Howay the Lasses - December Update
Just in time for Christmas, Mark Stutt give us his latest monthly update on the Lasses
Matches in December:
NUWFC v Boro – FA Cup (2-0)
MUWFC v NUWFC – League Cup (5-3)
NUWFC v Blackburn – Championship (postponed)
Since I started covering the Lasses for True Faith in November their record has been won one (away at Birmingham 0-2), drawn one (1-1 at home to Southampton) and lost two (2-0 away at Bristol), and the League Cup match at home to WSL Liverpool (1-6 see previous post) being a cold dose of reality to those expecting a third successive promotion (although it was used to ease in a few returning from injuries and those who need game time). Not brilliant, but not disastrous. It needs to be remembered that NUWFC were non-professional, not part of NUFC and playing in Tier 4 three years ago.
It might be worth a re-cap if you’re not familiar with the Women’s Tier structure. Going lowest to highest you have:
• National League (Tier 4) is divided into four – Division One North (where Leeds and Middlesborough currently play), Division One Midlands, Division One South East and Division One South West
• National League (Tier 3) is divided between the Northern Premier Division (with Wolves and Nottingham Forest) and Southern Premier Division.
• Barclays Women’s Championship (Tier 2) that’s us, Sunderland, Durham etc.
• Barclays Women’s Super League (Tier 1) Man City, Man U, Chelsea (current Champions) etc.
Newcastle won the National League Division One North in 2022-23, the National League Northern Premier Division in 23-24 and are currently lying seventh (of 11 teams) in the Barclays Women’s Championship, with me so far? Keep up at the back!
You can see the significant difference in quality and physicality between Tier 3 and Tier 2; the jump between Tier 4 and Tier 3 was nowhere near as noticeable. The teams in Tier 2 have all (apart from Portsmouth who got promoted with us and are currently bottom on one point) have been in the Championship for years or recently dropped from the WSL. The Lasses are having to compete with these teams and have struggled at times to manage the physicality and let’s call them the game management skills (shirt pulls, shoves, time wasting etc.).
A win against Boro (the Lasses will face either Forest or Burnley in the FA Cup fourth round tie at home) and a creditable performance against WSL Man U (we lost 5-0 to them last season in the FA Cup) was the extent of games this month. The Man U result doesn’t reflect the Lasses performance - battling back to equalise twice and never letting their heads drop getting their third and Joel’s first for NUWFC in injury time. As the Lasses Fans Group resident ‘Statto’ Matt Wallby said, ‘we were the only away team to score more than two goals at Man U’s home in 2024!’. Brava Lasses. The league game against Blackburn was postponed due to their rearranged FA Cup game having to be played the day after we were due to face them.
In news away from the club, Alysia Boddy and Jas McQuade were picked for the England U-23s. Boddy unfortunately having to withdraw during the warm-up, what a sickener for her. Shania Hayles played for Jamaica and Lois Joel was an unused sub for Wales in their memorable match against the Republic of Ireland and helped Wales qualify for their first ever Euros competition.
There have been plenty of injuries particularly in defence and midfield with Furness, Potts, Cataldo, Bartle and Kelly missing games. They’ve had to contend with nine new arrivals this season – Stokes, Hayles, Cooper, Moan, Andrews, Haywood, Furness, Sibley and Joel. This number of arrivals will obviously need time to gel as a team, never mind the human side of moving to a new part of the country, finding somewhere to live etc. an important part of transfers, which is often overlooked. Also, the management team are new to this level as well, Becky Langley, who’s been with the club since 2019 hasn’t managed in the Championship, previously being head of Women’s Football at Northumbria University.
Despite all that, the Lasses have not looked out of place and as I’ve said before no-one seriously expected them to win this league. There’s only one promotion spot, something that will need to change if the new management group of the top two leagues want to expand them. Personally, I don’t think the Lasses are ready to step up to the WSL, I’d rather they consolidate in the Championship while planning for a long term aim of getting to the WSL and staying there.
As it stands the top eight teams in the Championship are divided by five points, each team can beat each other, no one is running away with it. Bottom team Portsmouth, barring a miraculous reversal in fortunes, look destined to drop back to Tier 3, which is a shame as we played them (and won) In the National League cup semi-final at SJP last year (we don’t talk about the final…) there was a positive affinity with the Pompey fans, and we hoped they would have a good season too. Newcastle are four points off the top spot and a finish in the top five for me would be an excellent result, but we’ll see as the season progresses.
For the match v Southampton at SJP it was hoped the attendance would beat the current Championship record set when we played (and beat) the Mackems at the Stadium of Plight (we try to keep swearing to a minimum at the Lasses matches, lots of bairns going you know…) – 15,168, helped by 2,500-3000 Geordies; to my eyes there was no way the SoP was one-third full! In the end 11,620 clicked through the SJP turnstiles, so the record still stands with Wearside. To put it in context, the SJP attendance was the third highest in the top two divisions, with it being the first time all home teams played at their main home ground (SJP, Emirates, Goodison etc.).
The North London derby was attended by 28,582, Chelsea (the current Champions) v Man City (second in the WSL and last year’s runners up) was 19,499. The Liverpool derby (at Goodison) was 9,823, so the attendance at the Lasses is very respectable indeed. NUWFC fans are regarded as the best in the division, not a biased opinion, but stated by opposition players, managers, and fans. We travel in numbers (see above), are loud, proud and give the Lasses fantastic backing. You should give it a go if you haven’t been.
PoT Month – (a new award I’ve just created) is Amber-Keegan Stobbs. Wor Captain has been a model of consistency and availability (the best type of ability) playing as a No.4 (No.6 is a Centre Half and I’m willing to die on that hill…) or indeed as a Centre Half. Highly Commended goes to our former Lioness Demi Stokes who goes under the radar but brings solid dependable experience to the defence and wider team.
So that concludes December’s report and indeed 2024 - a fantastic year for NUWFC. All the best Lads ‘n’ Lasses, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Howay the Lasses!
Mark Stutt