on top. As for why he wears 55? No idea – even some of the United supporters don’t know. Dan Brown should write a book on it – he likes that mystery numbers coupled with religious iconography and stuff.

Thankfully, the game soon kicks off and Fred goes off to spend his wages on some champagne or After Eights or something, and his WSL team naturally dominate the ball. A few early shots are either deflected wide or skied over the bar from distance as the players work to find their range – already, it seems it could be a long day for Newcastle here. Rather aptly, just as I noted that down, Newcastle come into the game and start to keep the ball and the United defence work. On two occasions, they get close to the penalty area but it’s just that final ball that’s lacking – one was hit too hard and ran out of play, the other wasn’t hit hard enough and was easily intercepted. It’s just a warning for the Reds – as they spend most of their time ripping apart sides in the third tier, Newcastle are very practised in creating chances out of nothing.

Just to endorse what I’ve just said – United nearly take the lead as a shot from just inside the area is tipped onto the bar by Grace Donnelly, then her team collect the ball, go up the other end and just as it seemed they’re bearing down on Earps, United make a last-ditch tackle. It’s exciting end-to-end stuff at the moment and the supporters are slightly uncomfortable – but they do make me laugh, as the way they’re supporting the team is slightly different from what I’m used to. As an example – instead of going absolutely mental over a free-kick and swearing their heads off in front of children, a poorly-taken free-kick is met with some ‘polite criticism’ which went along the lines of ‘Is this the men’s team?’. I can only imagine the amount of salt that would be cried by a social media critic of the women’s game if they heard that. Fair play, that’s good banter!

Newcastle’s resistance lasts for 28 minutes – Lucia Garcia outmuscles her marker on the left, cuts the ball inside towards Nikita Parris; it’s blocked but finds its way to the edge of the penalty area where Toone takes a touch to get away from a defender before shooting and looping the ball over Donnelly and into the middle of the goal. Toone scores against the Toon! United continue to pressure after the restart – they’ve been tested in the last 15 minutes, with Newcastle constantly hitting them on the break but they’re composed now and are keeping the ball again. Toone is involved in the second goal 10 minutes later – from the left touchline, she crosses high, and Parris finds the space amongst a crowd of defenders to head home. The supporters around me think their side have a third in first-half injury time as another long ball into the box is headed in by Parris – but it’s ruled that she came back from an offside position. United are in complete control at half-time, despite having to withstand a spell where Newcastle looked threatening – it just goes to score the importance of making pressure count.

I go down into the stand during the break to try and find a programme seller, as I didn’t see one on the way in – and I’ve got no chance. The queue for food is snaking around the concourse, as is the one for the women’s toilets. This is something that never fails to me chuckle – it’s tough on the women and girls who need the toilet, obviously, but it’s a clear sign of the popularity of women’s football amongst a group of people who have been classically stereotyped as ‘not liking football’. Unfortunately, beyond requisitioning one of the men’s loos, there’s not much that can be done to remedy this issue in multi-purpose stadiums such as this. Maybe have gender-natural versions and assign them depending on the types of crowds that are expected? Naturally, I’ve got plenty of time to ponder all this as I saunter into the near-deserted men’s and take my sweet time, warming my cold hands under the dryer for good measure. I could get used to this luxury, it’s an amazing feeling.

Any hopes Newcastle had of holding off their hosts and get a foothold in the mountain they had to climb were ended just 10 minutes into the second half, as United get a fortunate goal to make it three. Centre-back, Maya Le Tisser, finds herself out on the right wing; she mishits a cross, the ball loops towards goal where Donnelly can only palm it out to Garcia who proceeds to play it across the 6-yard box to Parris and she bundles home. It’s a scruffy goal but those around me obviously don’t care as they sing ‘We’re going to Wembley’.

Feeling the match is done with, Skinner makes FOUR subs on 65 minutes, giving a rest to some of the regular starters and bringing on those who need some game time. One of the players who was replaced was the industrious Garcia and there was a nice moment as she walked around the pitch, giving high-5s to several kids who had lined up by the advertising hoardings. Again, summing up the family feeling this fixture helps – although I suspect it helps being 3-nil up too. One of the sub introductions for United was Rachel Williams, who I learn later is a plasterer by trade – celebrating her 36th birthday last week, she started her career at a time when there was little money women’s football, which shows just how quickly it’s grown to become fully professional. The former England international is quickly involved in the action as she hits a shot that canons off the bar – it falls back to her, and she proceeded to lift the ball over Donnelly to make it four. Dare I say great finish by the plasterer?

