When a team pushes the WSL champions to the last day of the season, you expect them to go one further the next. Sadly for the Blues, it wasn’t to be, as they failed miserably, finishing fourth in the league, beaten by United in the FA Cup, and losing the League Cup to Chelsea, the same team that had dumped them out of the Champions League. As seasons go, it couldn’t have gone much worse. Well, it could I suppose. We could have also swapped places with Crystal Palace!
Some may see reaching the heights of the Champions League, an FA Cup semi-final and League Cup final could constitute a successful campaign, and any other team would vie to be in that position. But for City, it was a huge backwards step from the dizzying heights of the 23/24 campaign, and all eyes would be on Gareth Taylor as he recruited players that he hoped would take City to the next level.
It was expected that Steph Houghton, stalwart of Manchester City’s defence for so many years, would retire, but the loss of stars such as Esme Morgan, Demi Stokes, Ruby Mace, who was barely given a chance under Taylor, Filippa Angeldahl and Ellie Roebuck left the Faithful wondering who he would bring in to replace them.
There was excitement amongst the fans when WSL top scorer Vivianne Miedema signed on a free transfer from Arsenal, Japanese stars Risa Shimizu, Aoba Fujino and Ayaka Yamashita arrived and defender Naomi Layzell joined from Bristol City. The Olympics robbed the Blues of Shimizu, who missed the entire season without playing a match, but City still managed a credible 2-2 draw at Arsenal on the opening day.
The blue girls had qualified for the Champions League group stage by beating FC Paris 8-0 on aggregate and hope were high when they were drawn against champions Barcelona, Austrian side St Polten and Swedish outfit Hammarby.
The Blues won their following six matches in the league and by the time they faced Chelsea for the first of five matches against the champions, City had also won all three of their opening Champions League matches, including an impressive 2-0 home win over Barcelona.
Then, as usual, it all went pear-shaped the second we faced Chelsea. Sonia Bompastor’s side were conquering all before them and three points against the champions would go some way to proving their title intentions. And for 74 minutes, City held Chelsea and even had thoughts of stealing a late goal to take the points. Mayra Ramirez changed that with a solo effort, followed four minutes later by another goal from Guro Reiten.
That defeat set of a chain of losses, to Everton and Barcelona, leaving City second in the group, before losing at home to United and Arsenal, conceding four times in each of those last two matches.
With three wins from six matches in 2025, the City hierarchy decided they’d seen enough of Gareth Taylor and dismissed him, bringing former coach Nick Cushing back to the club on a temporary basis. His first job was to oversee a 2-1 League Cup defeat to Chelsea, but his City side inflicted a first defeat of the season for Bompastor’s side, winning 2-0 in the Champions League and giving the Blues hope of silverware.
The Blues lost the return leg 3-0 and also lost the home league encounter as any slim hopes of WSL glory were extinguished once again. But there was still hope of claiming the FA Cup. City had beaten Ipswich, Leicester and Aston Villa to reach the last four, but a home semi-final against United proved too much as they lost 2-0. The Blues won three of their final five matches, but ultimately, it was more than a disappointing season that offered so much promise at the start.
Analysis.
So what went so drastically wrong that the Blues didn’t even qualify for Europe? It was a combination of events that conspired to deny the Blues, but it was the inability to compete against the top teams once more that proved to be their downfall.
City failed to beat Chelsea, Arsenal and United in the league, taking just two points from a possible 18. That means City lost four and drew two of their six matches against the league’s top sides, which is nowhere near good enough to win titles. However, City could still have finished second in the league if they hadn’t dropped a further seven points, five against Everton and two against West Ham.
And it was after the match against the latter that saw Taylor lose his job. many could point to the manager’s dismissal as the reason City didn’t qualify for Europe. Sacking the boss before the end of the campaign can bring some upheaval and uncertainty into the side. But it’s worth noting that, from Cushing’s six games in charge, City dropped seven points, compared to 16 that Taylor dropped. It had been clear for a while that a change in management was needed, and it was surprising that City waited so long to dismiss Taylor.
Some may also point to injuries, with Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp being long-term casualties, with Miedema and Bunny Shaw in and out of the side. Of course, injuries take their toll but a top team, such as Chelsea, have good players in abundance, ready to easily slip into the side at a moment’s notice and look like they’ve played there all season.
But Taylor didn’t have that. He had the players, but he never utilised them. Instead, he just went along with the same formation, the same tactics and it was easy for teams to play against his side. Luckily on most occasions, the Blues found a way, but against the top sides, something different was required. And that proved to be his undoing.
Going forward, the Blues still have a lot to offer, but bringing in a permanent manager will be their number one priority. Options are on the table and City will need to produce a fine balancing act between getting a boss in as quickly as possible and getting the right manager to take over.
Whoever takes over will have a huge job of taking City to the next level and overturning the dominance of the three other main teams in the WSL. If they can find consistent form against these clubs in particular, then the Blues could be in for an amazing season next time around. Get it wrong, and it could mean another season of anguish and despair for the faithful.
And we can’t afford for that to happen again.