Total FootballTotal Football
City Lionesses
pin hopes on
keep-fit policy
P
layers at newly formed
London City Lionesses
will have
unprecedented access
to private medical
insurance as part of a
wider ambition to create a
blueprint for women’s football and
show that female sides are not “the
annoying sisters” of men’s clubs.
The Lionesses were unveiled as
a new professional team in the
second tier of women’s football
towards the end of last season,
when the senior management
board of Millwall Lionesses
decided to break away.
The club showed glimpses of
their full-time status with a 2-0
away victory over London Bees in
front of a crowd of 412 yesterday.
Their professional set-up has been
made possible through a
sponsorship deal with SETL, a
London-based financial technology
company. They are the only
full-time team in the part-time
Women’s Championship this
season, although Aston Villa are
understood to have taken on
several full-time players.
The Lionesses’ independent
entity reflects a different approach
from the Women’s Super League,
where teams have become
increasingly affiliated with their
male counterparts in recent years
and could feature in double-
headers alongside Premier League
fixtures this season.
“We want to show people that
the time is right that a women’s
football club can be a women’s
football club and doesn’t have to be- and I use this term whether it’s
politically correct or not – the
annoying sister of a men’s club,”
said manager Chris Phillips. “If you
speak to about 80 per cent of clubs,
they’re not happy with the
relationship with the men’s team.”
They will share the
4,100-capacity Princes Park
Stadium in Kent with National
League South Dartford, some 20
miles out of the capital.
The partnership with SETL was
made possible because co-founder
of the company Anthony Culligan
is the husband of the club’s chair,
Diane Culligan, who took over as
the unpaid chair of Millwall
Lionesses in July 2018. Discussions
are taking place with a number of
commercial partners to attract
further investment and the club
have a sponsorship deal with Nike,
although details about players’
salaries are undisclosed.
Manchester United were the first
professional team to feature in the
Women’s Championship last year,
but they moved up to the WSL.
Professional approach
will give players access
to vital private medical
care, writes Fiona Tomas
Women’s football clubs are not
required to provide private health
insurance, even in the professional
WSL, where the Professional
Footballers’ Association has funded
surgery for players in the past. The
FA, however, has introduced extra
regulations to ensure all WSL clubs
have medical funds to cover
injuries to their players.
“I said [in the board meeting], ‘I
can’t have a player who’s injured
and waiting six months on the NHS
to receive an MRI [scan] and then
another six months for surgery.’
We’ve lost a player for a year
there,” said Phillips, who believes
the FA should negotiate a deal to
provide private health insurance to
all clubs in women’s football.
“We’ve worked hard to take out
special policies to make sure we
get immediate MRIs for the girls,
immediate surgeries, but it is the
right thing to do. We can’t keep
banging on about equality for
women’s football without putting
our money where our mouths are.”Roaring forward: Lily Agg, of London
City Lionesses, attacks London BeesPuscas and Pele make name
for themselves at Reading
By Tom Prentki
at the Madejski StadiumMoore, Pele, Puscas? No, not an all-
time fantasy Legends’ XI but three
members of the Reading team
which yesterday defeated Cardiff to
earn their first points of the season.
Those with a sharp eye will notice
the spelling difference of the latter,
Reading’s exciting new Romanian
striker George, who shares a name
with the former Real Madrid and
Hungary forward Ferenc Puskas. His
team-mates include Liam Moore in
defence and, yes, Pele in midfield.Puscas, the club-record £7.2 mil-
lion signing from Inter Milan is fast
establishing himself at the Madejski
Stadium, having scored three times,
including two against Cardiff.
The game was preceded by a
minute’s silence for PC Andrew
Harper, the Thames Valley Police
officer who died last week while on
duty in Berkshire.
Reading, having been issued a
“soft embargo” by the English Foot-
ball League, had not been expected
to make significant signings this
summer. So it was a surprise when
they paid out a big sum for Puscas
at the end of the transfer window.
The Romanian opened his ac-
count at Wycombe in the Carabao
Cup last week and scored a brilliant
solo effort to put Jose Gomes’s side
ahead against Cardiff.
Puscas collected the ball in his
own half and used power and trick-
ery to beat Will Vaulks before curl-
ing the ball into the far corner.The player, who scored four
times for Romania at this summer’s
European Under-21 Championship,
burnished his credentials even fur-
ther with a second goal, an instinc-
tive volley at the near post, five
minutes before half-time.