With only a couple of minutes left, the away support – who have been constantly singing throughout the game – make one last sign of appreciation of their side’s efforts; ‘Stand up if you love the Toon’ and waving their black-and-white scarves around. It looks great – it should be interesting to see what crowds they attract in the second tier if/when they get there. Their support during this run – the group of people that came to Skem, the crowd at Gateshead and the horde here at Leigh have been in great voice, constantly getting behind their girls. With the backing Newcastle United have, I would imagine more success is on the way for their new Women’s team. Although, I’m not sure why they’re standing up and saying they love the opposition number 7, Ella, though? Great player and all but she’s cost you a place in the next round.

As the added time of five minutes is announced, the United support chant 'We want five' and low-and-behold, they get their wish just a minute later. A corner is swung in and forward, Melvine Malard powerfully heads home. It finishes as an empathic win for United – Newcastle did struggle to keep up for large periods of the second half as their hosts passed around them, highlighting the gap between the divisions. In fairness, as one of the best sides in the WSL, United regularly score loads anyway, so perhaps the gap between Newcastle right now and the rest of the WSL isn’t that large? It’s nevertheless something to build on for the National League side as they look to getting into the Women's Championship. As for United, considering they were finalists last year and are still ranked in the upper region of the WSL table, so I’m already wondering if I'll be following them to Wembley? Let’s see what the draw brings – Leigh again? Can I be that lucky?

Manchester United 5
(Toone, 28. Parris, 37, 55. Williams, 71. Malard, 90)

Newcastle United 0

Attendance: 4,731

Next round: Southampton vs. Manchester United

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Liverpool Women vs. Everton [Women]

International break weekend (at least for us hipsters who support teams in the top two divisions), is a welcome respite from the constant worrying about your side and instead offers you the enjoyment of a different kind of football – not just the internationals, but the opportunity to go and see local games in the lower leagues too.

This one is slightly different, however. As it’s the (men’s) international break, the FA are using the opportunity to promote the Women’s Super League, as part of a ‘Women’s Football Weekend’, with a few of the games taking place at the homes of the men’s teams. Playing in these big stadiums allows clubs the opportunity to promote their women’s sides, with attractive ticket offers aimed at families. So I’m at one of world football’s most illustrious venues, to see one of England’s most premier derbies – I’m at Anfield to see Liverpool Women take on Everton.

I say the international break doesn’t provide worries but there’s usually a sense of trepidation whenever England are involved – thankfully, the men’s side comfortably qualified for Euro 2020 with a 7-0 win against Montenegro on Thursday, rendering the game later today in Kosovo, a dead rubber. Whilst the men’s team are, according to some people, ‘going through the motions’ at the moment (yes, apparently a 7-0 win can be ‘boring’!) there has been some criticism levelled at the women’s national team recently, more specifically, at head coach Phil Neville. Since the semi-final defeat in this year’s World Cup, England have won just 2 games in 7 – the latest win coming earlier this week against the Czech Republic.

In a funny way, I think this can be seen a positive for the women’s game in this country – their performances are being scrutinised, pitched against their previous form and that of their peers. No longer are they receiving patronising praise, as if poor form ‘doesn’t matter’ because ‘it’s only the women’s game’ – they’re top professionals and being treated as such. Neville has come out swinging, defending his players and his own position, as you might expect, but (and without getting into the details of what may or may not be going wrong), it is heartening to see the press take him to task.

So with the national team receiving pelters for tepid performances and domestic sides playing the odd game in a big stadium (England’s recent friendly against Germany attracted a crowd of over 77,000), Women’s football is in a good place at the moment. Today’s derby can be said to be a ‘homecoming’ for both sides as neither Liverpool or Everton actually play their usual home games in the city – Liverpool play at Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park over the water on the Wirral, whereas Everton currently play in Southport (although they are due to move to a new purpose-built ground at Walton Hall Park, a mile from Goodison Park, any time soon – ‘early next year’ is the latest news).

