Issue 25

Issue 25 is with the printers, you can order it online now or pick it up at any of the next 6 games except West Ham or Bayern away. As is now custom, here is the editorial.

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A League Cup final. Our first in the professional era.

4 consecutive seasons with Cup finals.

Yeah, 4 FA Cup finals in a row would’ve been good, but if you miss out on one, it’s nice to have the other. You’d think it’d feel a little hollow entering at the quarter finals and making it to the final, but after the relationship we’ve had with this competition you can forgive us for not being arsed about that detail. We’ve only ever done bad enough to not get through the group stage or it’s taken one of the other ‘big 4’ to knock us out, even before we were part of that big 4 (even before we were in the WSL). Then there was that farce in 2023/24, when Aston Villa’s indiscretions had no impact on their own progress but helped Sunderland qualify from the group stage at our expense.

Ideally, we’ll never see this competition again, with new rules excluding teams in the Champions League completely rather than introducing them at the quarter final stage. Competitiveness amongst the top 4 makes it likely we’ll miss out on Europe sometimes, even without factoring in the emergence of Spurs and London City Lionesses, who are both a way off yet, but improving. Any season we do enter it in future would make us heavy favourites, so it would be nice to win it this year by beating Arsenal and then Chelsea in order to hold some value against the victory.

I’ve pondered fanzine issue numbers before, issue 25 feels like a landmark, but then so did issue 20. I wonder whether to do anything special around these arbitrary round numbers to celebrate, but then contributions flow in, the mad week leading up to print goes by in a blur and I’m selling it again without any particular marking of any particular occasion. Maybe I’ll make a song and dance about issue 26, just because. It’s just marketing fluff anyway which I’m not crazy about, though all exposure is good so if you could tell your friends about the fanzine that would be a big help.

We’ve got a tough run of games coming up. First the final, then a midweek trip to West Ham and then home to Everton, which we’ll hope to get through with 6 points unscathed; then it’s 2 quick games at Old Trafford against Bayern and city, followed by a trip to the Allianz where we’ll be hoping progression to the Champions League semi will still be on the cards. Those 3 huge games take place over an 8 day period while the 6 game stretch comes over a span of just 18 days.

With Hini playing in the Asia Cup quarter final while we’re preparing to face Chelsea in Bristol, that’s potentially one of the biggest misses we can have. Take either Hini or Zigi out of the midfield and the level drops. We have other big players, of course, but I feel that midfield 2 has the biggest gulf between starters and cover. Lisa Naalsund has been steady recently but in a more advanced position while Simi Awujo’s appearances have also been in more of a 10 role than midfield. If Ella Toone is fit I’d always fancy her in a deeper role if she can stay disciplined but I wonder if Dom will reprise her role from last season, this time to partner Zigi instead of Hini. That would leave either Millie Turner or Gabby George to cover next to Maya. By the time most of you read this you’ll already know the answers to all these questions, so hopefully you’re nodding along with the knowledge of what happened rather than wondering what the hell I’m on about.

However the Hini conundrum is solved (or not) it highlights the work still to be done as far as squad building goes. We’re getting stronger with every transfer window but were still a work in progress. As good as our first choice midfield is, if Simi is considered a 10, midfield cover is our most pressing need. I’d like to see additions at right wing and left back too as well as an increase in centre back quality. I think we’ll need to keep the trend of at least 3 high quality additions every window for a while to sustain our ambitions, that’s without considering any necessary replacements of any outgoings in that time.

With another 2 fanzine debuts in this issue, in the form of Kevin Shields’ look at Estee Lauder and Margo Fiore’s write up of the fan presser at Carrington, the fanzine remains in a comfortable place. It’s easy to wonder how to follow an issue (24) that has an 8 page interview with a Champions League winner, but courtesy of Kev and Mike, we’re doing what fanzines are supposed to do and challenging the higher ups while keeping a balanced view of what’s happening on the pitch. As always, if you have anything you’d like to contribute to future issues, whether it’s a one off article, some art work or input on what you think the fanzine should be doing, get in touch using the details on page 3.