Latest / A Level Playing Field / SWPL Season Preview: Inside the launch, Player insights & What's Coming Next

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SWPL Season Preview: Inside the launch, Player insights & What's Coming Next · A Level Playing Field

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_05: A level playing field is a partner of Nutmeg magazine, and they've given us a special offer for the new issue that we can share with you.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_05: New issue out soon includes an interview with one of Glasgow City's co-captains, Lee Gibson, written by our own Alison McConnell, who's also a great piece on the chaos that Barry Smith saw during his time as Dundee Skipper, a series on Hart's title bid, Stephen McEwen's brilliant breakdown of Scotland's World Cup Adventure, and an interview with Kelly Clark.
• 0:24
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• 0:29
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• 0:43
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• 1:25
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome to a level playing field.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Cheryl Smith, joined as ever by my co-host Alison McConnell.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_05: And Alison, it's the morning after the night before.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_05: It was the live podcast event last night and Exit Think Call really helped us put on a really great night.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_05: The attendance was great.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_05: It was just a really good event, a good chance to meet people who've been listening and hopefully gain some new listeners as well.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_06: I think uh I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think what it showed was that there is a an appetite for what we're doing, loads of encouragement from a a lot of people.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I have to thank Think All for putting the event on for us.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_06: It's fantastic.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_06: I thought they had um Exit looking looking brilliant for anyone of a certain age listening.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_06: It was uh the old Fury Murrays.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_06: Uh it it looked absolutely brilliant how they had done it up, and we had loads of memorabilia up and around the the place, but also just to to go and speak to people and get a bit of feedback about the podcast.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_06: It was really good fun, uh, and hopefully it it's the first of a few more.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and we had some good guests on the panel as well, uh, Grant Scott, uh Donald Donald Gillies, of course, from Rangers, and Kayla McDonald and Wah from Montrose, and also show Racism the Red Card.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_05: And it was three really good speakers and three different points of view, which I think people really enjoy because they were coming from three different you know positions in football, I suppose.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you're you're hearing from three different vantage points.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_06: We heard obviously from the perspective of a manager, a perspective of a player, and then the perspective of someone on the commercial side of it who who's charged really with growing the game off the pitch and and bringing the stability, the financial stability and the infrastructure, the scaffolding all around the game.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_06: So I think it's obviously it was interesting to hear from all three of them.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_06: I thought all three of them came across as very relaxed, really comfortable, uh, and obviously um, you know, very at ease in in in speaking with their own subject matter.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_06: So I yeah, I thought it was a really enjoyable evening, and I hope the people who came along enjoyed it.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_06: I hope um it didn't bore anyone too much.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_06: I hope they came along and enjoyed it, and it was it was lovely to see so many people come out and and support it.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_06: So I think we owe everyone a debt of thanks.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely, and I'm sure they enjoyed the free bar as well, which is always good to offer.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_06: It is indeed.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_06: Cheryl and I were at the Scottish Power SWPL Media event this week as uh a fresh campaign prepares to get underway.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_06: We had an opportunity to chat to to players from every club, and obviously great excitement, great anticipation ahead of a fresh campaign and lots of ambition from various clubs and what they want to go out and and achieve this season.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_06: But obviously, all eyes on hearts really now, and in terms of whether or not they can go and defend a title that they won for the first time last season.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_06: We spoke to Hearts Captain Lauren Wade, who was very keen to ensure that they enjoyed the moment of winning the the title on the last day of the season, and of course, Eva Olid leaving and and being unveiled by Man United just a couple of weeks ago, and and the big question now is can you go and defend that title?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think you have to enjoy the moment.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I know that's as cliche as it sounds, but I think you have to you really do have to take it all in and really enjoy it, because you never know, um, I suppose when it when it can happen again, but with this league anything um can happen.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So no, summer was good, um back in ready to go.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Delighted for.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's it just goes to show you the opportunities that that you can gain um, you know, from from the success that you have.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: And and Eva's done a wonderful job at heart um over her five years, from taking them from the very bottom to the very top.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I know it's it was something that was that was in her her achievements, was wanting to to end in um a league title.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's it's been amazing for her, and I I really wish her all the best.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Just goes to show you how how strong this league this league is.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think we said over what the last five years it's been five different winners, and I think that's important to showcase how how competitive the the league can be.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um but again, look, you know, coming into it as as champions, you obviously want that a little bit more.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: You you become successful and you're itching, you want that, you know, as I said, that little bit more.