Formed in 1989 as Newton LFC, the club that would become Liverpool WFC would first change its name to Knowsley United in 1991, becoming founder members of the National Premier Division; a league organised by the WFA. The WFA, incidentally, was a football association, independent of the FA, which was formed in 1969 to offer women’s clubs more opportunities for organised football – women’s teams were still barred from playing on FA-associated pitches at this time. Knowsley went on to reach two Wembley cup finals in consecutive years – in the 1993 Premier League Cup against Arsenal (which they lost, 3-0) and in 1994’s FA Women’s Cup against Doncaster Belles (a 1-0 defeat).

The summer after their defeat in the FA Cup Final saw Knowlsey link up with Liverpool FC, adopting their name and colours. The club spent the early part of the 21^st century playing in the second tier of the Women’s Premier League system, but they would find themselves becoming founder members of the Women’s Super League in 2011 – a new division designed to professionalise and grow the women’s game, with clubs having to apply for licences to join.  It didn’t start too well for Liverpool, as they ended up finishing bottom of the 8-team division in its first two seasons – thankfully for them, relegation to the second tier (now called The Championship) didn’t exist at this point.

After more-or-less signing up an entirely new team, they went on to achieve another double – WINNING the Women’s Super League in 2013 and 2014. Their first title win was relatively comfortable – with only 14 games to play, they won the league by 5 points from Bristol Academy. The second title win was a little bit closer – they ended up winning it on a goal difference of 2 from their nearest rivals, Chelsea.

Whilst Liverpool were in the midst of winning their second WSL title, Everton were struggling – winning zero games and drawing four; their season of defeats saw them relegated to the second tier in 2014. Despite their success, Liverpool nearly followed them the season after – they finished second-bottom, avoiding the drop by 5 points, again, from Bristol Academy. Since then, Everton won promotion back and Liverpool have been mostly mid-table in what is now a 12-team league – so I’ve now got even less of an idea of what to expect at today’s match.

I think it can go without saying what a great ground Anfield is – it was Everton’s move from here in 1892 that led to the formation of Liverpool Football Club and since then, it has grown to become one of sport’s most iconic venues. I’m sat in the Kenny Dalglish Stand (formally known as the Centenary Stand) and I have to say that it’s tighter than what old Scrooge would usually be next month. All tickets for the game have been sold or allocated, but the ground is (by design) half-full, leaving plenty of room to move around in the concourse – though I can imagine it being somewhat difficult to navigate through when it’s full. There isn’t much room between the rows too – at 5ft 10’, I’m no Peter Crouch, but I felt like him, having to manoeuvre my legs into an unnatural position to find comfort (luckily, there was nobody sat at the side of me).

In recent years, I’ve noticed a number of female teams changing their suffixes from ‘Ladies’ to ‘Women’ (apparently ‘Ladies’ is outdated) – Everton have taken this to a new level by dropping the suffix altogether. Simply known as ‘Everton’, the move is designed to create a ‘one club’ with the men’s team – which makes absolute sense, as they are part of the same club! Formally, they will still be referred to as ‘Everton Women’ to avoid confusion with the men’s side – I’m predicting now that the formal suffix ‘Men’ will be used for male teams soon, as more clubs from around the country form female sides and the women’s game grows. It’s only fair after the women’s game was hindered for so long, I guess.

The two teams enter the field to the atmospheric ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ (they play it twice, in fact – just before they entered and as they entered) – even in a half-full ground, the lyrics still make the hairs on the back of your arse stand up; ‘Walk on, walk on. With hope in your heart. And you'll never walk alone’. A couple of scarves are held aloft, pleasantries in the middle of the pitch are performed and the game begins.

Liverpool are the better side for the vast majority of the first half; they dominate the ball without creating much in the way of clear-cut chances. The best oppotunity fell to Kirsty Linnet, who headed a penalty area-pinball towards goal – Everton custodian, Tinja-Riikka Korpela, doing well to get across and claw the ball wide for a corner. Linnet had another sight of goal not long later, but her long-range shot went comfortably wide.