Neil Warnock responded by
bringing on Callum Paterson and
Isaac Vassell at half-time but defen-
sively Cardiff remained vulnerable.
With huge gulfs appearing in the
Bluebirds’ back line, John Swift
rampaged down the right and fin-
ished with aplomb into the bottom
corner. There was still time for Ya-
kou Meite to miss a penalty for
Reading, with Alex Smithies saving
brilliantly to his left.
Reading Rafael; Miazga, Morrison, Moore, Pele, Yiadom,
Swift, Ejaria (Rinomhota 85), Richards, Puscas (Boye 82),
Joao (Meite 80). Subs McIntyre, Virginia (g), Adam,
Barrett. Booked Moore.
Cardiff City Smithies; Bacuna, Morrison, Flint, Bennett,
Pack (Nelson 23), Ralls, Mendez-Laing, Vaulks (Paterson
h-t), Hoilett (Vassell h-t), Glatzel. Subs Murphy, Whyte,
Day (g), Bogle. Booked Bacuna, Ralls.
Referee Andy Davies (Hampshire).Steve Cooper, the Swansea City
manager, acclaimed a rejuvenated
Borja Baston after his match-
winning performance against
Preston North End.
The £15 million Spanish striker
went 1,022 days without a Swansea
goal before the start of this season
but, after his double in the 3-2
victory at the weekend, now has
three goals in as many
Championship games.
He scored an equaliser against
the run of play on the stroke of
half-time, before heading home the
winner in the 69th minute to move
his side on to seven points from
their first three games.
“Borja is happy, he is a big
character who is very well liked in
the dressing room and you can see
he is enjoying life in Swansea,”
Cooper said. “You look at his two
finishes, they are outstanding No 9finishes. The first, he calmly puts
that in and the header was
fantastic. We saw parts of Borja at
his best today, and that is being in
the box scoring goals.
“That’s what No 9s hopefully do
best. He is scoring a lot of goals in
training and working hard.”Nathan Jones, the Stoke City
manager, blasted his players for
throwing more points away after
their 2-2 draw with Derby County.
Stoke responded to going behind
early on. They drew level after 32
minutes, when Liam Lindsayheaded home from a corner. Then,
after twice hitting the woodwork,
they took the lead when Scott
Hogan smashed home after 56
minutes. But Martyn Waghorn
pegged Stoke back with his second
goal.
“I am devastated with the
result,” Jones said. “I work so hard.
I do 12 hours a day, seven days a
week to plan and put structures in
place. I am distraught we couldn’t
get one more goal than the
opposition, because we created
twice as many chances. I am sick
and tired of us missing chances.”
Marcelo Bielsa hailed the
continued improvement of Leeds
United after his side cemented
their place at the top of the
Championship with a 2-0 win at
Wigan Athletic. “The
performance increases game by
game,” Bielsa said.At the double: Reading’s new signing George Puscas celebrates scoring a brace as Reading triumph at the Madejski
‘Happy’ Baston back to his best with
double as Swansea reap rich reward
Most of the squad are previous
players from Millwall Lionesses,
who finished bottom of the
championship last season. But the
allure of the club’s professional
set-up – which includes a club
nutritionist, psychologist and a
strength and conditioning coach –
has attracted youngsters such as
Poppy Wilson, 20, who switched
from WSL side Bristol City.
A full-time training schedule
also means most of the squad have
given up jobs, such as Kallie
Balfour, 26, who was previously
full-time in finance. “After a game
on Sunday, I’d have to get up the
next day at six in the morning,” said
the forward. “It was a good career,
but I wasn’t really enjoying it.
“Since I’ve come here, I don’t
think I’ve been happier, waking up
and coming for training.”
Phillips, who spent eight years
coaching female youth teams at
Arsenal, where he mentored
England players such as Leah
Williamson, is keen to mirror the
set-up adopted by Manchester City
when they rebranded in 2014.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, it is
going to take us time, but we are all
excited,” he said. “These are the
standards for professional women’s
football.”KUNJAN MALDE FOR THE FA/REXCHAMPIONSHIP
WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Reading
Puscas 25, 40, Swift 83^3Cardiff City
0Att: 14,252Flying start: Borja
Baston has scored
three goals in as
many league
games this season18 ** Monday 19 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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