Madrid CFF stormed to a goal-hungry maiden Spanish title led by serial title winner Freja Holm in 2043. But, with her sixth of 11 possible domestic titles in the bag, Freja Holm left Madrid with a heavy heart and went in search of her tenth job as a Football Manager.
Upon resigning, one big opportunity was available in a country Holm had previously managed without winning the title. A few weeks later, that club offered an interview and, after declining interview offers from Bilbao, Bordeaux and FC Fleury, they made an approach to pair Holm with another titan of the women’s game and resume Holm’s mission to take down the dominant duo of Arsenal and Chelsea.
Who Are Man City Women?
Manchester City Women’s Football Club is a football club based in Manchester, which is affiliated with the men’s club Manchester City. The club was first formed in 1988, becoming one of the first clubs in northwest England to create an affiliated women’s team. It struggled in the early years but grew in strength through the 1990s before the launch of the Women’s Super League (WSL) in 2010. They initially missed out on WSL but, in fairly controversial fashion (money), were promoted to WSL at the expense of Doncaster Rovers Belles in 2013.
The WSL promotion saw the likes of Jill Scott and Steph Houghton join the club, and they won the club’s first major honour by lifting the League Cup in 2014. They won the club’s sole WSL title in 2016 and three FA Cups between 2017 and 2020. Since then, City have dropped behind the big two of Arsenal and Chelsea, dropping as low as 10th in recent seasons.
Not too much has changed in England since Holm departed, wth Arsenal lifting every title bar two won by Chelsea in 2040 and 2042. City just finished 4th in WSL, 22 points behind champions Arsenal, and manager Paulo César Parenta retired at the end of the season after four years at the club. So Holm had another big task on her hands to usurp the big two, 11 years on from giving up on the idea at Everton. To achieve that goal, Holm is united with former Chelsea and USA manager Emma Hayes, who stepped back from being City manager to become Director of Football in 2037.
Unsurprisingly, the finances weren’t great, with City having a bank balance of minus £866k, a transfer budget of £0 and £8k over their £49k weekly wage budget. City play at the Joie Stadium in Manchester and train at the City Football Academy, which has superb training and youth facilities alongside excellent academy coaching and exceptional youth recruitment. Holm’s first task was to address the financial mess, selling 19 players for £1.9m and releasing 12 more to free up £20k in wages.
The best players remaining at the club were attackers Sonia Emmanuel Payne and Llio Leech-Ingle, who’s scored 17 in 21 caps for England, along with midfielder Lauren Attard, defenders Lauren Hubbard and Amna Standal, winger Summer Rai, who came through one Holm’s final youth intake at Everton, and Australian midfielder Tugba Ozpolat. They also had a couple of prospects to look out for in striker Davina Slocombe and winger Sophia Brayshaw.
The summer firesale left the squad pretty threadbare, but Holm bolstered the ranks by snapping up nine players for just £97k. The pick of them was exciting 18-year-old model citizen Brazilian striker Adenízia on a free from Palmeiras, along with left back Rafaela Carrilho for £72k from Real Madrid, midfielder Cecilie Visted Nielsen for £25k from Nordsjaelland, former Barcelona midfielder Bobo on a free from OLL and promising centre back Oumaima Abid for £16k from ASFAR.
Holm decided to build the team around Adenízia, opting for a 4-2-4 approach with Leech-Ingle playing off the Brazilian and Rai and Payne providing wide threat.
Holm Returns to English Football
The bookies have predicted to finish 4th in WSL with title odds of 50/1. Arsenal are 1/2 favourites to retain the title, followed by Chelsea (11/4) and Spurs (18/1), with Leicester, Man United, Liverpool and Aston Villa all also at 50/1.
Holm returned to England with Standal and debutant Adenízia earning a solid 2-0 win at home to Bristol City. A few days later, a huge game saw her first Manchester Derby and they slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Man United. Back on home ground, City impressed again with Adenízia and Payne earning another 2-0 win over Villa and the Brazilian scored again in a 2-2 at Brighton. Holm faced her first meeting with former club Everton in late October, and her new team dominated by 23 shots to 8 and eventually made it count with Ozpolat laying on two goals for Leech-Ingle.
However, they then faced the two toughest tests in England within a week. First up, they travelled to the champions Arsenal, who’ve won 15 WSL titles and 15 Champions Leagues in the last 17 years, and got thrashed 5-1 despite having as many shots on target. A week later, they put up a much better fight to nick a point at Chelsea courtesy of Payne laying off the ball for Rai to finish in the far corner.
Despite the positives of that Chelsea result, the dropped points left City 6 points behind them and 7 points back from Arsenal after nine games. City got back on track with another Leech-Ingle double inspiring a 6-2 hammering of Birmingham, before a 2-1 loss at Spurs sent them into the winter break in 5th place in WSL.