The supporters, though encouraging to the team, have been largely quiet in terms of generating a collective atmosphere – which is understandable, with this being the first opportunity that many inside Anfield today have seen the women’s team play. I do find it bizarre that (both) clubs cannot find a suitable ground in Liverpool or at least somewhere a little closer than the Wirral and Southport – I get that both clubs may have strong support in these places, but being away from the city they represent has to inhibit opportunities for them to grow a regular supporter base for the women's team in some way.

There’s a couple of Everton fans here in the ‘home’ ends (one is sat directly in front of me, with his Everton bob-cap), but the majority are seated in the away section of the Anfield Road End, behind the goal – they’ve made most of the noise (with chants of ‘Everton, Everton’), but there’s none of the ‘poison’ of the men’s derby. On one hand, this is fantastic as you can relax and just enjoy the game in front of you, on the other though, it makes writing about my experience of the crowd difficult! Here’s hoping for a bit of ‘banter’ between the two sets of supporters in the second half.

Just as I was using the 1 minute of injury time to take a picture for the blog, Everton score! The Blues are passing the ball about nicely in midfield, but after a defender cuts out a forward pass, the ball falls to Lucy Graham around 25 yards out; she takes a touch, shoots and Anke Preuss in the Liverpool goal makes a hash of the catch, virtually dropping the ball into her net (the photo above is the moment she attempts to field the ball!) It’s a disastrous end to the half for Liverpool, who were looking good in possession – but as the old adage goes, it’s what you do with the possession that matters.

The Reds, as you might expect, came out for the second half with more urgency, typified by the introduction of pacey winger, Rinsola Babajide from the subs’ bench. She’s quick and tricky, immediately causing problems for the Everton full-backs, switching wings to get at both of them. A few of her crosses into the area had to be cleared in last-ditch efforts; Liverpool lacking a real striking presence in the forward positions.

A few more clearances lead to corners and it’s during these that I notice an interesting occurrence; with (how can I say this politely) women corner/free-kick takers not being able to match the kicking power of men (I failed), the ball hangs in the air for longer from a delivery. This delay creates time for a roar of expectation to air from The Kop; encouraging shouts from (mostly children) behind the goal, directed towards the ball, commanding it to find its way onto a Liverpool head. Sadly for them, it doesn’t.

In fact, it’s Everton and their counter-attacking football that nearly produces a goal; Molly Pike putting a late chance wide after a breakaway led by Graham. It didn’t matter in the end, as her team hung on for the win – an Everton win at Anfield. A rare thing to say, considering it’s not happened since 1999! The win moves them up to 4th in the WSL, whilst Liverpool are bottom – just 1 draw in the opening six games for them. It's still early in the season, mind, so there's plenty of time to turn it around – the team that lies immediately above them (on 3 points from 6) is, funnily enough, Bristol City (formerly, Bristol Academy!)

It was another interesting experience, watching a women’s game at the ‘traditional home’ of the corresponding men’s team – again, plenty of families were able to attend for cheap (a fiver for adults, free for children with an attending adult), as they got an opportunity to visit the ground, sing along to YNWA and cheer on a side wearing the shirt. I think Liverpool should have this arrangement in place more regularly – not only to get the team playing in the city but also because families like these here today, I'm sad to say, continue to be priced out of the men’s game. The women's game needs to keep pushing this advantage.

I make my way back via Sandhills station, get off at Liverpool Central and slip into Sanctuary (craft ale) Bar before my train home from Lime Street. It’s a decent place for beer ponces to stop-off just after/before catching a train – I sit in the homely-atmosphere downstairs and indulge in a nice pint of ‘Golden Warrior’ by Empire Brewing. Even on a Sunday night, the nightlife in Liverpool is bustling – karaoke sounding from the many Irish pubs in the short walk between Central and Lime Street stations. Apparently, there’s another bar called ‘The Sanctuary Tap’ near James Street station, about half-a-mile away. Looks like I’ll have to come back one day – here’s hoping Everton [Women] get that ground built soon! 

