City Women’s Team | 2025/26

IrishBloodEnglishHeart said:
If I was a female player I wouldn't be touching the Rags. Get to Christmas and Jim might fold them or shut down their training facilities. Absolute mess of a club
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Im absolutely baffled by the whole thing tbh.

The equivalent of Bernado Silva and Roland Rat swapping clubs on transfer deadline day. Why would you even entertain dealing with those horrible bastards? Completely odd.
 
Considering the current environment of professional sports, football included, I don’t mind making deals with the devil if it will benefit my team. Park has been consistently regressing. Apart from the odd spectacular goal, better players were available to grab her minutes last season, but our “genius” coach insisted on giving her more minutes than what she should have had. Admittedly, I saw Clinton a few times, but she looked very good and, importantly, appeared to have a higher ceiling than Parker. Similar to Fujino before she joined us, every time I saw Clinton I was hoping she would end up playing for us. I think (hope) Clinton will become a fantastic addition to our team and help us to eventually win the WSL, if this deal goes through.
 
Lee the Blue said:
Im absolutely baffled by the whole thing tbh.

The equivalent of Bernado Silva and Roland Rat swapping clubs on transfer deadline day. Why would you even entertain dealing with those horrible bastards? Completely odd.
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City had identified Clinton as a priority target at the start of the year. They've had multiple bids turned down and United told them the only way the deal would happen is if Park went the other way.

Given Park was likely to start most games on the bench, probably turn down a new contract as a result and leave for free next year, it makes sense to get our target over the line now. If we had let it drag out to next summer then we'd be going into another season without a top class CM, Clinton could have gone to a number of other suitors for free and we'd have lost Park anyway.

Seeing a player I really like go to United leaves a bitter taste but it makes sense from both a business perspective and a squad perspective.
 
Mon Autre said:
City had identified Clinton as a priority target at the start of the year. They've had multiple bids turned down and United told them the only way the deal would happen is if Park went the other way.

Given Park was likely to start most games on the bench, probably turn down a new contract as a result and leave for free next year, it makes sense to get our target over the line now. If we had let it drag out to next summer then we'd be going into another season without a top class CM, Clinton could have gone to a number of other suitors for free and we'd have lost Park anyway.

Seeing a player I really like go to United leaves a bitter taste but it makes sense from both a business perspective and a squad perspective.
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I'm surprised by how okay I am with this whole situation. As much as I loved Jess as a player and how she's come through to be in the first team squad she is not as good as the other options we have for the most suited position she plays. To find her an option where she can perhaps continue to progress her game whilst bringing in a player more suited to our squad needs will be a good option to take for all concerned.
 
JRockBlues said:
I'm surprised by how okay I am with this whole situation. As much as I loved Jess as a player and how she's come through to be in the first team squad she is not as good as the other options we have for the most suited position she plays. To find her an option where she can perhaps continue to progress her game whilst bringing in a player more suited to our squad needs will be a good option to take for all concerned.
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Totally agree. Also Lohmann has a pretty bad injury record tbh and we also know that Yui has been dangerously overplayed. We needed Clinton much more than we needed Park.

It will knock me sick when she scores her first worldie for United, but so long as theyre in our rear view mirror when it happens then so be it.
 
Mon Autre said:
City had identified Clinton as a priority target at the start of the year. They've had multiple bids turned down and United told them the only way the deal would happen is if Park went the other way.

Given Park was likely to start most games on the bench, probably turn down a new contract as a result and leave for free next year, it makes sense to get our target over the line now. If we had let it drag out to next summer then we'd be going into another season without a top class CM, Clinton could have gone to a number of other suitors for free and we'd have lost Park anyway.

Seeing a player I really like go to United leaves a bitter taste but it makes sense from both a business perspective and a squad perspective.
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Loads of other teams and players out there though - why deal with them? Why help them in any way? Is Clinton the only player in the world in her position that we could acquire?

If/when that lot finish above again next season and we are wondering why we released Park to go to them to strengthen them maybe then we will have sellers regret.

I get all the logic of the change of the 2 players - but its United, on our doorstep and if this comes back and bite us in the rear end itll feel even worse. Call me old fashioned but there are hundreds of others clubs and players out there - why deal with them? The equivalent is Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva swapping clubs on transfer deadline day - a transfer that would never happen in a million years.
 
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Lee the Blue said:
Loads of other teams and players out there though - why deal with them? Why help them in any way? Is Clinton the only player in the world in her position that we could acquire?

If/when that lot finish above again next season and we are wondering why we released Park to go to them to strengthen them maybe then we will have sellers regret.

I get all the logic of the change of the 2 players - but its United, on our doorstep and if this comes back and bite us in the rear end itll feel even worse. Call me old fashioned but there are hundreds of others clubs and players out there - why deal with them? The equivalent is Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva swapping clubs on transfer deadline day - a transfer that would never happen in a million years.
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Meh, ultimately im more bothered about loving City than hating United. We should be finishing way ahead of them and if we dont then we have much bigger problems than having just let Jess Park head there.

Im more concerned about us closing the gap on Arsenal and Chelsea. And I truly think this deal helps us to do that.

