Facts stats chat and news - 19/20 edition

[jojojo]

Some of our players away for internationals this week. Including Jane Ross and (at last!) Kirsty Hanson who started for Scotland tonight against Albania.

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The second half has just kicked off and Scotland are winning 0-2. Jane Ross scored one of the goals. Hanson is paying well, Albania are doubling up on her this half.

 

[jojojo]

Scotland won 0-5 in Albania. Ross scored and Hanson played well, so a good day for us. Lizzie Arnot was an unused sub.

Netherlands won 0-8 away in Turkey. Jackie Groenen went off after an hour with the Netherlands team already 0-5 up.

Hayley Ladd is with Wales for their match against N.Ireland on Tuesday.

Mary Earps and Abbie McManus are in the England squad for their friendly against Germany (tomorrow 5:30 on BBC2) Alex Greenwood is there as well.

 

[jojojo]

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Mary Earps starts, as does Alex Greenwood. Abbie McManus on the bench.

Casey Stoney is the co-commentator tonight on BBC2.

 

[jojojo]

Another day and another England loss - this time England 1-2 Germany. Ultimately a deserved win for Germany, because England didn't do anything to deserve a win and some of the defending was painful. That said, Nikita Parris missed another penalty (that's 3 in 3 for her recently) and Doorsoun deserved a red card for a high late challenge, so the match could have played out very differently - but still England as a team looked poor.

Were the goals Mary Earps' fault? No, the defenders let her down, but she didn't have a great day. Did Phil Neville have a great day as manager - sadly England aren't improving, and defensively they're getting worse. The defence keep making the same mistakes, and the midfield seldom look in control. Stats don't always tell the story but Germany's 21 shots to England's 6 maybe does. Will Phil keep his job - England and the GB team for the Olympics - probably, so hopefully he really is learning from this run of form (W1 L4 D1 since the WWC). They play Czech Republic on Tuesday in another friendly.

 

[jojojo]

No United players starting for England tonight. England has just scored for England (yes, really) to put the score to 1-1 against the Czech republic, and as I go to post Beth Mead makes it 1-2.

Hayley Ladd will start for Wales in their Euro 21 qualifier against N.Ireland.

 

[jojojo]

England beat the Czech Republic team 2-3. No United players involved tonight there.

Wales drew 0-0 with N. Ireland, Hayley Ladd played the full match. A disappointing result for Wales.

Netherlands beat Slovenia 4-1, Jackie Groenen played the full match.

 

[Grande]

Surprises me that Katie Zelem doesn’t get a sniff at England.

 

[jojojo]

Meanwhile, our U21 team continue to play well. A 1-4 away win against City today.

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[Class of 63]

Not sure where else to put this -

Manchester United goalkeeper Emily Ramsey has signed a new undisclosed deal with the Women's Super League club but returned to second tier side Sheffield United on loan.

https://www.newschain.uk/womens-spo...signs-club-heading-sheffield-united-loan-3655

 

[jojojo]

Not sure where else to put this -

Manchester United goalkeeper Emily Ramsey has signed a new undisclosed deal with the Women's Super League club but returned to second tier side Sheffield United on loan.

https://www.newschain.uk/womens-spo...signs-club-heading-sheffield-united-loan-3655

That's good. She needs to be playing.

On a similar note Aimee Palmer has returned from her loan at Sheffield United - she scored 6 goals and got 4 assists from midfield, in 18 appearances, while she was there.

 

[Class of 63]

That's good. She needs to be playing.

On a similar note Aimee Palmer has returned from her loan at Sheffield United - she scored 6 goals and got 4 assists from midfield, in 18 appearances, while she was there.

Wondering if we've got some arrangement/accord with Sheffield United re. loan players because Ebony Salmon went there last season, or maybe it's just more for convenience being the closest club to keep an eye on them that's not considered a major rival.