Liverpool Women 0

Everton [Women] 1

Attendance: 23,500

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Manchester City Women vs. Manchester United Women

Like many people it seems, I was enamoured by this summer’s Women’s World Cup. I watched every England game, gripped by the quick and exciting forward play of The Lionesses  – the strong-running of Lucy Bronze, the midfield-controlling of Jill Scott, the shithousery (and goals) of Ellen White. It was great to watch – so I need to go and see this ‘women playing football spectacle' for myself.

To be honest, I said the same thing four years ago when I stayed up late to watch England’s heartbreaking injury time defeat in the Semi-Final against Japan. But I’m going to do something about it this time – I’m actually going to put some effort in and watch a women’s game in person. Coincidentally, Manchester City are opening their Women’s Super League season against ‘new’ rivals Manchester United – with the match moved to the Etihad Stadium to take advantage of a big crowd. I snapped up a ticket straight away – they were only £7 a pop, after all. 

I’ve long been puzzled as to why it’s taken women’s football so long to establish itself because it’s not like they can’t play. I can only convey my feelings through personal experience; when I was about 8, I played in a team on Saturday mornings on a windswept Wigan school field where even dogs daren’t roam. One week, a girl turned up to play for us – and she was brilliant. Quick and skillful, she caused the opposition lads some real problems down the wing. Being a deep-lying midfielder (before such things were popular – okay I was lazy and didn’t want to run), I just kicked the ball out wide to her and she ran with it, creating several goals. Sadly, she never played for us again (I seem to remember her saying that she wasn’t *usually* allowed? At 8 years old???). 

Anyway, since that brief experience of playing football with a girl, I’ve not been a subscriber to the ‘girls can’t play football’ adage, as they clearly can. Since then, growing up (well, that's debatable – ageing up) and learning more about the game, I was always intrigued by the lack of girls who played football – my child's mind just assumed they didn't want to get dirty.

The reason why women’s football hasn’t established itself (until recent times, at least) was due no in small part to the FA ban on its members clubs from hosting women’s games on their pitches. Despite attracting huge crowds during the First World War, the game was deemed ‘unsuitable’ for females in 1921 by the governing body and a ban was swiftly put out. It took 50 years for it to be lifted and during that time, the men’s game had established itself as England’s leading professional sport. Women had a lot to catch up on.

One of the major criticisms aimed at the women’s game recently (that I’ve seen, anyway) is that it's being promoted ‘beyond its quality as a product’. Whether you think the ‘product’ is any good is a subjective opinion – expecting it to contain the same skill, speed and physicality as the men’s game is ridiculous, in my opinion. It's the same game, yet different. To many, though, women's football simply isn’t ‘as good’ as the men’s game, so isn’t worthy of their attention – but do most people just watch football for the high levels of skill on display? If that was the case, nobody would watch (men's) lower-league games – football does not need to be 'good' to be exciting; being excited is the feeling that we all want to experience when watching games, surely?

I think that the supposed 'over-promotion' of the women’s game can be put down to three points:

• (The obvious one) women’s football needs to catch up after spending half-a-century in the wilderness, so the apparent over-promotion is designed to give an 'artificial boost' to the game.
• The ongoing push for women to achieve equality in society has led to women’s football being marketable. Rightly or wrongly, companies see women's equality as an opportunity to gain brand credibility for a relatively small outlay.
• In competition with the internet and on-demand services, television and media companies are struggling to attain rights to show the world’s most popular sports. The BBC, especially, do not have many major sports to televise beyond football World Cup’s, European Championships, Wimbledon Tennis and Olympics Games. Certainly not enough sport to bring back Grandstand, anyway.

With any popular subject in society these days, it’s the 'not taking the time to understand each other’s points-of-view' that’s the centre of the problem, I feel. I followed social media extremely closely during the World Cup and the number of cheap shots on both sides was something to behold. Comments on every post regarding the tournament were generally ‘don’t care’, ‘it’s shit’, ‘get in the kitchen’, etc.  Understandably (but mistakenly), those on the women's football side nibbled at the bait, sent abuse back and swiftly closed down the avenues for any meaningful conversation.

