LCFC Women 2025/26 Season

[CosbehFox]

3 hours ago, Outfox the Fox said:

I read that it's likely there'll be no WSL relegation this season. Something with Championship reorganisation and seedings based on Cup records.

Nope. 

Playoff v 3rd in WSL2
 

Which is like to be Crystal Palace (lost to them already this season), Newcastle United (ex England internationals amongst their players) or Bristol City (ex WSL). 
 

The playoff will be away and LCFC haven’t won away in two years 

Edited 22 March by CosbehFox

[lcfcrinaldi]

Such a shame we couldn't pick up in the 2nd half where we started in the 1st.

Can't even necessarily say it was for a lack of creativity when we can't make simple passes in the first place. No one seemed to be on the same page at all.

 

We rely so much on our wingers to create everything, but they just don't have the quality. Front 3 all so easily muscled off the ball, Missy struggles to produce in the final third, Cain at least got the assist, but often just runs into dead ends, Shannon is just completely ineffective, not strong, fast or skillful.

 

Lehmann looked dangerous when going forward, but just couldn't get the ball to her feet enough.

 

Really disappointing and only a minor miracle can save us from finishing bottom now.

[SK3Blue]

28 minutes ago, lcfcrinaldi said:

Such a shame we couldn't pick up in the 2nd half where we started in the 1st.

Can't even necessarily say it was for a lack of creativity when we can't make simple passes in the first place. No one seemed to be on the same page at all.

 

We rely so much on our wingers to create everything, but they just don't have the quality. Front 3 all so easily muscled off the ball, Missy struggles to produce in the final third, Cain at least got the assist, but often just runs into dead ends, Shannon is just completely ineffective, not strong, fast or skillful.

 

Lehmann looked dangerous when going forward, but just couldn't get the ball to her feet enough.

 

Really disappointing and only a minor miracle can save us from finishing bottom now.

Shoehorning 38 year olds in doesn’t help matters. 

Kees has said she should be back next week but the lack of pace at the back without Swaby means they will have to gamble and venture forward. No doubt leaving gaps in behind. 
 

Nelly Las played in Defence for Ipswich today, another one Passmoor doesn’t trust. 
 

Edited 22 March by SK3Blue

[lcfcrinaldi]

1 hour ago, SK3Blue said:

Shoehorning 38 year olds in doesn’t help matters. 

Kees has said she should be back next week but the lack of pace at the back without Swaby means they will have to gamble and venture forward. No doubt leaving gaps in behind. 
 

Nelly Las played in Defence for Ipswich today, another one Passmoor doesn’t trust. 
 

I agree, square pegs and round holes. 

Williams will put herself about, be a bit of a menace and does have quality. You have to play to her strengths though, get the ball to feet around goal and she will trouble the goal. But we just don't, or can't.

 

I really do feel that we wouldn't be in the deep s**t we're in now if we could keep Mouchon fit. We wouldn't br up there, but I think we'd maybe have been able to stay out of the race for the bottom.

[Lineker's Lugs]

19 minutes ago, lcfcrinaldi said:

I agree, square pegs and round holes. 

Williams will put herself about, be a bit of a menace and does have quality. You have to play to her strengths though, get the ball to feet around goal and she will trouble the goal. But we just don't, or can't.

 

I really do feel that we wouldn't be in the deep s**t we're in now if we could keep Mouchon fit. We wouldn't br up there, but I think we'd maybe have been able to stay out of the race for the bottom.

Mouchon has certainly been missed but I don’t think she would make that much difference.  And even if she would, the fact that the absence of one (or two with Rantala) players would completely derail a season suggests the problems run deeper.

 

I always look at the two starting line ups and think who I would pick in a combined XI.  Usually there would be no Leicester players, occasionally one or two at most.

 

The first half today suggested they could win the play-off, the second half suggested they will struggle.  If they do go down I don’t expect them to return until there is a major change of approach towards the team but if the men get relegated as well the women will become even more of an afterthought.

[SK3Blue]

Heard that Swaby left the stadium on crutches, sounds like she’s out for a while.

 

These are the stats for build up attacks and forward passes for the season before yesterdays game, no wonder they’ve only scored 9 goals. 
 

 

 

[BKLFox]

The graph will look no different next season for either Charlton, Birmingham or Palace there just isn’t enough quality in the pool of female players to make it a competitive league.