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, we've teams different this year.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of many factors um that that come into it, but you know, why can't it be done?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um and you know, we look forward to the season ahead.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_05: Alison Lauren Wade, they're obviously heart skipper for the new season, but she's talking about looking back on last season and that that title win in the last day.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_05: And I suppose for her and the players it's all about a fresh campaign, but looking back on that and how how great that was for the team, and maybe even kind of harnessing that going into the new season to defend the title.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_06: I think um I think it's it intriguing to see how they cope under a a new manager, a new regime.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_06: So many players have left, they'll they've lost a spine of of the team that went and won the league.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_06: So it'll be I'm curious to see how they start the campaign, whether they're not they're they're capable of of sustaining the form that they showed last term.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_06: I think it would be fair to say that Hearts limped over the line, yeah uh lost obviously that last game of the season, uh, really had to rely on on Glasgow City beating Rangers.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_06: Had Rangers won that game, they would have they would have won the league and they'd have been kicking themselves, I'm sure.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_06: But um I'm intrigued to see how they cope without Eva Olid.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_06: I think she was so influential and in terms of just getting them over the line in the last few months, and you you saw the growth in hearts across the last five years, a team that were at the bottom end of the table going all the way on to win the championship.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_06: So an entirely new chapter now we know about all the budget cuts and the restrictions and the challenges that that Andy Thompson will face in and going into a new team.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, I think a a lot of intrigue in how they start off the defence of their title and and whether they can sustain what we saw for so many months across the course of the last season.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, like you say, obviously there was you know uh an outflux, if you want to call it that, of players from hearts.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: And also, as you mentioned as well, the manager and we knew Eva Olid was leaving.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_05: She has since gone to Manchester United.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_05: Were you surprised to see that that move happen?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, and no.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_06: I was surprised it was Man United.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_06: When she announced that she was going to be leaving, I think there were four games still to go in the campaign.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_06: I knew there was a bit of frustration about the the direction that the Cub were taking.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_06: Um but I did suspect that you maybe wouldn't leave without knowing that you had something to go to.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, I was surprised.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_06: I think Man United is a fantastic move for her, huge opportunities there, a huge budget can compared to the budget that she was working with and the parameters that she's working with at Hearts.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_06: Uh it gives her an opportunity now.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_06: And it also puts her in the most competitive league really.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_06: She's down in the WSL, a fantastic league, uh, and it gives her a chance to go and impress down there and and show what it is that she's got.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_06: And I think one of the big selling points for her going down there was the fact that she had developed young players at Hearts with Man United now, wanting to focus on bringing through their own players from the academy.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and and that really the work that she'd done at Hearts is why she's ended up in that role.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and one I think one of the fixtures that'll be interesting to look out for is um when she comes up against Joe Potter again, Crystal Palace obviously promoted uh at the end of last season, so that'll be interesting to see.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_05: But for Hearts, like you say, it's almost an entirely new team and a new management team in there as well.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_05: They'll want to try and defend this title, but we've seen from the seasons gone past, it's so difficult.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_05: Hibs couldn't do it, Celtic couldn't do it.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_05: Our hearts are going to be able to do it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_05: We don't, you know, we don't really know what hearts are going to look like, but it'll be interesting to see how the season starts for them, I think.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_06: And I think getting off to a good start is part of it, but when it really kicks in, is the team who copes best with the split, I think, is really the team that goes on to to win the league.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_06: But now that's not to dismiss what comes before because you've got to stay in the running.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_06: But I think what you see from the top four, top five teams is that they are very, very consistent.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_06: What is key to to go on in winning the league is is obviously how you fare against your your rivals that are next to you, but also how you cope with the split because it's pretty grown for teams.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's probably fair to say that the top fixture of the opening day of the season is is Glasgow City, Celtic.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_05: Maria Makinny was was speaking to us at the launch, and you know, she was she was talking about her return from injury.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_05: She went through an operation and missed at the tail end of last season, so she's definitely keen to get back.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_05: And also she spoke about the fact that this is going to be Grant Scott's first full season as Celtic manager.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's made me appreciate not knowing what you have until it's gone.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_04: I know it's very cliche to say, but um, yeah, I I can't wait to get back and you know I love playing football, um, I love my job and not been able to do it.