Preview by Lynn Wyeth
Investing in the women’s game
Despite relegation for the men’s senior team, Leicester City Women have showed no lack of ambition or cost cutting after they secured their spot in the Womens Super League (WSL) for another season.
The club has recently announced a new Head of Academy, Jenny Sugarman, as it launches its Tier 1 Professional Game Academy. The experienced coach has formerly been at West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa. Also added to the staffing structure is Jennifer Foster as Willie Kirk’s Assistant Manager and Neil Moore as Goalkeeping Coach.
The club wasn’t slow in the women’s transfer market this summer with many new and exciting signings, with a daily reveal at one point that has us all waiting to see who was next and crossing our fingers that certain loan signings had made the switch to us permanently.
Players In
The first good news was the permanent signing of previous loanee and Australian international Courtney Nevin. After 6 months with us, she’d done enough to cement her place as a solid defender we wanted to keep.
The best news for many fans was the announcement that German goalkeeper Janina Leitzig had signed for us. Arguably, she was the reason we stayed in the WSL last season after some brilliant performances for us. She’ll be backed up by new goalkeeper, the Dutchwoman Lize Kop, as the club was looking low on numbers in the position.
Another experienced German has joined in the shape of Lena Petermann to add attacking power, and the club also welcomes Belgian international, Janice Cayman, to the midfield.
Also coming into the squad is midfielder, Aimee Palmer, from Bristol City, and Jutta Rantala, our first Finnish fox who is also a forward. It didn’t end there, with French defender Julie Thibaud joining in September along with another forward, the Canadian international, Deanne Rose.
Hannah Cain and Missy Goodwin also signed new extended contracts. The only doubt for the start of the season with injury appears to be Remy Siemsen.
Players Out
Leicester fans were shocked when it was announced that defender Ashleigh Plumptre was leaving this summer. A firm fan favourite, she gave everything to Leicester over the last few seasons. We wish her well on her new chapter at Al-Ittihad in Saudi.
Tasha Flint, who had been out on load at Celtic, left permanently, signing for Liverpool and Demi Lambourne has gone to Crystal Palace on a season-long loan.
Overall thoughts: The squad has grown in size and experience, and in serious international quality this summer, leaving fans excited to see the new signings showing us what they’ve got. The launch of the tier 1 academy also bodes well for the future.
Confirmed squad numbers
1 Janina LEITZIG
2 Courtney NEVIN
3 Sam TIERNEY
4 CJ BOTT
5 Sophie HOWARD
6 Aimee PALMER
7 Deanne Rose
8 Jutta RANTALA
9 Lena PETERMANN
10 Aileen WHELAN
11 Janice CAYMAN
13 Monique ROBINSON
14 Josie GREEN
17 Julie THIBAUD
19 Remy SIEMSEN
20 Missy GOODWIN
21 Hannah CAIN
23 Lize KOP
27 Shannon O’BRIEN
32 Ava BAKER
41 Jess REAVILL
47 Simone SHERWOOD
49 Denny DRAPER
Odds for the WSL 2023-24
Most of the pre-season friendlies were behind closed doors at the training grounds, so we’ve still not got to see the new signings, but there was a 3-2 win over Everton at Belvoir Drive.
The 12 WSL clubs will play 22 games each. The reigning champions are Chelsea, having secured their fourth win on the trot, and last season we lost Reading to relegation, with Bristol City coming up.
So, is it worth a punt? You’re not going to get 5000-1 but you can get 500-1 for Leicester to win the WSL.
First opponents
First up are newly promoted Bristol City so City fans will be hoping for a positive start and those first three points. New signing Aimee Palmer should be able to give some inside intel on our opponents. Leicester are favourites with the bookmakers to win.
Our first home game, on 8th October at the KP, will be Everton, who we secured a win over in pre-season. So, there’s hope that we can have a good start to the season and keep that momentum.
Season tickets are a steal at only £42 for the whole season with all games timetabled to be played at the King Power.
All fixtures can be found on lcfc.com.
Leicester City Women Supporters Club
Don’t forget to join the official Leicester City Women Supporters Club and listen to their new podcasts. Their new website is live now at https://lcfcwomensc.co.uk.