Look at Spurs in 5th they are in negative goals for with Arsenal in 4th scoring 25 more than them & it obviously gets worse as you go down the league.

Charlton currently top of WSL2 & they are only 13 goals to the good, they will be no different to Leicester after that initial burst for being in the top tier wears off.

[CosbehFox]

5 hours ago, BKLFox said:

The graph will look no different next season for either Charlton, Birmingham or Palace there just isn’t enough quality in the pool of female players to make it a competitive league.

Look at Spurs in 5th they are in negative goals for with Arsenal in 4th scoring 25 more than them & it obviously gets worse as you go down the league.

Charlton currently top of WSL2 & they are only 13 goals to the good, they will be no different to Leicester after that initial burst for being in the top tier wears off.

It will slightly change due to the expansion of the division. 

 

Still going to be absolutely horrific hammerings though. 

[Pita]

What ever league they are in next season they will struggle with the lack of investment in the team 

[purpleronnie]

On paper the team is pretty much a Championship side.  We did walk through the divisions very quickly.

[Jimmy]

On 22/03/2026 at 16:49, purpleronnie said:

I've mentioned the same before.  I guess the lack of investment means there's no chance of that happening.

How many local grounds can host TV coverage every week? There's certain rules the ground has to meet

[Foxin_Mad]

Great to see Rudkins strategic development for excellence and long term success of the football operations is really paying off. Where did they find this manager? A park?

[demon_dog]

43 minutes ago, Foxin_Mad said:

Great to see Rudkins strategic development for excellence and long term success of the football operations is really paying off. Where did they find this manager? A park?

He was only initially appointed as an interim manager if I recall correctly. They wanted Beard as the manager but we all know what happened with him.

I think they slipped up not appointing someone more experienced. The players are good enough but I don't think the tactics are correct 

[Lineker's Lugs]

2 hours ago, demon_dog said:

He was only initially appointed as an interim manager if I recall correctly. They wanted Beard as the manager but we all know what happened with him.

I think they slipped up not appointing someone more experienced. The players are good enough but I don't think the tactics are correct 

Leicester have the weakest squad in the division with only West Ham anywhere near as bad.  You’d be hard pushed to find a more experienced manager than Passmoor - I used to watch teams he coached in the women’s top flight 20 years ago.  If anything the argument would be that he’s too experienced and some fresh thinking was required.
 

I agree the tactics are wrong but I’m not sure what the answer is.  The defence isn’t good enough to shut up shop and Leitzig looks like she has PTSD from playing behind them for so long.  But if they try and attack the defence is left more exposed and that won’t end well either.  It’s lose-lose, much like their results.

 

 

[CosbehFox]

4 hours ago, Jimmy said:

How many local grounds can host TV coverage every week? There's certain rules the ground has to meet

Tbf though there’s been some very basic grounds hosting WSL football. Everton’s Walton Hall Park for example was not too dissimilar to Seagrave. 
 

The perfect ground would be Leicester Road Hinckley but that’s a complicated web and it needs a far bit of money on it now. 
 

Loughborough Uni’s own female team use their university decent ground (and Forest U21s). 
 

That the cup game was played at Notts County sadly speaks volumes. 

[SK3Blue]

2 hours ago, Lineker's Lugs said:

Leicester have the weakest squad in the division with only West Ham anywhere near as bad.  You’d be hard pushed to find a more experienced manager than Passmoor - I used to watch teams he coached in the women’s top flight 20 years ago.  If anything the argument would be that he’s too experienced and some fresh thinking was required.
 

I agree the tactics are wrong but I’m not sure what the answer is.  The defence isn’t good enough to shut up shop and Leitzig looks like she has PTSD from playing behind them for so long.  But if they try and attack the defence is left more exposed and that won’t end well either.  It’s lose-lose, much like their results.

 

 

Good points, I believe Passmoor to have a micro managing style, but also comes over as someone who will stick to a rigid Plan A and is slow to react to opponents changes, yesterday being a good example. 
 

As for the defence, Howard was an average player but did organise a defence pretty well, I don’t see Neville or Mayling as an upgrade on CJ Bott either.  
 

Leitzig has had a gradual dip in form over the last two seasons, I doubt very much she’ll be here next season regardless of whether they stay up. 
 

