BLUE MOON RISES AGAIN – How Man City brought home the WSL
With a first league title in 10 years, our City writer (and lifelong fan) Gethin Thurlow looks back at a special campaign for the club.
Wednesday May 6th – a random early summer weekday right? Maybe to the general public it was, but to a select group of football fans it was a life-changing date.
Brighton v Arsenal was the fixture, but the fans in question nervously watched the game from their TVs in Manchester, or across the Pennines in Leeds in my case. When Callum Jones finally put the whistle to his lips and blew three times after 99 long minutes of action and a 1-1 draw, Manchester City were confirmed as WSL champions.
No More Heartbreak
After all the heartbreak and pain of recent seasons, they had finally got it over the line. There was no late Blackstenius brace, no inevitable Chelsea comeback this time. After 10 years, the Women’s Super League was headed back up to Manchester.
Right from the start, this year felt different. While the Andrée Jeglertz (below) era inevitably kicked off with a loss to Chelsea, there were signs of a different team. After years of the same structured playing style being delivered through Nick Cushing and Gareth Taylor, this was a new team. Transitions were opportunities to score, not something to fear. Positions across the pitch were more flexible, and most importantly it was unpredictable.
The 13-game winning run in the league which followed that opening night loss at Stamford Bridge ultimately decided the league for City, and it was a run that showcased all the talent, adaptability and character of this squad. There were dominant wins – primarily the 5-1 destruction of Chelsea in February, and other five- or six-goal victories over Villa and Spurs.
There were late goals, turning games that in previous years would have been draws into wins against Arsenal, Liverpool and London City (above), and some tough, hard-fought wins when performances dropped against “easier” teams like Everton and West Ham.
Regime Change
When previously City’s attacking game plan often was just waiting on Lauren Hemp and Bunny Shaw to produce some magic, under this regime every attacker had their chance to shine. While Hemp and Shaw won City plenty of games this year, there were also times where Kerolin, Fujino, Miedema and even more defensive options like Beney and Casparij and Hasegawa bore the responsibility of the attacking threat.
This was a group of players fighting their heart out for the club, fans, coach, but most importantly each other. Even when results slipped a little towards the end of the season, even with big names like Clinton, Fowler, Ouhabi and Lohmann spending much more time on the bench than they would’ve wanted, you could question the performance, but never the togetherness and drive of this group of players, and that’s what makes this season so special.
Whatever happens next year – with Bunny Shaw potentially leaving and champions league football to deal with, this is a moment and summer for City fans to celebrate and relish that victorious feeling. Oh, and they are also in with a chance of the domestic double now they’ve made it to the FA Cup Final…
A blue moon shines firmly over England once more.
Photos: Gethin Thurlow, Helen M Jerome
