Patrick and Frances Connolly<\/a>. The new signing Mariana Speckmaier boosts their attack. The centre-back Sarah Wilson says: \u201cBecause we\u2019ve always had that family feel as a club, we\u2019re very close-knit with a core group who have been around for a long time, and that\u2019s what makes this club so special. It\u2019s the trust you have [in each other].\u201d<\/p>\nIpswich<\/p>\n
Last season:<\/strong> Promoted from FAWNL. Predicted finish:<\/strong> 11th
Champions of the southern region\u2019s third tier after averaging more than four goals per game, Joe Sheehan\u2019s side have a shot at second-tier football and they might just be capable of staying there, especially if Sophie Peskett can keep firing in the goals. The youth graduate Paige Peake was their first signing of the summer after three years at Southampton. \u201cIt was really exciting to be back home,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I was first here, no players got paid anything, whereas now we\u2019re full-time professionals, so that jump in the space of four years is great and the facilities at the training ground have really improved.\u201d<\/p>\nNewcastle<\/p>\n
Last season:<\/strong> 5th. Predicted finish:<\/strong> 1st
What a summer on Tyneside. With the extra promotion places up for grabs, Newcastle are clearly going for it, signing Jordan Nobbs, a title winner with Arsenal, and Aoife Mannion, an FA Cup winner with Manchester United. That signalled their intent even before the loan signing of Morgan Gautrat, twice a world champion with the USA, from Orlando Pride. Grace Williams arrives as their new director of football, and she oversaw promotions at Bristol City in 2023 and Crystal Palace in 2024. Favourites to win the division.<\/p>\nNewcastle have made big moves in the transfer market, including a deal for Aoife Mannion from Manchester United. Photograph: Serena Taylor\/Newcastle United\/Getty ImagesNottingham Forest<\/p>\n
Last season:<\/strong> Promoted from FAWNL. Predicted finish:<\/strong> 7th
Carly Davies\u2019s side completed an unbeaten league campaign to clinch promotion and their summer recruitment suggests they intend to be competitive at second-tier level. Among the arrivals are players with top-flight experience such as Rachel Rowe, Deanne Rose and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah. The Scotland defender Kirsty Smith arrives from West Ham. \u201cI want to get back to enjoying football and also the style of play here suited me,\u201d she says. \u201cThey have ambition, they want to compete in this league. It was a tough decision to go down [a league] but this division is so competitive. It\u2019s just nice to be part of a team that\u2019s pushing to be at the top half of the table and I hope that\u2019s where we\u2019re going to be. They made the decision easy for me.\u201d<\/p>\nPortsmouth<\/p>\n
Last season:<\/strong> 9th. Predicted finish:<\/strong> 12th
Having had to wait until March to win their first league game in their first campaign at this level after their promotion in 2024, Portsmouth finished strongly and won two of their final five fixtures to avoid relegation. Surviving again this season will not be a simple task because of the strength of the promoted teams. Still, the midfielder Ava Rowbotham remains positive, saying: \u201cWe really kicked on after Christmas, so to stay up and continue our spot in WSL2 was really good and everyone is just buzzing and excited to kick on.\u201d<\/p>\nSheffield United<\/p>\n
Last season:<\/strong> 12th. Predicted finish:<\/strong> 10th
Finishing rock-bottom of the then 11-team league, Sheffield United were handed a reprieve on 4 June when the Football Association handed them the place left vacant by the financially troubled Blackburn Rovers. Sheffield United, having met all the requirements for a full-time licence, were the natural choice. They have added the former England youth international Charlie Devlin to the squad and turned Alyssa Aherne\u2019s loan from Manchester United into a permanent transfer. They will be desperate to make the most of their chance for redemption.<\/p>\nSouthampton<\/p>\n
Last season:<\/strong> 8th. Predicted finish:<\/strong> 9th
After Remi Allen\u2019s exit as manager in February, Simon Parker arrived this summer having spent two years overachieving in charge of Blackburn, and he will want to show what can be achieved with stronger financial backing. That said, Southampton are hardly overburdened with cash so it would be unrealistic to expect a sudden title charge. But the new signings Emma Harries and Ellie Brazil in particular should add some much-needed goals: only Portsmouth, Blackburn and Sheffield United scored fewer last term.<\/p>\nSunderland<\/p>\n
Last season:<\/strong> 7th. Predicted finish:<\/strong> 8th
Sunderland were solid if unspectacular last season, albeit dropping back from coming third in 2024, and seem the benchmark for mid-table stability under their long-serving head coach, Melanie Reay. The Republic of Ireland and former Reading goalkeeper Grace Moloney at 32 brings experience between the posts. The dfender Brianna Westrup, before her fourth season with the club, says: \u201cEvery year I\u2019ve been in this league it\u2019s very much felt like anyone can win on any day. It\u2019s been rare when we\u2019ve felt one team is running away with it. [This summer] there has been quite a lot of movement within the league, players switching teams. Overall we feel positive, in fairly good stead. It feels a bit more like the year before last, when we had a good run.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City Last season: 2nd. Predicted finish: 2ndAfter missing out on promotion on the final day of last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-399774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115151316233318236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}