In attack, I’ve never seen any of the four yesterday do well playing through the middle, Cain, O’Brien, Goodwin and Lehmann are all wide players to me, they miss a good no 10 and with the departure of Petermann and injury prone Mouchon, the final third is a mess, further complicated by Williams who is never going to go beyond 60 minutes, it was a sentimental signing. 
 

Letting Yuka go and losing Rantala was crucial. 

[lcfcrinaldi]

9 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

Tbf though there’s been some very basic grounds hosting WSL football. Everton’s Walton Hall Park for example was not too dissimilar to Seagrave. 
 

The perfect ground would be Leicester Road Hinckley but that’s a complicated web and it needs a far bit of money on it now. 
 

Loughborough Uni’s own female team use their university decent ground (and Forest U21s). 
 

That the cup game was played at Notts County sadly speaks volumes. 

I've been banging on about the Hinckley stadium for a while now, it's now used by what is essentially just a pub team.

It will need a decent amount of money spending on it as it's not been mainined particularly well due to the financial issues it's been through. Would probably also require buying out the gym and other businesses that are also in there which takes up a lot of the internal stadium space.

I can't imagine it would be expensive to buy the stadium and grounds itself.

 

I'd like that they play at the KP if they could even fill the main stand and get a bit of an atmosphere going.

 

I personally think it would be worth buying the Hinckley stadium, investing in making it the women's stadium (maybe even as a training ground too with the grasslands at the side of the stadium), maybe once Belvoir Drive is sold. It surely has to be a cheaper option than playing games at the KP and using the current training ground.

They don't seem to want to move them over to seagrave for some reason.

[Jimmy]

if they sell Belvoir Drive, which there is no indication of, they will move them to Seagrave

[Lineker's Lugs]

Aren't there planning restrictions concerning Belvoir Drive?  Perhaps I'm mis-remembering.

 

Loughborough Uni Stadium would be perfect for me.  I've spent many happy hours watching Loughborough Foxes there before the Loughborough Lightning takeover ruined that.  It has a limited capacity though and very little of it seated.

 

Hinckley would be great too but it was pretty run down last time I went and that was ten years ago.  If it was at all feasible from a cost/ownership perspective it would be the best option - close enough to still be considered Leicester, small enough to get an atmosphere.  I'd probably even start attending myself which ain't going to happen at the KP.

 

I've just remembered a detail of my last experience of visiting the Hinckley stadium.  I went into the turnstyle and the person in there told me I'd have to go to the next one.  I went to the next one and he moved to it as well and let me through.  Absolute WUM!

[CosbehFox]

You correct @Lineker's Lugs

 

Belvoir Drive has a sporting covenant on it 

[lcfcrinaldi]

10 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

You correct @Lineker's Lugs

 

Belvoir Drive has a sporting covenant on it 

Would there not be a expiration date of the covenant?

Genuinely don't know...

[CosbehFox]

3 minutes ago, lcfcrinaldi said:

Would there not be a expiration date of the covenant?

Genuinely don't know...

When I looked into it was a very long time and the land is technically owned by YMCA. LCFC have a long leasehold on the land. 
 

There would be the barrier of sports England too on any planning permission 

[lcfcrinaldi]

Would love to be optimistic about today, but I can't see 3 points.

If we play like we did for the first half against Villa, there's a chance, but I don't see a 90 minute performance like that in us either.

 

Predicting 1-1.

Edited 29 March by lcfcrinaldi

[Oldblueyes]

Feel like we need at least 2 more wins to climb the table and with such few games left, I just can't see it. I remember the season they got promoted and all the extra coverage that Radio Leicester gave to the side. Now they are just a quick couple of minutes slot at the end of football focus on Monday.

[lcfcrinaldi]

24 minutes ago, Oldblueyes said:

Feel like we need at least 2 more wins to climb the table and with such few games left, I just can't see it. I remember the season they got promoted and all the extra coverage that Radio Leicester gave to the side. Now they are just a quick couple of minutes slot at the end of football focus on Monday.

I agree, it wouldn't be impossible, we could win today and potentially against LCL and Everton, winnable games, but 2 out of 3 being away doesn't give me hope.

 

Unfortunately, it's just a case of there not being a lot to write home about. Signing Lehmann and the FA cup semi final has probably been the only notable events since being promoted.

 

Oh and Willie Kirk... But probably not something positive we want to remember...