The BBC then didn’t help matters with clickbaity posts and articles with headlines such as ‘Five Ways Women’s Football Beats Men’s’ – whilst the article itself makes some good points and backs itself up with facts, do they really think click-driven headlines like that will help to educate and change the mind of the football fan who’s already suspecting that the women's game is getting some 'undue coverage'?. No – they’re going to think there’s ‘an agenda’ to over-promote women’s football and ‘do down men because it’s fashionable’. Regardless of whether there’s a trickle of truth in that, I’m with Timmy Thomas on this one – why can’t we live together? Why can’t we enjoy football mutually without resorting to these cheap shots? Why can't we have a reasonable discussion without abuse and blocking? This way, common ground can be sought and when you've got that common ground cleared, you can create a path to walk down together, hand-in-hand to watch the game we all love.

(By the way, fellow Alpha's; this is not me ‘white knighting’ – going out of the way to be all ‘progressive’ to impress women so they’ll like/take pity on me – as I said, I’m perfectly fine with just laying the ball off and letting a woman do all the work).

Speaking of living together, today’s ‘first professional women's Manchester derby’ is being held at the Etihad Stadium – one of a few WSL games to be held at men’s first team grounds on this opening weekend. Clubs are attempting to allow as many people as possible an opportunity to see women’s football for the first time in order to capitalise on the World Cup. Usually, City’s women play at The Academy Stadium – the 7,000-seater stadium across the road from the Etihad that was built for the club’s various youth sides. I’ll be honest here, although I fully understand (and support) the decision to host a big game such as this in a big stadium, I’m slightly disappointed that it’s not being held in The Academy Stadium so I can tick it off the groundhopping list!

It isn't just hosting the bigger games at men's stadiums that's new this season in the WSL; matches will be shown live on BT Sport and at least one a week on the BBC Sport website. This summer also saw the league sign its first overseas television deals – covering Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Highlights will also be made available on the new 'FA Player' – so they're at least getting all the building blocks in place to expand the reach of the league.

The Etihad (or ‘The City of Manchester Stadium’, as it used to be known) is located roughly a mile-and-a-half from the centre of Manchester, so is easy to get to by all forms of transport. On the way into Piccadilly train station, my own train from Wigan is delayed on route by about 40 minutes, so on arrival I’ve got half-an-hour to kick-off. ‘No problem’, thinks I, ‘I’ll get the tram’. On reaching the Metrolink station under Piccadilly, I’m met with a massive queue that snakes around the back of the station – nearly all of them going to the game, from what I can tell.

Despite it being 7 minutes until kick-off by the time I get to board the tram, I somehow manage to still get into the ground and into my seat just before the game starts – I’ve never sat in the Colin Bell Stand before, but if you are and you’re going via the tram, get off at Etihad Campus as it drops you right outside the stand. What immediately hits me about the crowd around the stadium (who are not making a move to actually get in for kick-off!) is that it’s mostly families – not just Mum’s with daughters, as you might automatically expect, but Dad’s with daughters, Dad’s with sons, Mum’s with sons, Mum’s and Dad’s with sons and daughters – the whole Brady Bunch.

The top tiers of the stadium are closed but the rest of the ground looks fairly packed – there’s a mix of City and United supporters dotted around, with the main bulk of United supporters behind one of the goals in the usual away end. As the match starts, it’s immediately noticeable how different the atmosphere is – there’s no thunderous roar on kick-off, it’s mostly children doing the shouting and singing. Yes singing – for some reason, I expected the game to have an atmosphere of the average men’s friendly; bits of shouting, attempts at starting songs, but nothing prolonged and tuneful. Thought I was in the audience for The Voice Kids, at one point.

Both sides start in a cagey fashion; having periods of possession, getting a feel of the ball without creating much. What I do notice is how tactically good the players are; they stick to their positions and individual roles without straying too far and leaving gaps. As I’m surveying my surroundings, I see that there are ads, placed around the stadium, denoting the club as being ‘One City’ – it’s all the same club, rather than two separate entities. With all kinds of families sat around the ground, you’d imagine that this is the sort of ‘crowd’ that women’s football needs to appeal to and attract – this 'One City' promotion clearly aimed to allow them support 'Manchester City', despite the cost of watching top-level men's football becoming increasingly unaffordable for the average family. I just hope that, if it does grow to anywhere near the level of popularity as the men’s game, women’s football continues along these lines and not go down the path of grabbing as much money as it can. The memories that football can give you, when you’re experiencing it with friends and family, is worth more than money – and everyone should have the opportunity experience it.