 

[jojojo]

Wondering if we've got some arrangement/accord with Sheffield United re. loan players because Ebony Salmon went there last season, or maybe it's just more for convenience being the closest club to keep an eye on them that's not considered a major rival.

All of the above I suspect. Some of the players will have reason to want to stay local as well, particularly as some of them are doing courses alongside playing. Plus, without being too brutal about it, it's probably cheaper for us. A lot of the younger players live in shared club accommodation in Manchester so we might have arranged something in Sheffield as well - the costs count towards our salary cap. It probably makes settling in easier too - Mollie Green has been there playing alongside Aimee Palmer this year.

Most importantly though, they're about the right level. They're currently second in the Championship and our loanees actually play when they get there.

 

[jojojo]

Interesting article in the Mail (sorry!) talking about what's happened since the FA decided that all WSL1 teams must now be fulltime professional setups. In particular the growing distance between the big three and the others. The most striking stat is that the average wage in WSL1 scarcely moved when the League went from parttime to fulltime:
The 2017 Global Sports Salaries Survey revealed that the average salary of the 157 contracted Women's Super League players in 2017-18 — the last season before women's football went fully professional — was £26,752. Now it is around £32,000.

Most clubs are also covering (shared) accommodation as well, which is critical in the women's game because Liverpool pay their fulltimers £20k/year and West Ham £15k/year.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...unch-inside-hidden-world-womens-football.html

For United, the story is pretty much what we already knew: we aren't among the big spenders. The thing I have noticed in the past year is that there's been very little said on The Cliff. Originally the stated intent was that the women would be moving in there, but nothing has changed - they're still on the training pitches at Leigh and using the sports centre there for fitness/conditioning work. When they didn't move to the Cliff last season, I wondered if they were planning to do more than just a refurb there - but I haven't heard about planning applications etc, so I do wonder what the plan is now - if indeed there is one.

 

[Lightbringer]

I saw Mollie Green was loaned out some time ago. Where did she play matches while still at United? Do they have some reserve team or something for the players barely getting any playing time at all?

 

[jojojo]

I saw Mollie Green was loaned out some time ago. Where did she play matches while still at United? Do they have some reserve team or something for the players barely getting any playing time at all?

I think Mollie has been unlucky this year - Hayley Ladd has played almost every game and that's set the shape of the midfield really. Since Jackie Groene got her fitness back, she's been looking better every week. Mollie hasn't been able to break into the forward rotation either. There's no doubt that we've missed her contribution in terms of her directness and her goals this season but I guess Casey just doesn't see her as WSL1 ready.

But a player like Mollie, who scored 16 goals from midfield for us last year, deserves better than an odd run out in the cup. She's too good to be playing with the U21s as well. I don't know if she's played the odd game for them this season, but I know she hasn't been a regular with the U21s. So really she's spent the last few months training. I bet she's glad to be playing matches again.

 

[jojojo]

A nice article on the group of United fans known as the Barmy Army, on an away trip to Reading, discussing our role in bringing old rivalries into the women's game, together with a cleaned up song book and a lot of flags
https://www.thesportsman.com/featur...rmy-the-fanatic-family-behind-man-utd-s-women

 

[jojojo]

Some more information from United's financial statements:

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[jojojo]

Summarising those financial results then for our inaugural season (actually our first 13 months).
Matchday receipts £127k
Commercial revenue £1126k

Wages, pensions, NI etc £785k
Other expenses £700k

Operating loss £232k

I'm not sure of how the commercial revenue calculation is done - some new sponsors (eg: Kohler) seem more involved with the women's team than the older sponsors. So whether it's just a nominal percentage of the whole thing, or it's more subtle I don't know.

There are other quirks as well - like it talking about 21 full-time playing/coaching staff. Which presumably leaves out the U20 players and maybe some of the (shared) support staff.

So whilst it's nice to see United reveal the information, it does leave a lot of questions

Just for comparison purposes. The average pay for the senior women's squad seems to be around £30k/year. Sam Kerr who recently joined Chelsea is on around £300k/year.