bellab

So Cain gone and rumours of Rantala going soon too. Should be a good opportunity for some of the academy girls to step up, but it seems some of the most promising are off to the US on scholarships

Genuinely don't understand the use of King Power going forward, unless as above it's for other reasons. They must have lost money week in week out last season with the low crowd numbers. And totally agree that there really isn't going to be any more appetite to watch them play WSL2 sides, with no 'star' players. I can't imagine it's great for the players too playing in a big stadium that's 5% full with no atmosphere whatsoever. Seagrave would be the more cost effective option, but then i guess public transport to there is non-existent unless they provided a shuttle bus from city centre or king power. Does anyone know if kick-off times are staying the same this season? As that had a massive impact on numbers with clash with grassroots Sunday football.

Absolutely not denying the facilities are great and a big pull to get girls in there. Parking, and logistics of getting in and out of the site on a day with multiple games across age groups is a mess though, and can only imagine what it must be like living on Belvoir Drive at those times. And yes, giving the girls the chance to play at King Power was a nice touch. Although in reality it wasn't the best with one of the age groups who were playing 9 a side having to play with two small 5 a side goals pushed together . They were focused on the younger age groups playing Man City and anyone else was a bit of an after thought from what i heard. And i'm also not sure that 'numbers of games played' is a mark of a successful club, when some of these games were hastily thrown together with some teams turning up to play with no proper kit and random mix of ages (in the ETC anyway). I presume you either work for the club or know someone who works there as the girls have not had confirmation about training days/hours yet, but good to hear that these are not being reduced. Our experience there was mixed. Some good, some bad. But communication between ETC and academy needs a massive shake up as really not fit for purpose as it is. I still stand by my opinion that there is much better coaching and feedback elsewhere, and i would say if you have a child there you need to be supplementing the training with other external sessions or 1 to 1s to make sure they reach their potential.

I think it is likely to have some impact yes, but to what extent is unknown. Possibly less training hours/reduced kit. Even this season none of the girls (U14 down at least) got given winter coats, and the match kit for the ETC girls was hand me downs from the boys academy from the season before. The ETC is funded by the FA i believe (So U12 and below) however i know that the club were topping this funding up quite considerably to provide all the kit. The U16 and U21 get some PGA funding. The only age group solely funded via the club is the U14s.

Fair play to Hannah for ploughing on after everything came out. Not sure if she's still with him but deffo was for a good while. Be interesting to see where she goes next. Just to pick up some previous comments on 'culture', can whole heartedly agree that this really needs to change and improve throughout the whole club. Personal experience of having a daughter involved with the academy recently clearly shows that this filters down to that level too. They have 'released' the whole squad of one of the age groups. Awful communications. Senior members of staff critising other staff openly to parents. Girls being favoured for reasons not necessarily linked to ability. They really don't care about developing players but just want to find one or two stand out players while putting on a front of being amazing with all the facilities, when in all honesty the coaching and the way they operate is really not all that. I'd be thinking very carefully of wanting to put a child into that set up particularly now with all the uncertainty about funding. And i think that many talented girls will be looking elsewhere because of all this. As has been mentioned even their academy graduates that were thought so highly of were shipped out elsewhere. Would have been more beneficial for Nelly to have stayed and played more this season to get the exposure at that level. Wonder who is making these decisions?!

Gutted about Ruby. She'll be a massive loss. But don't blame her! This (behind paywall) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/09/03/womens-super-league-club-guide-chelsea-arsenal-man-utd/ puts Leicester as least prepared for the start of the season, unsurprisingly.. Anyone know if Rantala has played in any of the friendlies? Her fitness might be crucial. Feel quite depressed about the upcoming season to be honest. Going to be really hard picking up any points with the current squad.