We've only had two rounds of the pros but already there is only one perfect team (Manchester City) and two pointless clubs (Manchester United and Charlton Athletic) in WSL. As a life-long United fan, I can imagine the feeling at the Progress with Unity Stadium where there has been precious little progress or unity under new Head Coach Eva Olid. They are on their longest winless streak since reforming in 2018 at 8 matches and this is definitively the worst feeling period since the originally affiliated side folded in 2005. I'm not going to revisit those dark days, when the club didn't even feel the need to support a fourth division amateur side. My friends, it IS too early to panic.
In fact, there are more perfect teams in WSL2, with Sunderland, Leicester and Newcastle yet to drop a point. Conversely, staring down an early pointless streak at the foot of the pros are Bristol City, Durham and Sheffield United. Ironically, there are more pointless clubs across the top two divisions than there are relegation spots so someone is gonna stumble out of the blocks and still finish the race.
Rugby Borough remain perfect in the third tier, continuing their impressive push for professional footy. Oxford United and Fulham are also making light work of life in a higher division. Leeds United in D1 North, Leafield Athletic in D1 Midlands, Moneyfields and Bridgwater United in the D1 South West are perfect, with Leafield and Moneyfields in particular showing resilience following their playoff loss last season. The Moneys even entered the last day of the regular season with a chance of automatic promotion and instead remained in D1. Billericay Town are spiraling; having been relegated last season, they are now bottom of D1 SE.
To return briefly to my former topic and my former neighbors at Chorley Women FC is to go full circle, as a current Manchester United player, the entrepreneurial/philanthropic Ella Toone, has invested creative backing in the independent Community Interest Company, but things are yet to turn a corner on the pitch - CWFC are 0-0-4 in the D1 North. Whether relegation is an end-of-life moment for the impressive outfit is debatable, given the FA's introduction of a more unified system of regional leagues across the fourth, fifth and sixth divisions. The binary is not equal, but it is worth noting that CWFC share a ground with a 9th division men's club (the beautifully named Euxton Villa).
