This weekend marks the end of the domestic women’s season as Glasgow City take on Celtic in the Scottish Cup to complete another full campaign’s worth of action.
Sunday’s final at Tynecastle comes at the end of an historic week in the domestic game, after the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the new Scottish Women’s Premier League took place midweek.
City are currently the holders of the Scottish Cup – a reign which dates back to their 4-3 victory over Hibernian in 2019, as the competition was unable to return due to the pandemic in both 2020 and 2021.
Celtic, meanwhile, count 2008 as their previous Scottish Cup final appearance. It was an afternoon where they lost out 3-1 after extra-time, with Hibs their opponents, too.
The Hoops have rebuilt their women’s programme since then, and the professionalism and infrastructure at club have developed significantly.
Although they have never lifted the Scottish Cup, they earned League Cup silverware this season under their current leader, Fran Alonso.
The Spaniard led his side to that League Cup victory earlier in the campaign against City, which must be a real psychological boost as they look to end the season with a historic cup double which would make it the club’s most successful season to date.
City, too, will be concerned about the history books – but for opposite reasons.
The pressure for City is slightly different, as they face the potential of ending a season trophy-less for the first time in roughly two decades.
They relinquished their long-standing status as top-flight league champions two weekends ago to Rangers, and – having also lost their cup showpiece with the Celts earlier in the season – they’ll be feeling the gravity of the unfamiliar situation they find themselves in.
City will need to lean on some of their more experienced players to get them over the line, as it’s set to be a tight affair based on the four very close encounters between the two teams already this season.
I’m looking at Hayley Lauder to lead by example in terms of setting the level of intensity in the game her side will need, and Clare Shine will hope she can emulate her two goals from the 2019 final.
When Eileen Gleeson took charge at City, a transitional period was expected and changes were and are expected to renew the current squad and leadership group within it.
Gleeson’s decision to leave her role as assistant boss with the Republic of Ireland to take on the City job came with a significant amount of expectation and a vast history of success at the club which will be near-impossible to replicate – given the growing competitiveness of the league.
She has had a steady start, but losing out on the league and the League Cup will hurt, and this is an important opportunity for the club to re-establish those winning ways which have been ingrained within City’s DNA for so many years.
Showpiece matches like the cup final were the occasions where sides would have least fancied their chances against a ruthless City previously, but, since they lost their foothold as Scotland’s undisputed best side, there is now an added bit of hope for their opponents.
Scots at the heart of some of English league’s biggest transfer questions
Transfer records are likely to be broken this summer and, south of the border, the FAWSL has already started to see the beginning of some movement.
Scots plying their trade in England could be at the forefront of the headlines as a number of players reach the end of their contracts.
The latest confirmed departure this week was that Caroline Weir is leaving Manchester City when her contract expires in June.
The Scotland midfielder has been one of City’s best performers over her four years with the club and unsurprisingly has been hotly-linked with a number of Europe’s biggest names, including Real Madrid.
We can confirm that Caroline Weir and Karima Benameur Taieb will leave the Club at the end of their current contracts this summer.
Everybody at Manchester City would like to thank Caroline and Karima and wish them the best for the future 💙
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 25, 2022
Another of my international team-mates, Claire Emslie, has already confirmed she will leave Everton when her contract expires, while Lisa Evans is looking to confirm a permanent move away from Arsenal, after she ended the year on loan with West Ham.
With Birmingham City’s relegation from the English top-flight, Scotland midfielder Lisa Robertson will return to her parent club Celtic. Having nevertheless enjoyed her loan spell with the Blues, Robertson was also rewarded with a return to the national team reckoning.
Celtic missed out on European qualification, and Robertson will strengthen them in midfield for next term as things stand.
Her fellow Scotland midfielder, Christie Murray, remains under contract at Birmingham as the side drops to the Championship.
Despite speculation she would be moving on, Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema has agreed a new one-year deal to stay at Arsenal.
The forward is the leading goal-scorer in FAWSL history and joins another Scot, Jennifer Beattie, who also extended her Gunners deal.
Meanwhile, something else which stood out to me in England was the news newly-promoted Southampton have offered their players professional contracts after they overcame Wolves 1-0 last weekend to earn their place in the Championship.
No surprise to see Blues clean up at end-of-season awards
The end-of-season FAWSL awards were all but a done deal before the ceremony even took place this week.
Unsurprisingly, it was a clean sweep for champions Chelsea as Emma Hayes claimed Manager of the Year, with Sam Kerr taking home the Player of the Year award.
Chelsea’s third league title in a row was deservedly acknowledged with Hayes’ recognition.
It was also right to mark Kerr’s contribution, given she scored 20 goals in 20 games in the league campaign.