Newcastle United Women make their long awaited debut in the Barclays Women’s Championship this weekend, as the Magpies face London City Lionesses on Sunday the 8th of September. Head coach Becky Langley spoke to the press ahead of the start of the 2024/2025 Women’s Football season, sharing her thoughts on the journey ahead.

Langley addressed Newcastle’s season opener with London City Lionesses, the club’s ambitions, team news, her relationship with former club co-owner Amanda Staveley, and more.

Firstly, Langley spoke in regards to the updated team news for her side’s opening game away at London City Lionesses, confirming the selection of a few stars.

“Demi Stokes and Rachel Furness are two of the big names we have brought in. Demi’s experience is vital for tutoring the younger girls and obviously has a European Championship medal with the Lionesses.

We’ve also got a group of Geordie girls who know what it means to play for Newcastle United, who know the Newcastle way.“

Newcastle’s rise in the Women’s game has been nothing short of meteoric. Two years ago, the club were playing in Tier 4 English football, having to clear snow off pitches away at Salford City, and fitting sessions in on a weekday evening after busy work schedules.

Now, a full time club since 2023/2024, Newcastle have “moved mountains” according to Langley in their journey from where they were to where they are today.

“Look, we are unapologetically ambitious on where we want to get too. It’s no secret that we want to get to the top of the Women’s game but we are mindful that there are a lot of steps to get to where we want to be.

We’ve worked incredibly hard from the part time days where we were balancing time on and off the pitch. We don’t want to just stand still, we want to keep improving.”

Newcastle are a club that as a whole, has endured wholesale changes in the last three years following the takeover in 2021 by a Saudi Arabian Consortium fronted by Amanda Staveley, who has now departed the club.

“We had great support from Dan Ashworth and Amanda Staveley last season. I’ll never shy away from saying that Amanda was unbelievable for the Women’s Team, she was incredible with me and she was an incredible advocate for the Women’s Team. Her legacy will most definitely live on in the Women’s Team.”

The excitement of the new season, coupled with the rise of the Toon Army over the last couple of seasons, could see sky-high expectations befit Langley’s side ahead of their inaugural Championship campaign.

“We know we have the momentum of two back-to-back promotions. We know that no team has never done back-to-back-to-back.

She continued, “We have our own internal aims of where we want to get too but we hacve to be careful of how we manage that whether it’s with friends and family, fans or people from the outside looking in. The club are really understanding in that context.

In terms of pressure, there’s nobody who will put more pressure on me than myself to get three points every weekend. So in terms of external pressure and internal pressure from the club, that will never match my own that I put on myself.”

Finally, Newcastle’s promotion allows them to rekindle a rivalry which is one of the most revered in the English Football calendar, made even more special this year, with their clashes with Sunderland AFC taking place at St James Park and the Stadium of Light respectively.

“I think everyone will be so excited for the derbies, especially the Sunderland ones, they will be tasty games for sure.

At the same time we want football to be enjoyable, I have the upmost respect for Sunderland and the staff, they had a superb campaign last season. We can’t be naive in these games, we’ve got to go into the matches and do our best, give it what we’ve got.”

Newcastle will travel to Hayes Lane this Sunday the 8th of September to face London City Lionesses in the opening weekend of the Barclays Women’s Championship. Proceedings head underway at 14:00 BST, and can be streamed live on Youtube.