Niamh Fahey is determined to lead Liverpool back to their glory days in the Women’s Super League.
The Reds pioneered the WSL when, in 2013, they became the first team in the two-year competition to start training full-time.
It paid off immediately, bringing the likes of Lioness Fara Williams, now England’s most capped female or male player, into Matt Beard’s fold en route to back-to-back titles.
But by 2020, others had caught up, Liverpool’s fortunes had changed and the founding members of the WSL, still one of four teams crowned league winners, were relegated to the Championship.
“It is Liverpool Football Club, and it carries its weight in history and expectations,” captain Fahey told the PA news agency.
“We have to make sure, the first thing we know is that it is going to be a really difficult task.
“We have to consolidate our position in the WSL, but we also have to work hard to get back to the top [teams] and win titles and be really competitive again at the top of the table.
“We know it will be difficult. There’s that expectation.
“[But] it’s a welcome pressure, to be honest. You want to be at a big club with expectations, motivations and desires, and Liverpool definitely have that. It’s a welcome thing, really, and it’s an honor to be at the club.”
The WSL season was supposed to start last weekend but, like the rest of football, it was postponed out of respect for the Queen’s death.
Sunday’s kickoff was moved up nearly two hours so staff, players and fans could observe the 8:00 p.m. national moment of reflection
Fahey’s newly promoted side, who won the Championship by a decisive 11 points last season, were originally set to take on Reading.
Now they face arguably the toughest test of all when they host Emma Hayes’ Chelsea, who are chasing a fourth successive title and make the trip buoyed by the arrival of Champions League winners Kadeisha Buchanan and Eve Perisset.
The Liverpool squad has remained largely intact under Beard, who left the Reds in 2015 and is enjoying his second spell in charge since rejoining in 2021.
Fahey extended her stay at Liverpool for a summer that also welcomed defender Gilly Flaherty, “powerful” midfielder Emma Koivisto, goalkeeper Eartha Cumings and the return of popular Dutch winger Shanice van de Sanden from Wolfsburg, who captain believes that it will add “life experience”. ”Next to her.
September 25 also marks the return of the Merseyside derby and the first time Fahey’s side have played at Anfield since November 2019.
It is one of several featured matches scheduled for Premier League venues throughout the WSL and Championship seasons, with others taking place at Old Trafford, Selhurst Park, Amex, Etihad and the Emirates. Chelsea’s postponed start to the season was also to be held at Stamford Bridge.
“We can’t wait for that one,” said Fahey, whose team lost the last iteration 1-0 in front of 23,500 fans.
“Back at Anfield and all in the Merseyside derby, it doesn’t get any better than that.
“It’s an amazing ballpark environment and hopefully we can get the Reds behind us to give us that extra push.”
The 34-year-old Irish international was playing for Arsenal when the WSL was launched, winning titles with the Gunners and then Chelsea.
The proliferation of games held in large stadiums is one of the many things Fahey has witnessed in what she called the league’s transformation “overnight.”
“I think it’s important to send the message that women’s football is here,” she added.
“He is here to progress, he is here to stay. These are not just symbolic gestures. These are people who are genuinely interested in helping the women’s game progress and reach the level of standards and expectations that we can all reach.
“I think it’s long overdue.”
