‘Newcastle need to be in the WSL asap’ – will this be their year?

Newcastle United have had a turbulent few years, from the obscure fourth tier of English football to their quest for a spot in the Women’s Super League.

Manager Becky Langley, who is helming the club in its second year in the second tier, says, “We have to be ambitious.” The WSL team is essential to this club as soon as possible.

The Magpies operated independently with the support of the Newcastle United Foundation when Langley first took over six years ago, as part of her role at Northumbria University.

Due to the proximity of Newcastle Airport, they were attempting to work at Druid Park, a cramped field where football would be played to the sounds of sporadic airplanes overhead.

While her family was occasionally required to help with money collection at the gates, Langley enlisted the assistance of her grandmother and mother to wash the players’ bibs.

However, that all changed after the club’s 2021 takeover.

Amanda Staveley, the new co-owner, laid out a five-year plan for the women’s team to advance to the top division, and in August of that year the team formally joined Newcastle United football club, allowing Langley to take over as full-time manager.

They turned professional a year later, a historic moment that was sandwiched between back-to-back promotions, and they finished fifth overall in their second-tier debut.

However, time is running out if they are to achieve their goal of becoming the top flight within five years.

“We want to be as daring as we can be,” Langley said.

Six years ago, if you had watched a Newcastle game, the physio would have been a “magic sponge” and a bottle of lukewarm water.

A burger and chips would have been the pre-match diet.

Before Newcastle’s takeover, Langley established professional standards, and the club’s investment in the women’s team accelerated the development.

When the Magpies first started playing full-time in 2023, sharing it with the rugby union team from Newcastle, Kingston Park was declared their home ground.

However, Langley’s team will this season play at Gateshead International Stadium in response to the newly established WSL’s pitch regulations.

Before their first game there on Sunday, which they lost 1-1 to Sheffield United, Langley remarked, “The grass was like St James’ Park.”

It is brilliant in terms of the club’s investment to bring that up to speed.

Newcastle have made a lot of money to build a squad capable of the WSL.

The headline candidates for Langley’s hiring were Morgan Gautrat, who has twice won the USA World Cup twice, and Jordan Nobbs, who has made the most headlines in terms of career accomplishments.

But lofty ambitions are accompanied by ruthlessness: 12 players were fired at the end of 2024-25.

Katie Barker, the all-time top goalscorer, was also deemed surplus to requirements, as did club captain Grace Donnelly and on-pitch captain Amber-Keegan Stobbs, both of whom left.

The ambitious Magpies have consistently experienced this personnel turnover.

According to Lee Lawler of the well-known fan channel NUFC Fans TV, “I think a lot of the fanbase was pretty upset with the way]the departures] were announced.

More accurately put, it was just a statement. Thank you for your efforts, and we’ll move on. I believe it could have been handled more effectively.

Stobbs, whose name was inspired by her father’s admiration for former Newcastle manager and player Kevin Keegan, was a sort of a poster girl for the Magpies and was given the captain’s armband when she first joined the club.

“Unfortunately, we have lost a lot of the neighborhood girls who have worked for the club for a while,” said Lawler.

Although you are losing a lot of girls who are familiar with the club and its DNA, we have a lot of talented players.

Staveley, who was the face of the Newcastle takeover in its early years, had high-level goals for the Magpies’ men’s and women’s teams.

She would frequently attend games, and she FaceTeleported the women’s team as they celebrated after returning from Barnsley after earning the fourth-division title in 2023.

Georgia Gibson, a former Magpies midfielder who left the team at the end of last season, described her as “absolutely fantastic”.

“Some of the people who have left still talk to her, and I don’t believe that happens everywhere.”

The journey’s beginning was so successful because of that. They were dedicating time and effort to demonstrating their desire for our success.

“It will be nice to see a conclusion to what we started, and hoped the girls will continue on that journey.”

Nobbs, who arrived in the summer, claims the club’s support is still “incredible” despite Staveley’s departure last year.

The goal, she continues, is “naturally promotion.” Nothing happens in a single day, but the club wants to enter the WSL, and I want to assist in that.

With the WSL expansion gaining ground in 2026-27, three clubs could achieve promotion this year, making Newcastle are on the verge of realising their goals.

After a disappointing draw with Sheffield United, they face their first significant test of their credentials on Sunday against promotion-seeking Birmingham. They opened the campaign with a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest.

According to Lawler, “We are consistently breaking records.” Just take a look at the derby’s attendance from the previous season.

In March, there were 38,502 fans at St James’ Park for their match against Sunderland, setting a new record for women’s football in England’s second tier.