[Albion] What would it take for Albion to become true challengers in the WSL?

[Bozza]

Big strides made this season with a few high-quality acquisitions, bringing about a best-ever finish.

Still some way off the top four, but relative to the men's game, it would presumably be a relatively modest sum to make a dent in that gap.

 

[philgull25]

More investment to be able to attract and retain better players.

Take Arsenal as an example. Their turnover for 23/24 was £15m - but over £9m of that was money given by the men’s team.

Whereas Brighton women team’s turnover in the same year was £1.3m.

If we put more of the money the men’s team generate into the women’s team - say 5-10% of annual turnover - I recon we’d be competing. Not a popular I suspect, but a genuine option.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

With a relatively small amount of investment there could be a massive turnaround in achievement.
Unfortunately this will have less wider impact than if the men's team won a tier 3 playoff final.
So with the best will in the word it is difficult for me to be anything other than indifferent.

 

[Hamilton]

Sadly, the women’s game is being held back by predictable investment from the rich clubs who have effectively bought up the game and strangled competition before it could start.

Great to see the first team not to be owned by a male team coming up this year, but without the might of investment in players they will struggle.

Sadly, throw cash at it, is the answer.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

First step. Consolidate that best of the rest position.

Next step. Do what we do with the mens team. Scout young talent, give them a chance, bring them through.

As part of this, we need less churn. Half the team changes every year. Longer term deals which may also allow us to sell for some money occasionally.

Getting the stadium built is a longer term measure, but if we can do that, get the women's game more established, the get the gates up, we might be able to challenge the top 4.

 

[rippleman]

First step. Consolidate that best of the rest position.

Next step. Do what we do with the mens team. Scout young talent, give them a chance, bring them through.

As part of this, we need less churn. Half the team changes every year. Longer term deals which may also allow us to sell for some money occasionally.

Getting the stadium built is a longer term measure, but if we can do that, get the women's game more established, the get the gates up, we might be able to challenge the top 4.

Totally agree with the poor retention. We need players on better, longer contracts for all the obvious reasons.

I'm not convinced about the need for a womens only stadium; just give the women the opportunity to play more games at the Amex. Arsenal womens home stadium is the Emirates. They played NINE home WSL games there in 24/25 and ALL their WCL home games. The average WSL home attendence at the Emirates was over 34,400!!!

Save the stadium money. Play more home games at the Amex and invest the money saved in transfers and wages

 

[Soton Seagull]

More points?

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Totally agree with the poor retention. We need players on better, longer contracts for all the obvious reasons.

I'm not convinced about the need for a womens only stadium; just give the women the opportunity to play more games at the Amex. Arsenal womens home stadium is the Emirates. They played NINE home WSL games there in 24/25 and ALL their WCL home games. The average WSL home attendence at the Emirates was over 34,400!!!

Save the stadium money. Play more home games at the Amex and invest the money saved in transfers and wages

Fair. But the club are clearly committed to the new womens stadium

 

[Milano]

Find more than ~4k people in Sussex who give a shit would be a good start. There is a reason why there isn't more, some might not like that fact but it doesn't make it less of a fact and 24/7 gaslighting of fans isn't going to change that.

A poster above suggesting for this to happen 5-10% of the mens revenue should go to the women's team is probably correct. Thankfully that isn't going to happen because we have some grown ups in charge.

 

[Gwylan]

More investment to be able to attract and retain better players.

Take Arsenal as an example. Their turnover for 23/24 was £15m - but over £9m of that was money given by the men’s team.

Whereas Brighton women team’s turnover in the same year was £1.3m.

If we put more of the money the men’s team generate into the women’s team - say 5-10% of annual turnover - I recon we’d be competing. Not a popular I suspect, but a genuine option.

An increase in wages would help. In the last couple of years, we've lost Le Tissier, Robinson and Terland to richer clubs. That wouldn't have taken £14m to keep them - so just a modest increase in investment would have helped.

 

[Withdean South Stand]

To be honest, the Women's game is years and years of development away from having a consistent level of quality throughout the top flight. The disparity in ability is amazing across the league and only the really top teams have achieved something close to a consistent level of ability in the squad. I'm not going to start naming names, but there are some really bad players in our squad and will be again for next season. The pool of players to pick from is small and attracting the top players to Brighton will be challenging because the best players want to be at City, Chelsea, Arsenal or United because of the prestige of the football club overall. We're already better set up than some of those clubs, and will be well ahead when we have a Women's dedicated stadium. But it will still be tough to attract the best players and then to keep them.

 

[dazzer6666]

An increase in wages would help. In the last couple of years, we've lost Le Tissier, Robinson and Terland to richer clubs. That wouldn't have taken £14m to keep them - so just a modest increase in investment would have helped.

….but just like our men’s squad, imagine the club aren‘t prepared to get into the never-ending spiral of competing on salary terms with the ‘big’ clubs.

 

[hart's shirt]

We've been talking about this on and off for a few years now on the various women's football threads.

My post (#281) from March 2024.
https://www.northstandchat.com/threads/albion-women.401121/page-15

"Sadly that's unlikely in the short term with the top 3-4 sides hoovering up the best talent from the other sides, like Maya Le Tissier.
If Albion are serious about becoming one of the top WSL sides, it'll need a fast land grab from TB.
It's a perfect time to do it with NewCo taking over the women's professional game and no FFP rules currently in place.
An outlay of around £1-2m on transfers would make all the difference in the short term to bring success and possibly Europe.
Long-term, developing players is the way forward. But that's not where the women's game is now.
At this point in time at least, success can be bought."

