Guardian writers’ predicted position: 10th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips) With a new manager in charge, the new season brings some fresh optimism for Everton. But nobody associated with the club will be getting carried away. Last season concluded with a respectable eighth-place finish and anything similar again would be considered a solid campaign for a team operating on a relatively small budget.
The latest set of financial accounts showed Everton’s wage bill to be five times smaller than Chelsea’s, illustrating the financial gulf between the Merseysiders and those challenging at the top of the Women’s Super League. There have been positive elements to Everton’s transfer business this summer, not least the arrivals of Jutta Rantala, Noémie Mouchon and Hannah Cain from relegated Leicester City, as well as turning the Slovenia midfielder Zara Kramzar’s loan move from Roma into a permanent deal. Last season’s loan move for Hannah Blundell from Manchester United has also been converted into a permanent transfer, which was revealed in unusual circumstances, with the 32-year-old emerging from a make-shift ‘coffin’ during an amusing walkout at May’s World Sevens Football event in London.
Scott Phelan’s team have a fairly kind start to the season given they begin with back-to-back matches against newly-promoted sides in Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic. Their second home league fixture is against the other promoted side, Birmingham City. In between there are meetings with the sides that finished 10th and 11th last season, in West Ham and neighbours Liverpool.
Everton do not face any of last season’s top three teams until November. They will, therefore, be keen to make a fast start and get plenty of points onboard before a tougher-looking run of games either side of the winter break. Everton’s women’s team was sold to the men’s parent company, Roundhouse Capital Holdings, last year in a move that was understood to be largely aimed at helping ensure the men’s team’s compliance with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
The women’s team train at the Finch Farm complex in Halewood, which they share with the men. It is one of the better-equipped facilities enjoyed by a WSL side. Phelan was formally appointed in June after a four-month spell in interim charge, taking over from the sacked Brian Sørensen.
This is the 38-year-old former Everton youth midfielder’s first senior managerial job, after coaching within the club’s boys’ academy. Phelan deploys a calm, measured approach and has spoken of his “unbelievable pride” at being given this job. There is a lot of excitement at Everton about Australia forward Holly McNamara, signed from Melbourne City, where she won back-to-back Golden Boot awards in the A-League, on a free transfer.
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