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, it's it's not nice.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I can't wait to get back and be with the girls and yeah.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: Just for me personally, like getting back, um, you know, and and being and being successful with the team, you know, we want to be successful in every season we have and we've now got the chance to to do that.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: It's a new season, um, and we hope we can be successful and um you know it's Grant's first proper season in charge as well, not coming in and he's had pre-season to get in.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_04: Players that he wants and it's it's a fresh start for his Yeah, Maria Makanene there, the Celtic midfielder, of course.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_05: It was a hip injury that she suffered and had to had to go through surgery for that, and she'll be desperate to get back out on the pitch.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_05: She she did become such a pivotal part of that Celtic team and of a Scotland team as well.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_05: So Melissa Andreate will be keen for her to get back out on the pitch, but yeah, she'll just be desperate to to start this season and hit the ground running and for Celtic to hit the ground running as well.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think she became a a huge player for Celtic classes.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_06: I think arguably probably one of their best performing performers in what was a really tough campaign for Celtic finishing fifth in the league again.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, I thought she grew enormously as a player, her influence has grown tremendously, a very exciting player.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_06: She did, of course, book herself a place in the Guinness Booker records with that fastest ever a goal, which people love to bring up all the time.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so she's got uh she's got a pretty big act to follow this season, but I think for for her and for Celtic the challenge now will be to be significantly more consistent than what they have been really across the last two seasons.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_06: I think um you go back a couple of seasons and the Champions League football, which took them right up until January, which I think would have been tough to manage last season.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_06: They just never quite managed to to get going and piece together any significant run of form.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_06: Also, too, it's a game really against Rangers, the games against Glasgow City that will define how you go on and cope in this title race.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_06: Celtic beat Rangers for the first time in in more than two years in the Scottish Cup final to bring the curtain down on last season.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_06: I do wonder about the the psychological implications of that, of maybe just getting that monkey off their back a bit, and then now whether they take that in to league form.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, because I think if you're if you're going to go and win this title, you certainly have to be take capable of taking points off the teams that are going to be round about you.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and they've lost some players obviously, and the most notable one is is Emma Lawton, who's he's Searching too.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_05: Grant Scott, this is going to be his first full season.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_05: He gets a pre-season with the players because coming in in January must be pretty tough.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_05: It's you know, it's not really a team in his image.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_05: You'll have a chance to do that now as much as he can, and that should hopefully, for s from Celtic's point of view, help them when the season kicks off that there's just a bit more stability there, I suppose.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_06: I think it's probably been a chance for him to put his own identity on the team when he came in mid-season.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_06: He'd he I think he'd a week or so before he had a Scottish Cup tie against him, if I remember correctly.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_06: So you're you're straight into games, you're not getting an opportunity to assess a squad or to make any changes.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_06: And I think at that point in a season when everything's in full flow, it's really just about managing it until the end of the season.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_06: What will be interesting now is to see what is his own identity of this team, the changes that he can make, bringing in personnel that are his players and what difference that might make to them now going forward.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_06: I spoke to Glasgow City vice captain Amy Muir too.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_06: She reflected really on the lessons that that Glasgow City have had to take from last season after leading the table for so long, going unbeaten for so long, winning the first piece of silverware, picking up the Sky Sports Cup, and then really just toiling within the the split at points.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_06: And I think maybe games that they should have won that that maybe just missed a couple of chances and and lost by by very fine margin.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_06: So she's re reflected really on what they've had to focus on over the summer, the lessons that they've learned and and also also spoke about just how much she's looking forward to getting going again and the sheer volume of games that lies ahead.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_07: I think for us to to take anything from last year, it would be how consistent that we were in that especially that first half of the season and the position it put us in and the confidence that it gave us.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_07: So um yeah, we'd want to repeat that as much as possible.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_07: The league will be competitive again, so you know, every every point every game matters.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_07: So yeah, we're in a good position now and we're we're looking forward to the game.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_07: I think um, you know, as usual the the last few years the split's been, you know, the kind of highlight in terms of you know, really when the games matter more in a way, um and things really do kind of ramp up in terms of the intensity of the games and the amount that we're playing.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_07: So I enjoy that as a player just playing lots of lots of football to be honest with you.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_07: Um but as I said to to to enjoy that stage is to give yourself a good foundation to begin with, so it's really important that we that we start well or you know we can't look too far forward, or that that kind of stage won't matter as much if we don't start as well as we should.