It was always going to be a tough task to follow up on their fifth-place finish in the 2022/23 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign – with only one member of the first-team squad from that season departing over the summer window. Midlands-raised Hannah Hampton joined Chelsea, as Daphne Van Domselaar signed on to the Villans with a bag full of talent and expectations.

Expectations Sky-High

Carla Ward’s side’s highest-ever positional Barclays Women’s Super League finish (37 points) – only 10 adrift of third-place Arsenal who qualified for the UEFA Champions League – saw the Villains end up on the victorious side in half of their 22 matches; four at the Poundland Bescot Stadium and/or Villa Park, and seven in away day successes. 

Awarded the WSL Golden Boot after finding the back of the net on 22 occasions, Rachel Daly remained at the club to lead the line into next season. Meanwhile, after accumulating 36 goal contributions between them in the season before last, Alisha Lehmann, Kenza Dali (who missed the first five games of the 2023/24 campaign) and Kirsty Hanson (omitted for three of the first four due to suspension) were all expected to continue their form. However, respective spells in the treatment room and periods in-and-out of the starting XI due to a lack of form put a damning end to a carbon copy of that occurring. 

Expectations were therefore understandably high on the minds, as well as the lips, of everyone associated with and around the club. Many believed Ward could potentially gatecrash the WSL’s conventional top-three (Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City), and in the process, steer them to their first-ever UWCL appearance. Nonetheless, as we all now know, things didn’t quite go to plan for the now manage-less Villans, and a potentially threadbare squad, come the start of next season. 

Rough Start to Proceedings

Despite getting off the mark at the first opportunity against Manchester City in 2022/23, this season Villa lost their first five matches before getting off the mark at Championship-bound Bristol City in mid-November courtesy of an own goal from Megan Connolly and then Ebony Salmon. An undesirable commencement of proceedings was met with copious amounts of backlash, though in reality, expectations may have been warped by those spectating the club. Having fallen to narrow losses to both Arsenal and Manchester United, and then suffering defeat to Liverpool and Tottenham sides on the rise, Aston Villa’s commencing weeks saw them face an extremely difficult draw.

Their fifth match of the season allowed them even less breathing room, as the Villans then hosted Chelsea in what resulted in a six-goal thrashing on home turf. With an opening month seeing them face five of the now-solidified top six, it could be safe to assume that expectations got the better of those paying attention.

Back on Track

Victory at Ashton Gate was followed up with a five-goal thriller at the Chigwell Construction Stadium against West Ham United as Daly sensationally won the game in second-half stoppage-time with a strike of the utmost regard. 

The Villans outfit turned their attention away from the league as they extended their unblemished record in the Conti Cup to two matches – following their 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United – by comprehensively sweeping aside Blackburn Rovers 7-0. 

Upon their return to league matters, they RSVP’d with back-to-back defeats at the hands of Everton and Manchester City by the exact scoreline (2-1) but returned to winning ways against Durham in the cup four days after the defeat against the latter. The hosts went on to end last year’s footballing calendar with a 1-0 success over Brighton & Hove Albion – courtesy of Adriana Leon’s 63rd-minute winner. Though despite what became of a more positive run of form, the victory over the Seagulls resulted in being the only win in front of their supporters all league season.

The Turn of the Year

With the January transfer interval now open, Ward decided to strengthen their defensive reinforcements with the signature of experienced Swiss defender Noelle Martiz from Arsenal before exiting the Adobe Women’s FA Cup at the fourth round stage at the hand of one of this season’s familiar adversaries, Everton. However, midfielder Laura Blindkilde-Brown’s departure to Manchester City on the final day of the window reportedly left Ward full of emotion and a void open in the dressing room. 

With relegation to the Championship looking unlikely, but a late push for Europe equally beyond belief, Villa went two matches without a victory before again beating Brighton (this time in the Continental Cup quarter-finals) before travelling to the capital in mid-February to leave with all three points on the London Underground – thanks to goals from Leon and Jordan Nobbs. 

With injuries causing Ward’s side chaos throughout the season, number one Daphne van Domselaar was ruled out for the remainder of the season, after undergoing hip surgery as she picked up the problematic injury in their 4-1 Barclays WSL defeat to this season’s surprise package in Liverpool. A comprehensive exit from the last four of the Continental Cup by eventual victors Arsenal was somewhat softened by a 2-1 away day success over Everton. 

Four games went by before experiencing the taste of victory on their footballing palates again, as their 2023/24 trilogy against Brighton across all competitions concluded with a 1-0 triumph on the South Coast. Within that prior timescale, breaking news broke that Ward would leave B6 at the end of the season, citing wanting to spend more time with her family as the reason for her unforeseen departure.

All Wraps Up

Knowing they would be playing under a new manager next season, the Villans travelled to the seaside to end up on the winning side again against Brighton, with Alisha Lehmann netting the game’s only goal. Ward’s final match in charge culminated with the then title-challengers in Manchester City leaving VP with all three points as Lauren Hemp won the game for the visitors deep into the second half. 

Overall, a seventh-placed finish might not sound that bad, but when you consider that the Villains’ 2023/24 tally of 24 points is 13 fewer than last season, and several first-team players’ contracts expire this summer, prior seasonal expectations have surely fallen to below what were prognosticated in August. 

Those aforementioned players include Nobbs, Anna Leat, Danielle Turner, Lucy Staniforth and Simone Magill, and with reports circulating that van Domselaar could also leave the club for Arsenal this summer. Everything considered, the 2023/24 season has not been all gloom and doom, but whoever is the next to stroll through the managerial door at B6 has an uphill, but intriguing job on their hands.