EXCLUSIVE: Everton Women head coach Scott Phelan has embarked on a squad overhaul in the summer and is looking to build on an excellent end to last season's WSL campaign
Scott Phelan is looking to kick on in the WSL this season
Scott Phelan is looking to kick on in the WSL this season(Image: 2026 Getty Images)
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Scott Phelan said he is excited for the new season as he sets about rebuilding Everton Women following his permanent appointment as head coach.
The 38-year-old was handed the job on a permanent basis in June and has since embarked on a squad overhaul that, so far, has included seven new signings. Yet for all the new faces - whose first glimpse came in the friendly win in Hamburg on Saturday - it is the return to fitness of talismanic captain Megan Finnigan that could prove pivotal through the upcoming campaign.
Phelan took over from Brian Sorensen on a temporary basis in February. His arrival was met by a surge in form that began with three consecutive wins and culminated in an eighth-placed finish in the Women’s Super League.
For Phelan, a former Everton youth player named academy player of the year in 2005, the opportunity to lead the women’s team was an exciting one and he felt he grew through those early months at Goodison Park, labelling his opening as a “dream start”.
His hope is to push on this season.
Scott Phelan speaks to his team
Scott Phelan speaks to his team (Image: 2026 Getty Images)
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Speaking exclusively to the ECHO after his side opened their pre-season with a 1-0 win in Germany, he said: “I’m really excited. The girls encouraged us enough with the performances towards the last bit of the season to be excited to move forward and the fact we have been able to add some quality to that as well. Hopefully, it'll put us on a good footing heading into the season in six weeks’ time.”
His words come amid a significant turnover in players, with seven new signings made in preparation for the summer with Noémie Mouchon, Hannah Cain, Holly McNamara, Jutta Rantala, Zara Kramžar, Hannah Blundell and, most recently, the loan addition of Naomi Layzell from Manchester City.
On the strategy underpinning that recruitment, Phelan said: “The vision is to have really good players, ideally, of a good age that can continue to develop with the team and grow, step-by-step, in their own individual journeys, but also collectively, and push Everton higher up the league. It’s a really exciting group to work with.
“There's so much scope in the players we have brought in, so much development left in them, and we're really looking forward to getting the work done on the training pitch, and seeing that through on a matchday.”
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His first glimpse of that new-look squad was the win at Hamburg, which came courtesy of a long-range effort from Ornella Vignola - the hat-trick hero of last season’s Merseyside derby win at Anfield.
Phelan said: “We had some control in the game. I thought we were a little bit toothless at times through the attacking phase so that is something for us to work on. We had a long, physical week [training] at St Andrews and lots of travelling between that and we have been asking the girls to compete in the heat.
"For the first game of pre-season, we couldn’t have asked for more in terms of application, heart and we can build the football on that and hopefully make that better.”
Everton ended that game with 10 players as Phelan opted against introducing Finnigan, who returned to the matchday squad for the first time after the ACL injury initially suffered in January 2025 and which saw her miss all of last season.
On the return of a player who held the armband before her injury struggles, Phelan said: “She's had a real unfortunate time over the last 18 months or so, and just to have her presence around the group, seeing her now more active on a training pitch is a real boost for everybody. She's important for the changing room. She understands Everton’s standards and the culture and the behaviours that we expect naturally.
"She'll have a big say in trying to influence maybe the ones that don't understand that yet.”