The Halfway Line heard from London City Lionesses defender, Georgia Brougham, as the invigorated side approach the 2024/25 season of the Barclays Women’s Championship under the ownership of Michele Kang.

The 28-year-old shed some light on the feeling around the club as they prepare to compete the likes of Newcastle United, who can also be seen investing in their women’s squad. The creative defender extended her contract with the club at the end of last season, reflective of the exciting future lying ahead.

A transitional period for the London club

New club owner, Michele Kang, has already seen the team make large strides towards improvement. Her tenure so far has seen London City Lionesses sign Swedish captain Kosovare Asllani, and appoint former Paris Saint-Germain boss Jocelyn Prêcheur as head coach.

“It’s a very exciting time,” affirmed Brougham, “I mean, there’s a lot of change happening, so it doesn’t surprise me that everyone is speaking about us, but obviously positive change, good change, new manager, new players and yeah, the vision of the club.”

“From last season, massive changes,” continued the No. 3, “Obviously, they had a vision, which that’s why I signed in the first place, that I wanted to be part of. But now we’re actually seeing them changes. And obviously what Michelle is doing in the women’s game is massive, and it’s a statement for for the rest of the teams.”

On London City having a target on their backs thanks to their much-discussed determination to rapidly progress up through the ranks, Brougham proclaimed “There’s added pressure now that we’re not shy to say that we do want to get promoted. But I think if you want to be on the journey, then you’ve got to expect that kind of pressure.”

Words of wisdom

On her own personal goals for the new season, Brougham stated “I’d like to say I’m a senior player in our team. We’ve got quite a young team, so just bring that on and off the pitch and help guide the team this year to what we want to achieve.”

Imparting a crucial piece of advice for her youthful teammates, right-footed centreback highlighted the importance of “Just sticking together, making sure that the group is in, is always in a good place, whether that’s winning, or whether that’s starting, whether that’s coming off the bench, whatever it is, just making sure every player feels valued. Think that’s massive in a team, and especially when you want to go and win, to create that winning culture, that’s what you need.”

Looking to compete for a spot in the Barclays Women’s Super League in the near future, London City Lionesses certainly have the work cut out for them as they face another competitive Championship season head on.

Living up to expectations

“They want the club to be more professional,” explained Brougham when asked about what challenges have arisen during this time of great change. “I think as a player, you’ve got to be on board with that. There might have been things where you would slip away from your professionalism last season, because things aren’t going right, or you’ve got a lot to complain about, whereas she’s, she’s given us everything that we need. So, as a player, we’re in a good place where you have to be professional.”

“You can tell she cares about women,” said the defender, telling us about the beginning of the brand new ‘Kang era’. “Everything we do is women’s based, whether that’s gym programs or the things that we speak about now, like, we have women’s health, where it tracks our cycles every month, and they’re very big on us as women, and we’re never compared to the men.”

“She just wants women to be women,” summarised the satisfied English athlete. Brougham continued,“Obviously, what she’s putting in for us, we want to give back, and that will be performances on the pitch, working hard, and hoping that we get success for her.”

London City Lionesses will take to their new home at Hayes Lane when they host newly-promoted Newcastle for their opening match of the season. The two sides both looking to quickly climb the ladder of women’s football in England, with the top two tiers of the game now run by NewCo, will face off in Bromley as they hope to assert all-important early dominance.