Familiar Signings Arrive in January
Some interesting news items appeared in Holm’s inbox early in the season. Firstly, the contract of her favourite player Verena Oberdorf, who is still amazing at 33, was expiring, so she swooped in to sign the winger for a third time from Bay FC. Then, just as the summer transfer window closed, Madrid CFF loan listed winger Yolanda Lahuerta and striker Isabel Uueziua. So, obviously, Holm put in bids for both and got both. Lahuerta comes in with an option to buy for £450k and Uuezuia joins permanently for £150k in the summer. While annoyingly, Madrid’s star player Ana Morera also departed for Arsenal for £1.5m. But Holm was at a loss to explain what her former club was thinking of! And those deals were supported by selling Ozpolat to Gotham for £450k and 5ft 5in centre back Hubbard moved to Barcelona before her contract expired.
City began 2044 with a disappointing draw at Southampton before dominating Man United 3-0. Oberdorf hit the ground running, laying on six assists in her first two months before scoring the only goal at home to Leicester to take City 3rd. Their good form was tested by hosting Arsenal, who’d dropped points twice all season, in early March and they predictably got battered and lost 3-1. A few weeks later, they hosted Chelsea and again struggled to stop them from having shots for fun. Chelsea led early with a goal from a short corner that looked well offside, before trebling their lead thanks to some shocking defending. Leech-Ingle got a goal back, only to immediately concede again, but showed some late fight lose 4-3. And it was clear they didn’t have the defensive strength to compete with the big two.
Despite that, Holm had to be happy that she at least passed the board and supporter objectives to record a mid-table finish with four games remaining. They built on that with a stunning 8-2 demolition of Birmingham, led by superb Uueziua and Payne hat tricks, plus an Oberdorf assist treble, while Leech-Ingle broke the club record for most goals in a season from the penalty spot.
A potentially critical point at home to Spurs kept them level with the London side, sitting 4th going into the final two games. Adenízia and Payne goals earned a 3-1 win at London City before wrapping up the campaign with an impressive 5-1 domination of Southampton led by Attard’s first-half double. Spurs only drew 0-0 at Everton, which meant Holm’s former club did her a favour to help City finish 3rd and secure Champions League qualification.
City finished 3rd on 49 points after 14 wins, 7 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 60 goals and conceding 37. But they were miles off Chelsea and, in particular, Arsenal, finishing 12 points behind the former and with 24 points and 35 goals fewer than the dominant latter. Leech-Ingle was the third-top scorer in the league with 17 in 24 and Payne was joint fourth with 15 in 25. Payne was also the third top assister with 9, Standal was joint 11th with 8 and Oberdorf delivered 6 in half a season. Elsewhere, quick-developing left back Abbie Hartley made the most interceptions (82), while Arsenal had 10 of the top 14 ratings in the league, with Oberdorf (7.41) and Leech-Ingle (7.30) sneaking into 9th and 12th.
Exciting Cup Run
City eased into the League Cup semis only to lose 3-2 to Spurs. But in the FA Cup, they beat Southampton and Brighton 4-0 and Lahorta and Uueziua inspired a 3-2 win over Palace. They faced Hashtag in the semis, where Adenízia and Attard secured a comfortable 2-0 victory. Unsurprisingly, that teed up Holm’s second FA Cup Final against Arsenal at Wembley. And Holm lined up:
Zamudio; Armson, Abid, Visted Nielsen, Hateley; Attard, Standal; Payne, Oberdorf; Uueziua, Leech-Ingle
Subs: Adenízia, Holma, Sison, Lahuerta, Brayshaw, Rai, Carrilho, Slocombe, Tim
City kept Arsenal quiet early on, only for Arsenal to obviously score their first shot. They soon came under massive pressure but held on to trail 1-0 at the break. Arsenal hit the bar two minutes after it and continued to lay siege on City’s goal, but they did well to hold them out. But, even when Holm tried to go for it late on, nothing happened and they lost 1-0.
Not Much Closer to Challenging Arsenal
Holm was pretty pleased with leading City to 3rd in WSL, but the challenge of usurping Arsenal and Chelsea looked as difficult as ever. However, she had built a squad that was relatively young and full of potential.
Leech-Ingle led the way with a new club record 25 goals and 9 assists, followed by Payne with 18 goals and a club-high 12 assists. The improving Adenízia scored 11 with 5 assists, Uueziua chipped in with 7 goals and 3 assists in 19 games and the always excellent Oberdorf delivered 11 assists and 4 goals in 20 games.
Adenízia came 3rd in NxGn 2044, along with defender Alice Rendell, who was on loan at Newcastle for the season, in 20th and Abid in 48th. City’s potential was boosted by a solid youth intake led by midfielder Esther Adugbe, striker Lydia Mollatt, left back Grace Swaby and right back Jennifer Exall.
But could Holm continue to strengthen the City squad to move closer to the big two in the face of the usual dodgy finances in women’s football in FM26? Join us on Friday to find out!
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