It is with great excitement and anticipation that I write to you for the first time in my role as CEO of Everton Women.
Sunday marks the start of the most significant WSL season in the history of our Club. And what a way to start.
The short journey to Anfield for a Merseyside derby against Liverpool is a thrilling opening game.
We go there with nine exciting additions to Brian Sørensen’s squad, with the most recent signing that of Lioness Ruby Mace for a Club-record fee from Leicester City earlier this week.
Securing the talents of one of the most exciting young players in the English game is a demonstration of the great support and backing that has been provided to the Club by our ownership.
Alongside Ruby, we welcome the signings of international Under-23 stars in the Netherlands’ Rosa van Gool and Spain’s Ornella Vignola and Martina Fernandez, our new Japanese international trio of Rion Ishikawa, Hikaru Kitagawa and Yuka Momiki, Phillipines international Maz Pacheco and England international Katie Robinson.
They are impressive additions to a squad we feel is befitting of this most significant of moments in our Club’s history - our first season at our new Goodison Park home.
The journey we are embarking on is one we cannot take without you. We have incredible respect for the history of Goodison. It is more than bricks and mortar. It is a building with a soul that holds so many memories for so many people in our city and across the world.
We want to respect that history, whilst embracing the opportunity to make it our home - your home. To do that, your support for the team, the feedback I am keen for you to share with us throughout the season and the part you have to play in the future we are building together is something for which I was keen to express my gratitude.
When we play our first WSL game at The Grand Old Lady against Tottenham on September 14, the new branding inside and outside the stadium, and the banners and flags that fans will display in the stands, will make it clear it is a new era. A new dawn. But it isn’t the end of the journey. It is the start.
In the weeks, months and years ahead we can create something special - something unique. Something befitting of Goodison and Everton’s rich history. But also something new.
We want to evolve Goodison - and attract even more new fans to Everton and women’s football. That means shaping experiences and rituals that will become part of Goodison’s new-look matchdays.
We have bold ambitions for our new home, and for the season ahead both in the WSL and in the cup competitions.
That starts at Anfield and Goodison over the next two weeks.
Thank you for being with us at the start of that journey. And thank you for the future we can build together.
Hannah Forshaw
CEO of Everton Women