On Sunday 16 March, Crystal Palace will be facing one of, if not, the biggest game in their history to date. It should be one of the talking points of the season. Leif Smerud’s side will walk out at the VBS Community Stadium knowing absolutely that it is do or die. A win against Aston Villa – a possibility which is not unthinkable right now – will bring them right back into the relegation battle; defeat and their fate will surely be decided.
In the weeks before she was sacked, manager Laura Kaminski stated in no uncertain terms what it would mean for her and her players to secure their safety. “The trophy will be just as big to stay up as it was to get up,” she told the media.
There is a mini-myth in English women’s football about the lack of interesting “relegation battles” when there have been some fascinating run-ins over the years. Remember Leicester City in the 2022-23 season sitting dead last going into the winter break without a win to their name. They returned in the new year to win five of their remaining 13 matches, a 1-0 victory against Brighton on the final day ensuring their great escape.
When Matt Beard took over at Bristol City in January 2021 after manager Tanya Oxtoby had gone on maternity leave, the Robins sat five points adrift at the bottom. Over the next few months, his side dragged their way back into the conversation forcing the relegation battle right to the end. They ultimately failed but that made it no less thrilling. That same year produced the images of Carla Ward charging down the touchline to celebrate with Ruby Mace, her equaliser earning Birmingham City a valuable point against West Ham that ultimately helped them secure safety. You can literally see how much it meant!
That’s not to mention Coventry United’s final day heroics in the Championship in 2022, a spectacular 97th minute winner from Mollie Green against Watford to send their opponents on the day back down to the FA Women’s National League.
This is a fairly long-winded way of trying to say that relegation matters. It matters deeply and, if promoted properly, it sells – both in terms of fans and on TV. The jeopardy is what gets audiences interested, the stakes are high and with that so are the incentives and drama. Without it, that game in Sutton in two weeks’ time would be meaningless, just another inconsequential fixture in the calendar.
With news breaking in the Guardian around a WPLL proposal to remove relegation for at least four years as part of an expansion project for the WSL and Championship, it seems timely to be reminded why it has long been part of the DNA of English football. It is key to state that promotion would remain between the two, and presumably between Tier 2 and the FAWNL Premier, but that does not alter the arguments against. It is also crucial to mention that details on any proposals remain very vague, but the concept should still be debated.
The pyramid is built on the idea of meritocracy – yes, that gets a little blurred with the disparity in finances involved – but the fundamental principal is still there. If you win more games than your opponents, whoever you are, you can win titles and promotion; if you lose, then your punishment is to drop down and find a way to build again. It is how Leicester City in the men’s game moved through the divisions over the decades to win the Premier League, the quintessential fairytale. Yes, they had the finances to help but they achieved it on merit, by beating others significantly more experienced and more resourced. It is that dream upon which football is built.
The ideological view is the starting point for a counter-argument to the proposals. There are of course closed leagues around the world – the most well-known being in the USA – but for them, the franchise system is the foundation of the sport. It is easy to look at the NWSL and see the valuations of clubs and TV deals going through the roof and think we need to do the same but the two exist in very different ecosystems. This piece is not to extol or criticise one or the other – they both have their positives and negatives within their own environment – but simply dropping one on the other and expecting success would fail. Again, this isn’t to say that this is the WPLL’s thinking right now – maintaining promotion clearly makes it different – but just serves to highlight the obvious alternative that currently exists in world football.
The Guardian reported that the removal of relegation is designed to help the leagues expand to 16 teams gradually and “encourage owners to invest and help develop a more competitive league”. Expansion is necessary and is widely supported across the board but the arguments for removing relegation as a way to achieve this seem somewhat illogical. We have already seen a number of clubs happy to coast in the WSL, willing to do just enough to ensure survival but reluctant to invest to keep up with Chelsea at the top. These owners are paying lip service to the sport and have shown little inclination to do more – one only needs to read Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s series of interviews to understand where he stands on the matter when it comes to Manchester United. Why then would the removal of jeopardy, the one incentive they have to even spend the minimum, force their hand? For example, Liverpool broke their playing budget by spending £210,000 on Olivia Smith in the summer, leaving Matt Beard with little to no money to make a move in January. For a club with the brand and size of Liverpool to have that low a budget, one of the lowest in the league, seems ludicrous. And once that danger of failure has been taken away why would they then choose to re-install relegation come 2030-31 if it were to go to a vote? There would have to be a backstop in place, a guarantee to ensure that it really is just temporary, to even start to sway the backlash of opinion seen across the board since Friday.
The other question would be what does freeze on relegation, even if it is only temporary, mean for the rest of the pyramid? If the top two tiers become an elite pool that are clearly protected from the rest, how does that drive interest and investment in the pathway? The potential introduction of B teams into these leagues only serves to heighten suspicion about attempts to create even more separation. There are some incredible teams in the FAWNL with a real interest in growing the sport and not all of them are backed by the finances of a men’s team – what happens to their ambition and dedication if even the meritocracy element of the game is removed, not to mention the development of players from grassroots up.
There is no doubt that the women’s game needs changes across the board to realise its full potential. The WPLL should be commended in their desire to think outside the box and question the status quo and current culture. Women’s football cannot just be a mirror of the men’s game, it simply will not survive; but that equally does not mean that you need to cut out the heart of what makes English and European football so loved.
For her part, the WPLL’s Chief Executive Nikki Doucet has emphasised that they value this element. In a media briefing on Thursday, she stated, “We believe promotion and relegation is a great thing. It makes English football distinctive from other leagues. It adds jeopardy and excitement. It’s something we all love about the game of football and that has never been under question. We fundamentally believe it is an important differentiator and an important competitive advantage for us, relative to other women’s sport leagues globally.” While it is positive that they feel this way, the refusal to completely take it off the table, despite repeated questions, will cause continued consternation.
This has a been a constant with the WPLL and Doucet. All options remain on the table and, as of now, “there is nothing to vote on.” There has to be hope that the alternatives – whatever they may be – are being given equal weight. Doucet herself implied that alternatives are being discussed. “We have to look at the range of possibilities that are available to us and the pros and cons of all of those and be really thoughtful,” she said. “We deeply understand the impact of decisions and that the impact of everything done at the top cascades down the pyramid.” In terms of league expansion, there are surely, other more organic options available. Two up, one down; the introduction of a play-off system in the Championship; a play-off between 11th in WSL and 2nd in the Championship are just some examples that would both increase competition and relevance of matches. The addition of a Plate competition for those who drop out of the League Cup after the group stage could also add more for those teams to play for.
Equally, if the WPLL are convinced that this move is the way forward, they need to bring people on the journey. Explain the story, explain the why and give guarantees instead of fans and stakeholders being left in the dark, forced to draw conclusions from leaks drip-fed through the media. There is a fine balance to be found but if it looks like things are being done in the shadows, that is where you lose people along the way.
Doucet promised on Thursday that there would be fan consultation. “We are still looking at concepts and options,” she said. “When that proposal is in a place where we can consult, there will be informal and formal consultation that will have to go on so we can make sure we take everyone on the journey. The governance process is vigorous. We are working really closely with the FA on that and as the concept develops, we will go through those processes.”
Beyond the fans, there are other key stakeholders that should not be overlooked including managers, media, players (both current and former), and previous guiding lights of the sport. There are many talented people beyond the owners of clubs and their boards who have a strong knowledge base of the game and care deeply and equally about its success and future. A willingness to draw on that pool, on that rich history that has brought us to where we are today, will give the WPLL and women’s football in England the best chance of success in the long run.
