by “It’s like a technology start-up in Silicon Valley,” says Baroness Sue Campbell, recalling Michele Kang’s description of NewCo, the independent company that will oversee the Premier League and Women’s Championship. from next season.
The start-up attracted Kang, one of the most recognized businesswomen in women’s football, with a portfolio including ownership of the Washington Spirit and a majority stake in Lyon, to acquire London City Lionesses, who sit mid-table in the second series. England football. This is the same independent club whose players, at the end of last season, warned the previous owner, Diane Culligan, that the “real emphasis” of the team would be threatened without further investment.
Related: Wor Bella: the forgotten story of the women who combined war work with football
The Women’s Championship reflects the wider picture of women’s football in England: the post-Euro boom and the challenge of sustaining it, professionalism, increased competitiveness, and the potential for commercial growth and all the associated threats. Campbell, who is stepping down from her role as the Football Association of Ireland’s director of women’s football, oversaw the creation of NewCo after Euros in 2022. She speaks of her “missionary desire” to grow the game.
“I have this famous expression that brings everyone back to me,” says Campbell. “Yes” ‘I don’t want the head to leave the body.’ To me, the pyramid is one of the greatest strengths of the English game. If you cut that off, you cut off the dream. We’ve done a lot at the top and the ground, but the ladder between them is a little squeaky. Some of the rungs are missing.”
The Championship title race is as exciting as they come: four points separate the top four sides. “The league is more competitive than ever,” says Marieanne Spacey-Cale, manager of third-placed Southampton. “The table doesn’t fit.”
It is also the highest level where you find clubs that are not associated with a major professional men’s team. And if the table doesn’t fit, it hints at a split formation. London City Lionesses, Durham, and Lewes – the three Championship clubs not associated with the big men’s club – will finish in the bottom half. Relegation is always a possibility, especially for second-bottom Lewes.
“The challenge with the Championship is that the level of investment required is increasing,” says Campbell. “Kang is a classic example of taking on a club finding its own way without a parent body. I don’t think not [that] those independent clubs will survive.”
Lewes fan engagement officer Shreyans Nilvarna said: “Simply put, if big Championship clubs suddenly decide to invest an extra £5m to build a team, it puts clubs like us out of the competition. We don’t have a huge men’s club that can put money into to keep us going. Raising that money is an ongoing challenge.”
At Lewes, who have a fan ownership model and rely on bespoke brand partnerships, an existential threat is never far away, exacerbated by their relegation battle this season.
“The whole landscape of women’s football has grown quite a bit,” says Nilvarna. “But the Championship is struggling this season. After the Euros, the entire league had around six or seven games with attendances of 2,000 or more. This year there is only one or two games. I hope NewCo brings the layers together. The Championship is not just being tagged as a little sister because the big sister is going somewhere.”
The women’s game continues to draw audiences, and Campbell says it needs to be “thought in a new way … It’s not a tribal, historical connection to a club, it’s something new.” Perhaps clubs like Lewes have started one.
“We use it to build a fan base just for the women’s team,” says Nilvarna, “We think there’s a huge audience that other clubs in the league might miss.”
More independent arrangements have other advantages. Kang said it was easier to get London City without also fighting the men’s team.
“We don’t need to get things ready,” says Nilvarna. “It’s just us and what we want to do. It gives us a lot of creative freedom.”
The new broadcast deal in the works for both series for next season is NewCo’s first major demonstration of how it disperses funds. It will usher in a new commercial era for women’s football, where the learning curves could be devastating for some.
The Championship is full of teams with growth opportunities beckoning to investors but also the best independent clubs in England, whose vulnerabilities will be tested in the next few years.
“There may be some casualties,” Campbell says, “but that’s what it’s going to be.”
