MASSIVE – Crystal Palace are back, with big ambitions

Winger Molly-Mae Sharpe has been with Crystal Palace since 2021 and is now their record appearance maker. She’s seen it all. Going from part-time to fully professional. The promotions and relegations. Managerial comings and goings.

And now Palace are in the WSL again, after just one season back down in WSL2, promoted as runners-up behind Birmingham City.

Sharpe is optimism personified, and it’s hard not to warm to her excitement ahead of this new, massive season for the Eagles. She talks Helen M Jerome through their new acquisitions, big ambitions, and what fans can expect.

Watching Crystal Palace a handful of times last season, you could immediately sense that they’ve moved on measurably since their relegation. Their tremendous surge in form and results at the back end of 2025-26 saw them leapfrog local rivals Charlton to grab the second automatic promotion place.

Since then they’ve not rested on their laurels. Instead they’ve snapped up some WSL veterans, as well as adding international experience and some highly promising youngsters.

The core remains the same, with flair from Abbie Larkin, Ashleigh Weerden and Annabel Blanchard, plus the resolute skipper Aimee Everett, with Hayley Nolan and Josie Green, plus mid-season acquisition Hayley Ladd (below, left) giving them solidity – and the odd magical set-piece goal.  

Key transfers in: Beth England (below, centre) and Molly Bartrip from Spurs; USA midfielder Sierra Enge from Strasbourg; young Lionesses striker Lexi Lloyd-Smith from Bristol City, and Shannon O’Brien Leicester City; plus three exciting loan players, defender Teyah Goldie from London City Lionesses, Japanese midfielder Fuka Tsunoda from Brighton, and rather amazingly, France national goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (below, right) from Denver Summit in the NWSL.

Having already been there and found it hard going last time, Palace will be determined to make the outcome different. And as head coach Jo Potter wasn’t there for that season, she doesn’t bear the scars from that experience, and can approach the league and cup matches ahead with her trademark pragmatic and attacking style.   

Sharpe, however, says the team know what to expect this time. They won’t be naïve, but they also don’t want to sit in and defend. They want to go out and express themselves. Yet, there is a humility as she says they won’t take anything for granted and they all know it’s going to be a fight.

This is exactly what Molly-Mae Sharpe said when we spoke before the start of the season.

You’ve signed some genuine leaders in there, not least your namesake, Molly [Bartrip] and Beth England from Spurs.

What can they bring to Palace to get you over the line in your crunch matches this season?

Yeah, I think obviously bringing Molly and Beth in, already they’ve already showed leadership skills in and around training and games that we’ve played so far.

Beth brings a wealth of experience at national team level as well, which I think will help.

And at the end of the day, we need to score goals to win.

And Molly’s going to help us not let goals in and Beth’s going to help us score goals.

That’s what we need.

We need to score goals and we need to get points on the board.

You’re the first Palace player to make over 100 appearances. So what have you noticed about the WSL and WSL2 – how they’ve changed and maybe gone up another level while you’ve been playing?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I was just speaking to a few of the girls before about my first season at Palace.

We were part-time.

We were training at 8pm on an evening.

We all had full-time jobs through the day.

And that’s, what, five years ago, six seasons ago.

So it’s come on in leaps and bounds.

And playing in this league, you see how professional it is.

You see the players coming in from other countries to join teams.

And obviously, we’ve got some massive players in this season and previous years as well.

It just shows that this league is one of – if not the best league in the world and it’s where people want to be.

It’s grown massively and got so much more professional and it’s only for the good of the game, I think.

This is where you can sell the club. So tell me why new fans should come and watch Jo Potter’s Eagles?

I think this year we’re going to be fun to watch.

We’re going to bring character on the pitch and off it.

We’re brilliant with the fans.

We always have been.

We always see the kids afterwards sign and get pictures.

But ultimately, I think we are going to play exciting football this year and we’re going to be playing with and against some of the best players in the world and it’s going to be an experience every week, whether that’s at Sutton, Selhurst Park or an away day.

So people definitely need to come down and see what we’re all about because maybe it’s something different to what they’ve seen before.

Photos: Helen M Jerome