Usually after a United match, I'll write a semi-humorous (I use that term extremely loosely) review on the game that's just happened. Today, United played London City Lionesses in a league fixture in front of 11,137 fans. Yeah, you read that correctly, United smashed the record for an FA Championship game that either us or Liverpool set last year. For the second tier of women's football, that's an incredible turnout. The support for United has been incredible those this season, we've regularly had over a thousand fans through the turnstile every week this season. It's been incredible to see and be a part of. But enough about attendances, what am I actually here to talk about? That, dear reader, would be the possibility of our women's team becoming professional because let's face it, it's something that we should seriously be considering.
For the past four years, United have been a fixture in the second tier of women's football in this country. During that time, we've had a fantastic record of more or less finishing in the top half of the table despite us being a part time team, heck, in our second season in the league we finished second and had a chance to go up had the season not been curtailed by Covid. We've had very good times in the Championship, we've taken scalps, we've battered teams, we've taken games to teams on paper no one gave us a sniff of getting anything out of. We've done it all. But last season the top half finish finished, narrowly I might add, as we finished 7th. At the end of that season, a lot of key players left. Fran Kitching, Georgia Robert, Kasia Lipka, Sophie Bradley-Auckland, Lucy Watson. All key players in the past few seasons and they're not the first to leave. Sam Tierney, Jade Pennock, Kate Wilkinson, Sophie Barker (the first time) all moved on, usually to top tier teams. It's frustrating, but that's just football, isn't it? The real frustration is that we didn't get a fee for any of those players to reinvest into our squad to try and have another crack at promotion because we're part time. By the way, please don't take me listing those players as me holding a grudge against them leaving, I'm thrilled for them, genuinely, they've all got an incredible chance to go an earn a living doing what they love and testing themselves against some of the best footballers in the country. Anyone who would be offered that chance would jump at it. My gripe is solely with United and perhaps our owners to an extent. As time has passed in the FA Women's Championship, more and more teams have become professional. Whether that be by dropping down from the WSL or just by betting on themselves and securing themselves against player sales whilst at the same time giving players the chance to earn a living from football. Teams like Durham City and today's opposition London City Lionesses have taken that jump as fully independent teams which is incredible and full credit to them for being able to offer that. You've then got the league affiliated clubs with teams like Palace, Charlton and Bristol City all offering full time deals to players. It's all good stuff and should be championed. Then you have Sheffield United. We've been in the division for a while and have had some encouragement in regard to us wanting to get into the WSL and compete with the big teams. So, why is the biggest thing we've done in those five years be to move back to Sheffield after an extended stay outside of our city boundaries? Don't misconstrue that as a bad thing, it's not, it's a brilliant thing and it's allowed families the ability to get down to The Lane and finally get a chance to see a team that runs itself into the ground for the red and white stripes in a more accessible location than Chesterfield. Our promotion of our women's team has been very good over the past few years, they always get a plug on Saturday's and our last record setting attempt at The Lane and our willingness to host Euro games over the summer is genuinely fantastic and I love that our women's team actually feels like a part of the club this year. But why aren't we a professional outfit yet? We're a big club at this level, or at least we should be. So why is it that League 1 Charlton Athletic can find change to offer full time contracts but Championship outfit Sheffield United can't? It's not a particularly good look that a team a league below us can offer that security to players but we can't. Another thing, when was the last time our owner actually went to a women's game and had a look at the effort and hard work that the team put in? Does Neil Redfearn actually have any contact with our owner? What happened to the plans to have our owner's daughter involved in the women's team? Why are our Continental Cup games against WSL opposition being moved to Scunthorpe when they have the potential to be big money earners for the club? If anyone wants to answer those questions, please get in touch. I think I've gotten away from the point I originally wanted to make but I'll try and put it more concisely here. We need to go professional if we're serious about getting out of this league. It's as simple as that. These players, many of whom who've been here for those five years, players like Maddy Cusack and Alethea Paul who absolutely buy in to everything that this club stands for and leave everything on the pitch week after week after week. Players like Bex Rayner who the ball just seems to stick to like glue as she picks apart defences like a master lockpicker. Players like Ellie Wilson and Naomi Hartley who are not only wicked tough defenders but who represent themselves and the Rainbow Blades impeccably and offer the community two shining beacons of professionalism and proof that you can do anything no matter what. I could name check them all, because they all offer so much and deserve the chance to be able to be professional footballers, whether they've done it before or not. What needs to be emphasised more than most is that we risk losing these incredible players the longer we stay semi pro. Sheffield United need to be a team that players want to come to and stay at for the long run. It already is to an extent with Barker and Hartley both coming back after stints away. We need to be able to compete not just at this level but at the next level and being semi pro just doesn't allow us to do that. We didn't receive transfer fees for Watson or any of the players I mentioned earlier. If we had, we could have used those to improve our squad further or put money towards improving our already impressive RTC centre that continues to provide a conveyor belt of talent with Mia Enderby, Charley Docherty, Chene Muir and Tamara Wilcock being the latest graduates from an initiative that does so much for our team but also our community. It provides young players that opportunity to get that foot in the door at a club that welcomes an injection of youth. We need to protect that going forward and funds would provide that. The longer United stay semi pro, the less chance we have to progress as a team and that would be such a shame. It's honestly such a massive pleasure to be able to watch this bunch of players in red and white because you can tell they care. The camaraderie shines through like a lighthouse in the dead of night and the amount of happiness they bring to the young people who come to watch them is heart-warming. Every week, Sophie Barker is at the front of the South Stand either having chats with fans in the stand or the ball girls at pitch side. But it's not just Sophie, they are all incredible with the fans. Be it signing autographs and taking pictures after games or sitting down with kids at games like CSK did against Sunderland in the Conti Cup last year. These moments mean so much to those young people and are things they probably won't forget. These players are helping to create a community that makes everybody feel included no matter who you are or what you do. They're incredible representatives of this club and the least the deserve is the opportunity to be able to play the game they love full time. Thank you for reading this slightly different post-match review. I'll see you all again at some point soon. As ever, UTB.
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AuthorHi my name is John and i will be giving my thoughts on the blades matches and all blades related news in this section Archives
November 2022
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