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Amy Muir there, just you know, keen to talk about looking back on the season and and what they can take from it, both the positive and the negative to build in this new campaign.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_05: Uh like you like you said, and like she said, they won the Sky Sports Cup, but they obviously finishing third meant that there was no European football, which for Glasgow City is is really important.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_05: We've seen them time and time again compete in Europe and it's something that they they feel that they should be in their and abouts every season.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_05: And then you know, she went on to talk about there which is quite interesting about the fact that she enjoys the split, which is which is interesting because we ask players about that all the time and and managers, and you get sort of different viewpoints of how they find it, but she seems to she seems to think that that's a really good part of the season.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I I think it's tough that part of the season for teams, and I think if anything, the last season really illustrated that.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_06: Just a uh to me, Glasgow City looked as though they were steamrolling their way at one point to the title, and then you go into that three games in a week and you're playing all the teams that are round about you, teams that are are really close to you and vying for the title, and I do think that there would have been some real hard moments for for some of the Glasgow City players because when you look back at games that they lost, they were losing it through maybe just one mistake that proved particularly costly, or creating chances in games, but just not taking them, not just putting teams to bed.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_06: So I I think what you might see this season is a Glasgow City team with a a point to prove.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_06: This is a a team that haven't won the the title now for three seasons, and it's a team that had been so dominant for so long in the in the women's top flight.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_06: They did have silverware last season, they went and won the the the Sky Sports Cup again, but I think that the bar at Glasgow City is higher than that, and I think they'll expect this season to go and be there or thereabouts when when it comes to the title.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_06: They've also recruited well, I think, this summer.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, few new faces on.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_05: It's a good um it's a good one to start the campaign coming off against Celtic a big game straight away.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_06: So I think that's what you want.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_06: I think the to get as many eyes on the league as possible.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_06: I think it makes sense to open with a big curtain raiser, it it it brings some eyes onto the the game and it it it it's uh it's exciting, it's a good one to start with.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_06: Also interesting in terms of both of them of just a bit of momentum.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_06: Whoever comes out on top of this one, you would think one draws quite a lot of confidence from it and a lot of belief, but also does it just set a tone then for the the remainder of the campaign?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_05: We spoke to Rangers defender Kathy Hill, who was reflecting back on the pain of the final day of last season and how that became the toughest summer that she's had at Rangers as well as her aims for the campaign ahead.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's really difficult.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think the the last few weeks of the season are mentally very tough going into it, the pressure, the the excitement as well, and I think having having ended the season the way it did go was was really tough, and I think just trying to get away and and switch off as best as you can, but it's it's easier said than done.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: You do you do do a lot of reflection and um yeah, it was it was probably one of the harder summers that I've had at Rangers after just the way it ended.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think we were we were pretty stretched as a squad near the end of the season.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: There was a lot of tired legs and tired minds.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I'm not sure.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're maybe just a bit shocked at how we started the first half and we'll found ourselves three-nil down, and I think there comes that element where you're you're trying to chase a three-nil you're down three goals at half time, and you you want to go and give yourself a chance.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: We obviously knew what was happening in our game, and when you're three-nil down and you leave yourselves open, it it can go one or two ways, and it went the way we didn't want it to go.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Winning every every cup, that's what we've got to do, every competition we go into, you need to aim to win it, and and that's what we'll be hoping to to go out and do.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_05: Alison Kathy Hill there, obviously referring back to that defeat in the final day of last season, 6-0 to Glasgow City, it was a painful one for them, and you can imagine ruminating on that all summer would not have been fun for anyone in the Ranger squad.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I I think a couple of things.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_06: One, not just the defeat, but the manner of the defeat on the day when they knew a win, any win, would have given them the title, and then to follow that up a week later with losing to Celtic at Hamden in the Scottish Cup final, I think is a really tough ending, a really sobering end to the season.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sure probably some big questions may be asked of the players, and inevitably it points to a question of mentality, it it points like what happened, what went wrong on a day when when a win would have given you the title for the first time in three seasons, and how close Rangers were.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_06: And you'd have to say Rangers were well off it at points within the season.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_06: It they didn't look as though they would call back a deficit.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_06: I think at one point that deficit was was eight points, it might even have been slightly wider at a stage, but they were very consistent in the latter half of the season.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_06: Loanne Crichton had gone in ten days or so before the season had kicked off.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_06: She didn't have a lot of time to work with that squad, and that may have been reflected in the opening half of the season.