The re-emergence of Liverpool Women: Can they ever make it back to the top?

Recent years have seen a challenging trajectory for the once title-winning Liverpool Women.

With back-to-back Women’s Super League titles wins in 2013 and 2014, it’s been almost ten years since the Reds were a dominant side in England’s top flight of women’s football.

However poor form, lack of investment and an incapability to keep pace with the ever growing women’s game in England saw Liverpool relegated in 2020.

Winning promotion back to the top flight in 2022, they finished last season in seventh with plans to better that position this year. 

As Liverpool kicked off their 2023/24 season with an impressive 1-0 over women’s football giants, Arsenal, Olympics.com reflects on their recent struggle and whether a renaissance is on the horizon.

A team who were not long ago crowned back-to-back domestic champions are often expected to stay in step with their counterparts.

Whilst Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and later down the line, Manchester United, all received substantial financial backing from their clubs over the past ten years, it is questionable whether Liverpool have had the same. 

In the 2019/20 season, it is reported that Liverpool Football Club spent around £730,000 on women’s player wages in comparison to Manchester City’s £1.9m.

That same season, Liverpool were relegated to the Championship after winning back-to-back league titles just five years prior. Manchester City finished second in the Women’s Super League - missing out on the title by a mere point. 

From their league win in 2014 to their relegation in 2020, the side had worked with a total of five different managers, further signifying a sense of instability. 

That instability paired with little investment bred a lack of confidence within the team, which was worsened by further criticisms of the club surrounding player contact time, professionality, contract negotiations and facility standards - including an improper home stadium. 

With these factors in mind, there is no doubt as to how Liverpool’s fall from grace happened across such a short period of time. 

Now, however, the club appears more stable than ever. With manager Matt Beard in charge - the same manager that led them to promotion and those back-to-back title wins - and a core club backing, the future for Liverpool Women has serious potential.

A new home for a new era

In November 2020, Liverpool men made the move from their Melwood training ground in West Derby to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Kirkby known as the AXA Training Centre.

Melwood had famously been for the men’s team only, and despite their move away from the facility, it wasn’t then made available for the women’s side who had to continue to train at League Two side Tranmere Rovers’ training ground. 

Women’s Super League big hitters such as Chelsea and Manchester City continued to train at the elite, shared club training facilities - and quite obviously reaped the benefits as they excelled domestically and in Europe.

Less than two years after the men’s side had vacated Melwood, Liverpool Football Club brought back the ground  in order to develop a new training facility specifically for the women’s team.

“We want to develop our own players, like what’s happened on the men’s side,” manager Matt Beard said when the move was announced. “We want to replicate that. It’s going to take a little bit of time but the start of that process is getting our own training facility.”

Now, as Liverpool women head into the 2023/24 season, they do so with the facilities of a new, elite training centre - brought to life by Susan Black, who was appointed shortly after the side’s relegation in 2020 as women’s executive director.

“This shows the direction the club’s going,” midfielder Missy Bo Kearns said as she was introduced to the new and improved Melwood facility. 

And her optimism indicated that, with further club backing and support, Liverpool’s renaissance could be closer than we think.

Looking to the future

Liverpool kicked their 2023/24 campaign off in the best way possible with a 1-0 win over Arsenal in front of a record-breaking crowd of over 54,000 at Emirates Stadium.

It was Miri Taylor who made the difference, slotting home Missy Bo Kearn’s cross in the opening minutes of the second half.

23-year-old Taylor joined the Reds in January 2023 following a short stint at NWSL expansion side Angel City. 

The likes of Fūka Nagano, Sophie Román Haug, Marie Höbinger, Sofie Lundgaard and Jenna Clark all also signed for Liverpool in 2023. 

With Niamh Fahey, Melissa Lawley, Leanne Kiernan, and Shanice van de Sanden all still out injured, this influx of youthful talent is necessary to bolster Liverpool’s squad depth.

Liverpool’s history of late may not have been enough to entice the big name signings like that of their WSL counterparts, but the club must continue to work with the future in mind. 

With the club’s backing and investment, Matt Beard and the current squad can continue to lay the groundwork and foundations necessary to propel Liverpool back to the very top of women’s football in England.

How to watch Liverpool Women next

Liverpool face Aston Villa in the Women's Super League at their home ground of Prenton Park on Sunday 8 October, 2023 at 18:45.

The game will be available to stream live on The FA Player.

A week later, on Sunday 15 October, Liverpool take on Everton at Anfield in the Women's Super League.