the BBC<\/a> she was concerned there is too big a gap between academy football and the WSL.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen I was in Lyon before, I could really have four or five players from the academy and they were able to perform at a really good level in the first team. Here, they are playing at a level where there is a huge gap and they are not ready. The FA should reflect with the top clubs about the structure of the competitions in order for the young players to be able to bridge the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many working in the third tier disagree, including the Wolves Women head coach, Daniel McNamara, whose side are second in the National League Northern Premier Division, who said on X: \u201cAre we here to fight for promotion to elite football or facilitate\/produce a platform for elite players from WSL to develop?\u201d<\/p>\n
Day believes the plans are necessary. \u201cWe are approaching a crucial turning point,\u201d she said. \u201cToo many talented young players are not getting the opportunities they need to develop, and without action, that risks holding back the future of the sport. A stronger pathway produces better players and strengthens the national team, which in turn fuels the growth and visibility of the game at every level.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognise that change can be difficult, particularly in a sport with deep traditions. But no decisions have been made at this stage, and consultation is ongoing. We would not be putting these proposals forward unless we believed they are vital to securing the long-term success of women\u2019s football.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is understood that clubs will not vote on the proposals but their feedback will be taken into account. The FA hopes to ratify any changes this summer before implementing its plans from the 2027-28 season. The process would be reviewed after two years to assess whether it was delivering against the intended objectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sue Day, the Football Association\u2019s director of women\u2019s football, has defended the governing body\u2019s plans to radically change…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-523855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}