At half-time Carly Telford walked on to the pitch, smiled approvingly at the 24,000 fans in the stands and reiterated how “honoured and proud” she was to be there. The recently retired former England, Sunderland, Chelsea and San Diego Wave goalkeeper was born in Newcastle, has always supported the club and was delighted to be Sunday’s guest of honour at St James’ Park.
Telford has watched Newcastle men live countless times but she particularly relished chatting to the club’s co-owner Amanda Staveley as Becky Langley’s women’s side thrashed Bradford 6-1.
Had Aston Villa’s Lucy Staniforth not been playing in a narrow FA Cup semi-final defeat against Chelsea on Sunday, she might well have been there too. Telford’s friend and former England midfield teammate recently told the Guardian her long-term “dream” was to “work for Newcastle women and help turn them into a top WSL club”.
The only problem is that, right now, Langley’s team remain in the fourth tier. Although, as recently as November, Dan Ashworth, the club’s sporting director, said the women’s squad was “an absolute priority” for Newcastle’s majority Saudi Arabian owners and targeted their potential arrival in the WSL for the 2025-26 season, the possibility of promotion from Division One North of the National League this season hangs in the balance.
Durham Cestria are top, six points clear of Langley’s side but they have only one game remaining to Newcastle’s three. A superior goal difference dictates that wins at Leeds, Bradford and Barnsley should secure Newcastle top spot and a third-tier place.
The downside is that no margin for error remains. “We’re not here to pretend,” said the impressive Langley on Sunday as she detailed her frustration at Newcastle’s concession of a late equaliser at Hull in their previous game. “I felt like walking into the changing room and tearing the ceiling down. After the disappointment of last season promotion’s really important … but no one here’s putting us under any extra pressure to get across the line.”
With Langley having given up her former job at Northumbria University last summer to work full-time at St James’ she is probably subjecting herself to quite enough stress already. Given that only one team are promoted a season, climbing the women’s league ladder is tricky and Langley’s side were fully assimilated by the men’s parent club only last summer.
A couple of key players, Anna Soulsby and Rachel Lee, were sidelined for most of this campaign after waiting six months for NHS operations to repair ruptured cruciate ligaments last season. Access to the men’s highly qualified medical team and fast-track appointments with leading surgeons has altered the landscape dramatically but Langley has still spent much of the season playing catch-up.
“Last summer was a headache because we had a lot of injuries and no depth,” she said. “Since then the depth’s really improved but it’s not feasible to have full-time players at this level. We’ve got a lot of students and some players doing other jobs; it means we do a lot of work on set pieces on Friday nights.”
Accordingly four goals from set plays helped deconstruct Qasim Akhtar’s Bradford after congestion at the turnstiles had delayed kick-off by 15 minutes. “I’m so proud of the way my players performed in front of 24,000,” said Langley. “That’s not easy; it’s quite an adjustment.”
This was the third time in the past year that Newcastle Women have played at St James’ Park but it still represented a step change from appearing in front of 2,000-4,000 average crowds at the Kingston Park home shared with Newcastle Falcons rugby union side or the gatherings of a few hundred their away games typically draw.
Such high levels of home backing – astonishing at this level – emphasise why Staveley and Ashworth are confident Newcastle can not only become England’s best-supported women’s team but attract leading internationals.
The tricky bit, though, is getting to a WSL that has a glaring regional imbalance. With no side north of Manchester and Merseyside, anyone living on Tyneside is at least a three-hour drive from live top-tier women’s matches.
Part of Ashworth’s brief is to alter that and everyone at St James’ Park accepts there will ultimately have to be some big changes among Langley’s squad. Indeed for some players the future may be a little bitter-sweet.
Georgia Gibson, for instance is Langley’s No 10 and starred against Bradford. She is also a full-time teacher and would struggle to walk away from a long-term career and excellent pension if the team get to the second tier and turn professional.
For the moment, though, she remains on a mission to help the next generation maximise their talent. “The younger players here now have got a fantastic opportunity,” Gibson said. “They can go a long way with this club. Hopefully my experience can help them.”