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_06: She had also lost a lot of players this time a year ago, had to cobble together a team, hadn't had a pre-season with them, but then I I thought you saw very different Rangers in the second half of the campaign, but still questions asked uh at just how they finished.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_06: And I'm really intrigued to see how they they go about it this season.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, we were at both of their Champions League qualifying games.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_06: We were at the game against Slavia Prague, the game against Ajax.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_06: I thought they played well in in both games, and certainly there were points and stages within those games that that I thought it looked fairly fluent, quite comfortable.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_06: A few new additions that have come in and slotted in.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_06: So interesting to see how they start.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_06: Await him in troes on Sunday.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_06: Quite a journey for them.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but you would anticipate that they come through that one unscathed and pretty comfortable.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, they've obviously still got a chance of European football.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_05: Unfortunately, the Champions League qualifier didn't work out for them, but they've got a chance of Europa Cup.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_06: Joel More.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_06: Murray's another one who has had a full pre-season.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_06: Obviously, she slotted into the the position left by Grant Scott when he went to Celtic just um at the end of December, start of January.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_06: So I think for for her, there's also a chance it was a slightly different situation that she was already in at Hibbs and coaching at Hibbs, so so knew the team and knew the players.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_06: But we spoke to Kayleigh Gibb who who spoke and reflected on the fact that they've lost a lot of players to Kathleen McGovern and Ailey Adams would be the two obvious ones who've gone down south.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_06: And and interestingly enough, she also told us about growing up in Fife where Caroline Weir is a a very obvious role model to the the girls' football community there.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: We can't give excuses and we weren't good enough as a team.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: It was us to going out on the pitch every week not playing well.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: But I think she's came in, she's set her tone, she knows we now know what she wants from us, and we know how she wants us to play.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it's going out there and and you know doing her proud and showing that you know she's she's the perfect manager for us.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think they're massive people um to replace on the pitch, but also off the pitch.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um the character and and things they bring to the club was amazing.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: But as you say, wish everyone that left all the best and we hope that they go on and achieve everything that they want.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: But for us, it's it's you know, that's football and that's what it works, so we now need to make sure that the players are coming in that are gonna come in and do a job and we're gonna help them settle into the club and make sure that we everybody can pull together and you know we've got a big season ahead, so we need to go and go and smash it.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think for her it must have been really hard not having that, but also like now look at her, you know, she's everyone's role model, especially in five.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_05: It seems to be a theme actually about managers getting a full a full season with Joelle Murray as another manager because obviously she stepped up when Grant Scott went to Celtic in in January and she'll have that opportunity.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_05: You know, she's she's well in with the bricks at Hibbs, but I can imagine getting that full, full run at it as the manager um will be a benefit to her.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_05: And interesting though, Kayleigh Gibb talking about Caroline Weir.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, there can't be any better role model, I suppose, than pretty much one of the best players in the world, certainly the best uh Scottish player in the world.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was interesting.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_06: What we were speaking to her about was the fact that obviously when Caroline Weir was grown up, football, women's football just wouldn't have had had much visibility at all.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_06: And and you see you see just in one generation how that changes, which is which is pretty fascinating, I think, from a a cultural perspective that you have girls who have grown up with that, that there is a possibility of going and and playing football on a full-time basis.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_06: So I thought what she spoke about there was was very interesting.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_06: Obviously, that big mural that's uh Indian Fermline of of Caroline and her Scotland kit.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_06: And then Kayleigh Gibb too saying like I'm always very aware of giving my own time back for any young girls that speak to me or approach me.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_06: I always want to be encouraging and I always want to remember what that felt like.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_06: Um so yeah, I I thought that was really interesting.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_06: Hibbs themselves this season, I think they were much stronger in the second half of the season than they were in the first.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_06: Uh finished fourth, which um I think they were maybe disappointed with just with the fact they had gone and won the league the season before.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_06: But a lot of changes again in personnel have lost a uh a lot of players.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_06: You look at that forward line that they've lost.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_06: That's where the I'm I'm struggling to pick an accurate percentage, but I think it'd be fair to say it would be 80% or higher of the of their goals last season would have come from Ailey Adams and and Kathleen McGovern.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_06: So interesting just to see where the goals come from now and and how they go about their business.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think the second half of that season, sort of after the split for Hibs, just points to the fact how important consistency is in this league because you can have one draw or two draws and you you tumble down the table almost and it makes it difficult for you.