Trailblazer | Part 8 | A Massive Opportunity in England

Leading a semi-professional club into European football’s biggest competition doesn’t go unnoticed, eventually. That was the case in November 2028 as, on the back of taking Alingsås IF into the Champions League, competing in the Swedish title race and earning her Continental A licence, it looked like Freja Holm may be departing her homeland.

Four days after their Euro Cup exit, Holm received a phone call from England that went well and quickly resulted in an offer she couldn’t refuse. Holm swiftly sat down with the Alingsås board, who were desperate to keep hold of their prized asset. But with an offer on the table that promised an eight-fold wage increase, this was a no-brainer.

Holm departs Alingsås after three seasons and 1,160 days, in which she lifted the second-tier title and led the club in 98 games, winning 56, drawing 20 and losing 22, scoring 198 goals and conceding 111. In an emotional interview, she declared her love for Alingsås and the club’s supporters, but explained she couldn’t turn down the massive opportunity she’d been offered.

Who Are Everton FC?

Everton FC is a professional football club based in the city of Liverpool, in northwest England. The club was founded as Hoylake WFC before becoming part of the Everton FC family. As of 2025, at the start of this save, the club took full ownership of the 39,572-capacity Goodison Park, which had hosted Everton men’s games before they built a new stadium. Everton has one English title, won back in 1998, as well as two FA Cup, one League Cup and one second-tier WSL2 success.

Everton currently play in the Barclays Women’s Super League, but is currently 14th and bottom with just 4 points from 12 games. That’s thanks to a steady decline, having finished 7th in the first season, then 9th and 10th, which ended manager Brian Sorensen’s six-year reign. Despite that, the club represents a massive step up for Holm, with £1.2m in the bank, a transfer budget of £325k and £2.5k spare in the £50k weekly wage budget. The club also has excellent training facilities and superb youth facilities, but lacks a little in youth recruitment and junior coaching.

Holm wasn’t sure why they were doing so badly as they had the nucleus of a good squad that needed a bit of a freshen up. The best player at Everton is winger Kirsty Hanson, along with Swiss full back Nadine Riesen, six-time capped Spanish attacking midfielder Inma Gabarro, centre backs Ruby Mace and defensively impressive Megan Finnigan, former Barcelona winger Ornella Vignola and 6ft goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse. But Holm was a little worried that the squad was on the older side, with only three players under the age of 24.

Holm Thrown Into the Fire in Move to England

Holm’s first taste of English football was a spicy one as Everton welcomed city rivals Liverpool to Goodison Park for a League Cup tie. And she quickly realised the massive step up she was making as she walked out into the huge stadium to be introduced to her new supporters – it was one hell of a change from the 150 seats at Alingsås in rural Sweden! Her first game didn’t start well as Moorhouse fumbled a shot to Liverpool’s striker and Everton offered nothing. Holm switched to a 3-4-3 at halftime and it appeared to work as Gaborro dragged them level from the second phase of a corner, and they more than deserved the 1-1 that took it to a penalty shootout, which they lost (thanks to the game freezing at penalty takers selection).

The good news was that they had over a month off before the next game in the FA Cup. Holm wasted no time in moving on players who weren’t up to it or didn’t want to be at the club, bringing in £500k for six players. Her first move on the incomings was to bring in a bonafide wonderkid, signing South Korean international attacker Casey Phair on loan from Angel City, with the option to purchase her for £350k in the summer. And they added a good defensive prospect Momoko Kawasumi for £150k from Albirex.

Holm initially felt forced towards a 4-3-3 but, on the evidence of the Liverpool game, soon leaned towards a 3-4-3, with Gabarro potentially being brought inside to play in a free role.

Freja Holm Steps Up To WSL Relegation Battle

Holm tested out the approach in the FA Cup, defeating second-tier Durham 1-0. But the big test was her first WSL match, a tough trip to Man United. Everton edged a forgettable first half but, after United took the lead, they struck back with a wonderful Gabarro solo goal. Another cross to Terland, who’s a great striker, decided it, but there were plenty of positives as they should have got at least a point. More important was her first home game against 13th-place West Ham, which Everton just about edged and nicked 1-0 with a Gabarro penalty.

Phair got her first goal as Everton nicked a 3-2 win at Palace, sending rivals Liverpool to the bottom of the league, then scored a late winner at Villa and bagged a hat trick in a 3-3 thriller with London City Lionesses. That flurry of decent results took them into a tricky game at home to 2nd-place Man City, but a really solid effort saw them earn a 0-0, and they should have won as Phair missed two decent chances.

That was followed by Holm’s first clash with the dominant force that is Chelsea, and they got thumped. But far more important was a home clash with bottom side and city rivals Liverpool, for which they annoyingly lost Gabarro to a groin strain and had three players on international duty. That forced Holm to throw promising 17-year-old centre back Ellie Crutwell in for her debut and they unsurprisingly struggled. But Holm threw a half-fit Gabarro and Snoeijs on and the former won a late penalty that the latter converted. So another game they dominated was thrown away, but at least they got a point with a decimated side.

Everton were much improved at 6th-place Spurs as Riesen and a late goal by backup striker Poppy Pritchard nicked all three points to lift them to the heady heights of 11th. That took Everton into the final five games with a 5-point gap over Liverpool, who had a game in hand, and 2 points clear of West Ham and Crystal Palace.

The first game of the run-in looked like a write-off against Arsenal, who signed superstar Jule Brand for £1m in January and Lionesses Georgia Stanway and Hannah Hampton and had won 19 out of 19. But Holm’s tactical switch to two attacking midfielders worked wonders as both Gabarro and Vignola earned a shock 2-1 victory. Everton took confidence from that at Birmingham, as Mace’s great run and cross teed up Gabarro for the only goal of the game. And that virtually confirmed their survival, moving them 8 points clear of the drop.

Everton collapsed to a 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton, but Palace did the same at London City, so they were officially safe from relegation! They wrapped up the season with a dull 0-0 at Leicester and Gabarro and Phair inspiring a 2-1 win over Man United.

That saw Everton survive with ease, finishing on 29 points after 8 wins, 5 drawes and 13 defeats, scoring 34 and conceding 44. But in Holm’s 14 matches, they won 7 and took 25 points – compared to 1 win and 4 points in their opening 12 games.

Promising Signs at Everton

Holm was delighted to have hit the ground running at Everton and avoided having a second relegation on her record. She was also excited about strengthening the side, which began with agreeing a number of early deals before the season finished.

This season’s star player was Riesen with 6 goals, a club-high 10 assists and a 7.09 rating, along with Gaborro, who led the way with 10 goals but could probably bring more creativity, and Phair and Pritchard’s 6 goals.

The potential at Everton was also strong, including a good youth intake led by midfielder Lexi Snelson. But there were definitely areas Holm wanted to improve, including the goalkeeper and reducing the average age of the squad.