United were the better side in the first half – their best chance falling to Jane Ross; stood on the penalty spot, she receives the ball from the left, shoots first-time and somehow, Ellie Roebuck (in for the injured England No1 Karen Bardsley), sticks a hand out and deflects it wide. The 19-year-old is called into action again just before half-time; another ball in from the left sees it bobble around in the 6-yard area, United’s Jessica Sigworth is unable to get a decent connection which allows Roebuck to pounce upon it.

What has struck me about the atmosphere so far is that it’s friendly – no venom spat from the stands at the players, no abuse for the referee, no swearing whatsoever. I’m not sure how to feel – on one hand, hearing all of that at a football game makes me embarrassed (and often angry at the utter rubbish some people say), on the other, I can’t deny that it all adds to an intimidating atmosphere that may help to give your side an edge.

Half-time allows me an opportunity to leaf through the programme; a very interesting landscaped-A5 effort for £3. There’s an intriguing read about the first ‘competitive’ meeting of Manchester City Women and the previous incarnation of Manchester United Women in September 1990. With both sides being amateurs, they played on a field in the grounds of Manchester University in front of a crowd of around 150, City edging a thrilling game, 4-3 (is there any other way to describe a 4-3?!). Whilst the City side would go on to morph into the leading side they are today, Manchester United disbanded their women’s side in 2005 – only bringing the team back last season when they easily won The FA Women’s Championship. The re-establishment of this fixture has undoubtedly created much interest going forwards; it just needs time to grow as its own ‘rivalry’, and not as simply a mirror of the men’s fixture. (I just hope it’ll be a 'friendly rivalry' – I don’t want to see H&M-wearing teenage girls throwing shade at each other, like the Stone Island-wearing teenage boys do near men’s football grounds). 

City start the second half more urgently – ensuring they’re quicker to the ball and moving it at a faster pace. It becomes apparent that they’re technically the better side – and they’re immediately rewarded for their approach. Two minutes of the second half have been played as City probe around their opponents penalty area, United clearing away a loose ball – but it’s cut out on the left by Caroline Weir who proceeds to take another touch to bring herself inside, before firing the ball from almost 30 yards – and into the corner of the net. It was a strike worthy of any seen at this stadium in recent times and it’s quite rightly met with exuberant, youthful cheers from the H&M Ultras.

The attendance is announced as being over 31,000 – a record crowd for a regular women's league fixture, producing the biggest cheer of the day (bar the goal, of course!). In the week (as well as in the programme), the club said that they were expecting 20-25,000 to turn up (perhaps this explains the queues for the tram earlier?!), so it’s great to see those expectations exceeded.

As the game grows older and City frustrated at United’s well-organised defence, the threat of them being hit by a sucker punch, whilst searching for that clinching goal, is always hanging over them – and it nearly happened. United midfielder, Jackie Groenen does well to nip a long ball away from City’s centre-back, Gemma Bonner, and as the Dutch international reaches the penalty area, bearing down on Roebuck, she loses control of the ball – it falls to City right-back Aoife Mannion to clear, which she does – right onto Groenen’s foot! Fortunately for Mannion, Groenen couldn’t control the ball, it hit her foot and rolled back off the post and into Roebuck’s grateful mitts.

It was United’s best chance of the second-half – and their last. City did enough in the end, but United
did themselves credit, considering this was the first match at this level for many of their players. With some big players to come back for City – including new signing Ellen White, I’d expect them to start converting their quick, attacking play into goals before long. The crowd are appreciative, many staying to applaud them off.

I enjoyed the occasion, even if the game wasn’t high on chances – I’ve seen much worse in the last year alone. I’ll definitely be back at a women’s game soon, if only to tick off some more grounds! In the end, from my vantage point (and poor eyesight, to be fair) it just seemed like light-blue shirts were playing red shirts. And that's all that matters – men, women, boys, girls, it's still football we're watching, it’s still the game we all love – so let's work together to make it better for us all.

Manchester City Women 1

Manchester United Women 0

Attendance: 31,213

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