I actually dont think the game is awash with dynamic CMs. Plus she's only 22 and from the north of England. Still room for improvement and she should settle quickly. It's hard to think of someone better suited and who we could actually attain. Plus we have saved on a significant transfer fee that can be reinvested elsewhere in the squad.
 
Mon Autre said:
Meh, ultimately im more bothered about loving City than hating United. We should be finishing way ahead of them and if we dont then we have much bigger problems than having just let Jess Park head there.

Im more concerned about us closing the gap on Arsenal and Chelsea. And I truly think this deal helps us to do that.

I actually dont think the game is awash with dynamic CMs. Plus she's only 22 and from the north of England. Still room for improvement and she should settle quickly. It's hard to think of someone better suited and who we could actually attain. Plus we have saved on a significant transfer fee that can be reinvested elsewhere in the squad.
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Cooler heads prevail :)
 
Mon Autre said:
Meh, ultimately im more bothered about loving City than hating United. We should be finishing way ahead of them and if we dont then we have much bigger problems than having just let Jess Park head there.

Im more concerned about us closing the gap on Arsenal and Chelsea. And I truly think this deal helps us to do that.

I actually dont think the game is awash with dynamic CMs. Plus she's only 22 and from the north of England. Still room for improvement and she should settle quickly. It's hard to think of someone better suited and who we could actually attain. Plus we have saved on a significant transfer fee that can be reinvested elsewhere in the squad.
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You seem to have a lot of faith that this deal will work magnificently, we will finish above United and also somehow close the gap on Chelsea and Arsenal.

I dont see much evidence of that aside from blind faith that Citys squad will somehow largely stay fit, and theyll woman up in big games which they havent done for a significant amount of time. Seems to me they always fold when the pressures on and they havent won much for quite a while given the resources and supposed professionalism we run our Womens team with.

Lets hope you are right because if the reverse applies - the gap widens and Park succeeds in helping United win things - we are going to feel even worse for helping them do so. Consider the recent example of Kelly - a player I do think is wildly overrated - but she left and went on to win the European Cup with her new team, and subsequently become a pivotal player and good luck charm in another Euros win for the National Team. We've had to deal with the spectacle of her leaving under a cloud and airing all our dirty laundry with Taylor in public as well. Not saying Park will pee at the tent after she goes but if this happens again and she wins things at the Piggery it isnt a good luck that players leave us to better themselves.
 
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Lee the Blue said:
You seem to have a lot of faith that this deal will work magnificently, we will finish above United and also somehow close the gap on Chelsea and Arsenal.

I dont see much evidence of that aside from blind faith that Citys squad will somehow largely stay fit, and theyll woman up in big games which they havent done for a significant amount of time. Seems to me they always fold when the pressures on and they havent won much for quite a while given the resources and supposed professionalism we run our Womens team with.

Lets hope you are right because if the reverse applies - the gap widens and Park succeeds in helping United win things - we are going to feel even worse for helping them do so. Consider the recent example of Kelly - a player I do think is wildly overrated - but she left and went on to win the European Cup with her new team, and subsequently become a pivotal player and good luck charm in another Euros win for the National Team. We've had to deal with the spectacle of her leaving under a cloud and airing all our dirty laundry with Taylor in public as well. Not saying Park will pee at the tent after she goes but if this happens again and she wins things at the Piggery it isnt a good luck that players leave us to better themselves.
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I dont think ive said it will definitely work out. But I think it objectively addresses a long term deficiency in our squad and im pushed to think of another player who we could have gotten to fulfil the role. I also think it bodes well that we identified our target and we did what we needed to secure them rather than work through a list til you end up with some of the deadwood type signings our men's team have acquired.

I agree we folded too easily under pressure in 23/24. Last season its impossible to gauge really as the scale of our injury crisis was unprecedented. Weirdly I think we showed a lot of character and resilience in the games against chelsea. That said, I think we looked pretty bad before the injury crisis took hold. Thankfully that manager has gone now and we have someone with heaps of experience in the women's game and who on the face of it speaks very well.

Re Kelly, the way her exit was managed was terrible but im not embarrassed by what shes achieved at Arsenal and I wouldn't say shes an improved player either. Shes the same Chloe Kelly she always was. The stars aligned for her perfectly in that she went somewhere with poor/unfit options in her position so got some game time at a point where Arsenal were flying in a tournament. She's a brilliant tournament player. She's a bit of a maverick in those shit or bust type situations you get in tournament football. She can produce a show reel moment and then frustrate 5 times over (which is what she did at the euros). She wont establish herself as a regular starter at Arsenal this season, especially with Liv Smith now there. Will be really interesting to see how Arsenal get on domestically this season as the CL win has papered over a few lingering questions around their performance across a league season.
 
I also think Grace fits into our team so much better than she does Uniteds. A midfield of Hasegawa, Lohmann and Clinton is hugely exciting and an upgrade of what we’ve had in the midfield in recent years. We’ve been calling out for midfield reinforcements and the club have done brilliantly to make it happen this summer.

I don’t think Park gets into the United squad and becomes the difference maker.
 
Utter twats BBC have a picture of Hemp on their WSL Transfer Deadline Day story

I shit myself when I saw it!!!
 

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