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, well, without question.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_06: And I I think that the big challenge is if you're going to go and challenge for a league and a title, you have to be able to go toe-to-toe with your rivals, with the teams round about you, you have to be able to go and take points of them.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_06: We've spoken about this before that you have five teams that are full-time, and then you have the rest of the league, and the chasm between them is very obvious.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_06: It is like you're not for the teams that are full-time, the demands are very, very different on you than the than those who are in the bottom half of the table.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_06: So you would expect that when you're coming up against those teams that invariably the the full-time teams prevail and come out on top.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_06: But the real challenge is making sure that you're taking points off the teams that are are also wanting to go and and and rival rival you for the the championship.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_05: And of course, we also got the opportunity to speak to uh SWPL managing director Fiona McIntyre who was keen to discuss the unique selling point and the competitiveness of the SWPL.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely a unique selling point.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: When I speak to other leagues across Europe, they know that about the Scottish Women's Premier League, which is quite exciting.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's many leagues across the world or Europe that could speak with the history that we've had over the last four or five years.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that is something that they really want to harness and make sure we maintain.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also just credit to the clubs because they have invested and I think they push each other to that extent, and that's what's created a really competitive environment.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Alongside, I think, to a degree the format, the competition, playing all your closest rivals and the sort of last ten games of the season definitely helps create a really exciting and competitive environment.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think we feel like we talk about this every season, but I think we talk about it because it happens every season recently.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_05: Five different winners in five different campaigns.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_05: But you know, Fiora McIntyre's right, it's it's something that's actually come to define the league almost, and certainly outside of Scotland when people look in and see how competitive it really is.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I I think so, and and I think that's that is what is attractive about the league.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_06: I I think you can be honest, I think you can look at the league and you can say from from now to where it was maybe just a few seasons ago, it does look that there is maybe a regression in in in terms of quality points and in terms of the the calibre of player coming into the league.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_06: I think you I think it's fair to say that.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_06: However, what it isn't short of is intrigue and that comes through the sheer competitiveness of the league as reflected in the fact you have a different title winner every season, as reflected in the fact it can be quite difficult to call it.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_06: It goes traditionally, as we've seen across recent seasons, to the last day all the time, sometimes to the last minutes of the day.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_06: So so it it's not without its distractors, it's not without its problems.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_06: But yeah, I I think you can applaud the fact that it's hugely competitive, which offers an excitement, it offers an authenticity to the league.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_06: And and while it tries to find a way commercially to stand on its own two feet, I think it's right to applaud the fact that it does have that competitive nature and it it it does offer so many interesting stories along the way.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_05: Why do you think it is that no teams in the last five years has actually been able to successfully defend their titles?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_05: Do you think it's because of the high turnover in players and squads in the summer and managers, maybe a lack of being able to keep that consistency?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_05: What what do you think is behind it?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_06: I think largely what you have are four or five teams who are pretty similar in terms of ability, score depth, resources, pool of players, standard of players, you don't have a huge discrepancy in quality between teams.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_06: Fundamentally, many of them are really are on a very even keel and even footing, and it it genuinely is about who can be the most consistent and also who keeps players fit.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_06: I think if Glasgow City hadn't lost Nicole Kozlova, that they would probably have gone and won the title.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_06: So I think that can be quite a big factor too.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_06: But essentially for me, it comes down to the fact that you genuinely have four or five teams working within the same financial parameters or very similar financial parameters, there wouldn't be huge gulfs between them.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and in essence, working with a standard of squad and player that is broadly similar.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it all kicks off again on Sunday, Alison.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know about you, but it kind of feels like it's it was so long ago that uh the SWPL was upon us, and it also feels like yesterday that that uh Scottish Cup final happened at Hamden.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_05: But it is good to get that chance to speak to the players and just get an insight into how the different camps are feeling before the season kicks off.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_05: And this is the first podcast of the season as well for us.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_05: How are you feeling about it?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: Good to be back.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yep, like we've never been away.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly, exactly.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_05: No, stick with us throughout the season.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we'll be with you every week.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_05: We've got some great interviews coming up as well as some good chats about what's happening in the league.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_05: So thank you, Alison, for joining me and thank you to you for listening.