It’s been no secret that Blues Women are very dependent on the financial support of their parent club BCFC and this has meant they’ve had to wait until very late in the day before they could start re-building the team.
The appointment of head coach Carla Ward has been most vital cog in the engine as she will have been key in the appointment of all the new players. Ward comes with a very impressive record of her time at Sheffield United where they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Women’s Super League.
As was evident last summer and has been seen again this summer, Blues prefer to take their time in signing new players choosing quality over quantity. So far, we have only made two signings plus a further two on loan, but I’m sure there will be one or two more to come before the transfer window closes.
Preview Of The Incoming Players
Christie Murray comes with a good previous track record but the fact she hardly played for Liverpool last season will leave some fans wondering what to expect.
Rachel Corsie comes with bags of experience both at club and international level and her leadership skills will come in very handy in commanding the back line.
Chloe McCarron is more of an unknown quanity but the fact she has also played at international level for Northern Ireland will give hope that she can bring dominance to the Blues midfield.
Defender Georgia Brougham has returned for another loan spell and judging by the four games she played in last season she’ll bring an air of composure to our back line and have the confidence to play the ball out to our midfielders.
Not Forgetting The Retained Squad
So far its been announced that Blues retained 10 players from last season and Lily Simkin has graduated to the first team. I fully expect Simkin to play a vital part in the Blues defence as she can play either full back or centre back.
Harriet Scott has been made Club Captain and her leadership skills will be essential in bringing the team together both on and off the pitch.
Blues have plenty of midfielders to select from including Heidi Logan who didn’t feature last season because of an ACL injury. I imagine Heidi will be eased into the team and Abbi Grant and Lucy Whipp will feature in the core of midfield. The same applies to Connie Scofield who wasn’t given that much game time by previous manager Marta Tejedor but is more than capable of slotting straight into the Blues midfield.
Add to that established players of Hampton, Mayling, Kelly, Walker, and Holloway we have plenty of players with WSL experience to mix with youngsters stepping up from the Academy.
Starting off against Brighton will be a good indication of where the team is at but even if we don’t get off to a winning start I have confidence in boss Carla Ward to bring the team together and we’ll no doubt see the team improve as the season progresses.
Keep Right On!