Recent from talks
Manchester City W.F.C.
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Manchester City W.F.C.
Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly Manchester City Ladies F.C.) is an English women's football club based in Manchester who play in the Women's Super League. It is affiliated with Manchester City which plays in the Premier League.
Manchester City Ladies Football Club was formed in November 1988, the brainchild of Manchester City Community Officer Neil Mather – who would become the side's first manager – plus several others involved in the club's community scheme. Their first match was a friendly against Oldham on Boundary Park's artificial pitch, which City won by a score of 4–1. Only able to play friendlies in their first season due to the late formation of the club, the team joined the North West Women's Regional Football League the following year. Their first competitive league match took place on Sunday September 3rd 1989, where they played Chorley Ladies FC (now known as Chorley Women FC) at Astley Park and lost 11-0. In the hopes of increasing publicity for women's football, the Manchester City's men's first team defender Colin Hendry was appointed Club President in March 1990 during a period when it was receiving plaudits for being one of the first league clubs in north-west England to create an affiliated women's side.
Manchester City Ladies initially struggled with the strength of the opposition in their first league fixtures, having been immediately placed in the second division of four due to the strength of the club's name alone, but managed to improve results enough to finish mid-table. In their second season, they improved further and consequently achieved their first promotion.
Although Manchester City Ladies established itself in the top division of the North West Women's Regional Football League, a lack of financial independence meant that the club's fortunes were tied to the men's side, resulting in a first relegation in 1996–97, the season after the men's team themselves were relegated from the Premier League. The club's support for their ladies' team was reduced, poor conditions at Platt Lane caused a series of fixture postponements and a shortage of players resulted in discussions on whether to merge the ladies' team into Stockport County Ladies.
Manchester City's relegation coincided with the reorganisation of the club spearheaded by Derek Heath, a Stockport County Ladies coach who had transferred to the Manchester club owing to Stockport County Ladies' reluctance to affiliate with the male side of the same name. Heath brought in a raft of new players – many directly from Stockport – and created the first-ever junior side when he arranged for Manchester City to adopt the Stockport under-14 team which his former club were no longer in a position to support. Although Heath was to die after a brief battle with cancer barely a year after joining the club, Manchester City went unbeaten in the league throughout the 1997–98 season to win the second division title at the first time of asking – their first official silverware.
Promotion in 1998 would start a period of success for Manchester City. After narrowly missing out on a second promotion in 1999, they won the Premier Division in 1999–2000 and beat Barnsley in the promotion play-off to lift themselves above the North West Regional Football League for the first time. The following season they won the Northern Combination and joined the WFA National League (renamed the Women's Premier League in 1992) Northern Division. The step up to the WPL proved to be a large one, however, and the club narrowly avoided relegation on several occasions, never finishing outside of the bottom half for the first seven seasons. Only the appointment of Leigh Wood to the managerial position in 2007 was able to change the club from relegation battlers to title hopefuls.
The English women's football pyramid was shaken up again in 2010 when the FA Women's Super League was created as a new top-tier competition to sit over the top of the Women's Premier League. The FA announced that entry would be based on application rather than promotion and that all members of the WPL National Division plus the top two finishers in the two regional leagues would be eligible to apply. Manchester City would miss out on the opportunity, instead finishing fourth, but would seize their next opportunity to join the WSL some three seasons later when it was expanded into an 18-team, two-tiered league system - by which time the club had won the Northern Division and were contesting the National Division. To some surprise and controversy on 26 April City Ladies were announced to have been given direct entry to the first division of the enlarged competition, at the expense of established team Doncaster Rovers Belles who were downgraded to the second division and were the only team to lose their top division status.
In anticipation of their first WSL season the club began a complete renovation of the playing squad, signing a number of England internationals and promising players, including the likes of England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, 74-times capped midfielder Jill Scott and new club captain Steph Houghton, intending to make an impression on the league from the start. On 23 January 2014, the club was relaunched with a minor renaming to Manchester City Women's Football Club, ready for the new season. Nick Cushing was appointed first team manager, with Leigh Wood moving to first team head coach.