Since then, Chelsea have moved the goalposts even further ahead with signings, investment even this week and selling the women's team.
They won the WSL unbeaten, but were still comprehensively beaten by Barcelona over 2 legs in the Champions League SF.
Forget about a top 4, there's now a top 1, the next 3 and everyone else including us with the newly promoted side from the Championship being relegated.
Michelle Kang's bullish investment in London City Lionesses may well buck the trend next season shifting a number of clubs down a place.
The landgrab opportunity entry point has now risen to break into the top spots with these developments. The boat was missed.

Regarding the stadium, a purpose-built stadium in Brighton is still very much the plan and a noble aim.
But until that happens, there's still the issue of trying to grow a fanbase in the Brighton and Hove area.
With several teams now playing home games in the main stadia and Everton Women to inherit Goodison for the time being, Albion could do similar.

My post (#170) from February 2024:
https://www.northstandchat.com/threads/albion-women.401121/page-9

"If people don't want an extra 10 WSL fixtures to be played on the Amex pitch...but still want the Albion Women to be playing in Brighton in a facility big enough to allow for the potential of substantial fanbase growth, then where do they play in the meantime?
Albion fans know all too well how difficult it is to get a stadium approved and built and how long the process can take.
Something's gotta give, for now at least.
In the interests of both equality and simplicity, I'd propose the ready-made Amex option until the purpose-built stadium is open."

Women's contract lengths are short, often just 1 year, which doesn't help with stability. Increasing investment here would help avoid the afore-mentioned churn. But for now at least, the majority of players leaving don't command any transfer fee.

Why is this? Probably a combination of where the women's game is currently in terms of development, but also possibly concerns from the main club on outlay. One can debate whether that should be the case, but any business venture that doesn't generate substantial revenue by itself through paying customers and relies on outside sponsorship and TV rights that has only arrived relatively recently will always raise sustainability questions from club accountants and owners.

The mindset of Wolves towards their women football team was exposed recently when it transpired that they hadn't actually applied for a WSL2 license in the event of promotion. Even among clubs with a rich history, there's still some concern about viability at the top end, however misplaced it may well be.

So could Albion Women be true challengers? Yes, but it's much harder now than it would've been a year ago.
The land grab opportunity is still there. But the land's become more expensive. And is there really the appetite in the first place to grab it in the short term?
The long-term game with the purpose-built stadium with facilities is clearly what Albion are playing.
But the game will have moved on by then.
Time is of the essence.

 

[rippleman]

To be honest, the Women's game is years and years of development away from having a consistent level of quality throughout the top flight. The disparity in ability is amazing across the league and only the really top teams have achieved something close to a consistent level of ability in the squad. I'm not going to start naming names, but there are some really bad players in our squad and will be again for next season. The pool of players to pick from is small and attracting the top players to Brighton will be challenging because the best players want to be at City, Chelsea, Arsenal or United because of the prestige of the football club overall. We're already better set up than some of those clubs, and will be well ahead when we have a Women's dedicated stadium. But it will still be tough to attract the best players and then to keep them.

We have done really well in our recruitment of Nikita Parris and Super Franny Kirby. There are some really good players leaving Arsenal and Chelsea at the end of this season. Players like the aforementioned with plenty of international experience. I hope we are monitoring!

Sophie Ingle would be a complete "no-brainer" for me. Yes, she is in her 30s and certainly nearer the end of her career than the beginning, but like Fran would bring her experience (over 140 International caps) to the club and I think would be a positive role model to the younger players who I hope we are bringing through..

 

[rippleman]

My post (#170) from February 2024:
https://www.northstandchat.com/threads/albion-women.401121/page-9

"If people don't want an extra 10 WSL fixtures to be played on the Amex pitch...but still want the Albion Women to be playing in Brighton in a facility big enough to allow for the potential of substantial fanbase growth, then where do they play in the meantime?
Albion fans know all too well how difficult it is to get a stadium approved and built and how long the process can take.
Something's gotta give, for now at least.
In the interests of both equality and simplicity, I'd propose the ready-made Amex option until the purpose-built stadium is open."

Who are these "people"? And why not? If Arsenal can do it, why can't we?

We have to challenge ourselves and benchmark against Chelsea, Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs.

 

[Milano]

Who are these "people"? And why not? If Arsenal can do it, why can't we?

We have to challenge ourselves and benchmark against Chelsea, Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs.

Why? Arsenal have a TWENTY YEAR waiting list for mens season tickets. We don't have a waiting list.

 

[Taybha]

If you are good at your job and earn for example,30k a year then another employer says I'll pay you 40k a year for doing exactly the same job what would you do, it's the age old human nature to want more and ultimately that's it,pay more get the better players,or make the vending machines free.

 

[Justice]

What is this sport

 

[jackalbion]

Find more than ~4k people in Sussex who give a shit would be a good start. There is a reason why there isn't more, some might not like that fact but it doesn't make it less of a fact and 24/7 gaslighting of fans isn't going to change that.

A poster above suggesting for this to happen 5-10% of the mens revenue should go to the women's team is probably correct. Thankfully that isn't going to happen because we have some grown ups in charge.

We have way more than 4k who give a shit, if we move the team back to Brighton I reckon we would be getting 10k in no time, just needs to not be at the shit tip in Crawley.

 

[Barry Izbak]

The state of the art EPC2 - the WSL bespoke training ground - made a huge difference in being able to attract better players.
The new stadium for the WSL team will be the next big step.
It's coming.