Hub AI
Manchester City W.F.C. AI simulator
(@Manchester City W.F.C._simulator)
Manchester City W.F.C.
Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly Manchester City Ladies F.C.) is an English women's football club based in Manchester who play in the Women's Super League. It is affiliated with Manchester City which plays in the Premier League.
Manchester City Ladies Football Club was formed in November 1988, the brainchild of Manchester City Community Officer Neil Mather – who would become the side's first manager – plus several others involved in the club's community scheme. Their first match was a friendly against Oldham on Boundary Park's artificial pitch, which City won by a score of 4–1. Only able to play friendlies in their first season due to the late formation of the club, the team joined the North West Women's Regional Football League the following year. Their first competitive league match took place on Sunday September 3rd 1989, where they played Chorley Ladies FC (now known as Chorley Women FC) at Astley Park and lost 11-0. In the hopes of increasing publicity for women's football, the Manchester City's men's first team defender Colin Hendry was appointed Club President in March 1990 during a period when it was receiving plaudits for being one of the first league clubs in north-west England to create an affiliated women's side.
Manchester City Ladies initially struggled with the strength of the opposition in their first league fixtures, having been immediately placed in the second division of four due to the strength of the club's name alone, but managed to improve results enough to finish mid-table. In their second season, they improved further and consequently achieved their first promotion.
Although Manchester City Ladies established itself in the top division of the North West Women's Regional Football League, a lack of financial independence meant that the club's fortunes were tied to the men's side, resulting in a first relegation in 1996–97, the season after the men's team themselves were relegated from the Premier League. The club's support for their ladies' team was reduced, poor conditions at Platt Lane caused a series of fixture postponements and a shortage of players resulted in discussions on whether to merge the ladies' team into Stockport County Ladies.
Manchester City's relegation coincided with the reorganisation of the club spearheaded by Derek Heath, a Stockport County Ladies coach who had transferred to the Manchester club owing to Stockport County Ladies' reluctance to affiliate with the male side of the same name. Heath brought in a raft of new players – many directly from Stockport – and created the first-ever junior side when he arranged for Manchester City to adopt the Stockport under-14 team which his former club were no longer in a position to support. Although Heath was to die after a brief battle with cancer barely a year after joining the club, Manchester City went unbeaten in the league throughout the 1997–98 season to win the second division title at the first time of asking – their first official silverware.
Promotion in 1998 would start a period of success for Manchester City. After narrowly missing out on a second promotion in 1999, they won the Premier Division in 1999–2000 and beat Barnsley in the promotion play-off to lift themselves above the North West Regional Football League for the first time. The following season they won the Northern Combination and joined the WFA National League (renamed the Women's Premier League in 1992) Northern Division. The step up to the WPL proved to be a large one, however, and the club narrowly avoided relegation on several occasions, never finishing outside of the bottom half for the first seven seasons. Only the appointment of Leigh Wood to the managerial position in 2007 was able to change the club from relegation battlers to title hopefuls.
The English women's football pyramid was shaken up again in 2010 when the FA Women's Super League was created as a new top-tier competition to sit over the top of the Women's Premier League. The FA announced that entry would be based on application rather than promotion and that all members of the WPL National Division plus the top two finishers in the two regional leagues would be eligible to apply. Manchester City would miss out on the opportunity, instead finishing fourth, but would seize their next opportunity to join the WSL some three seasons later when it was expanded into an 18-team, two-tiered league system - by which time the club had won the Northern Division and were contesting the National Division. To some surprise and controversy on 26 April City Ladies were announced to have been given direct entry to the first division of the enlarged competition, at the expense of established team Doncaster Rovers Belles who were downgraded to the second division and were the only team to lose their top division status.
In anticipation of their first WSL season the club began a complete renovation of the playing squad, signing a number of England internationals and promising players, including the likes of England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, 74-times capped midfielder Jill Scott and new club captain Steph Houghton, intending to make an impression on the league from the start. On 23 January 2014, the club was relaunched with a minor renaming to Manchester City Women's Football Club, ready for the new season. Nick Cushing was appointed first team manager, with Leigh Wood moving to first team head coach.