When the FA WSL was formed in 2011, Arsenal Ladies were a dominant force in women’s football and now they’re a shadow of their former selves – what happened?
The Arsenal Women have had a rich history since their inception 30 years ago.
Back in 2011, when the FA WSL was created, the Arsenal were the dominant team, winning regular titles and cups. That domination was one of the reasons behind the FA implementing changes in order to make the league more competitive.
It must be said, thanks to Vic Akers and the Arsenal board, the Ladies team, as it was called at the time, received strong financial backing, which allowed quality players to be signed. For example, at one time, the England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland captains were all playing for the club at the top of their game.
Seasons 2011-12: The Laura Harvey years
Quite simply the best FA WSL years for the Arsenal Ladies were 2011-12.
Basically, the club carried on dominating the FA WSL the same way as they had dominated the FA Women’s Premier League.
Laura Harvey led the club to two consecutive titles and Champions League semi-finals.
At the time, the whole League was semi-professional with teams still training only twice a week, therefore Arsenal took advantage of their superior squad quality and excellent management under Laura Harvey.
At the end of the 2012 season, Laura Harvey left the club to coach in the newly formed NWSL in the USA and had have five very successful seasons over there as the general manager and coach of Seattle Reign.
Honours in that period:
- FA WSL 2011, 2012
- FA Women’s Cup 2010-11
- FA WSL Continental Cup 2011, 2012
League record:
- 2011: P14 W10 D2 L2, 32 points, finished 1st
- 2012: P14 W10 D4 L0 (unbeaten), 34 points, finished 1st
Seasons 2013-14: The Shelley Kerr years
The former Scotland u19 manager arrived at the beginning of the 2013 season and inherited a strong squad with many long-serving players.
The Kerr era saw Liverpool gain a competitive advantage over every other team, as they went to full-time training under Matt Beard. They subsequently won the league the following two seasons as every other team tried to catch up with them.
In that period, Kerr tried to implement changes inside the club. She tried to move towards training on a daily basis.
Unfortunately for her, she encountered resistance from senior players on her management methods.
For example, she decided to remove the captain’s armband from Jayne Ludlow, in a manner that led to the subsequent mid-season retirement of the Welsh legend and clear unrest among senior players.
Reform and change are not easy to make, especially at a club like Arsenal Ladies, where traditional methods were anchored in the team’s DNA.
The combination of Liverpool improving quickly, and the deteriorating internal atmosphere meant Arsenal missed out on a Champions League place for the first time in many years.
Bristol surprised everyone under Mark Sampson. Their counter-attacking, efficient style helped them grab second place ahead of the Gunners. Although, it didn’t help that the club was deducted three points for playing an ineligible player.
At the end of the 2013, the divide between the senior players and the manager was made clear as many left the club, either for better conditions elsewhere or because they did not want to work with Kerr any more.
The transfer window that winter was indeed very busy with many players departing.
However, the replacements that came in did not perform as expected.
With the club in clear transition on and off the pitch, the results carried on declining in the league, while success in the cup allowed the club to maintain its excellent record of getting at least one trophy per season.
In the end, a string of bad results that left the team in danger of not qualifying for the Champions League once again, led to the manager leaving the club.
She was also responsible for the Ladies’ first and only defeat to a lower division side in the main cup.
Kerr wrongly put out slow center-backs against Reading, who were managed by Jayne Ludlow, in order to deal with the speedy forward Fran Kirby, while she played our speediest defender at left-back.
Unsurprisingly Kirby scored two goals in that game.
Kerr left at the mid-season break, winning the FA Women’s Cup in her last game.
A period of transition over a few months followed with John Bayer and then Kelly Smith taking over as caretaker managers, before Pedro Losa was appointed as the new Arsenal manager.
Honours in that period:
- FA Women’s Cup 2013-14
- FAWSL Continental Cup 2013
League record:
- 2013: P14 W10 D3 L1, 30 pts (3 points deducted for fielding an ineligible player), finished third
- 2014:Kerr’s record was P3 W0 D1 L2 1 point before she resigned, Arsenal finished fourth
Seasons 2014-2017: The Pedro Losa years
Pedro Losa came to Arsenal with the aim of rebuilding the side after the Kerr years and to stamp his ideas on the side. He came at the tail end of the 2014 season and did not really have time to implement big changes.
Unfortunately, he started his reign with a defeat in the Conti Cup final.
That defeat was key because it opened the door to Manchester City’s winning mentality. It is well known that the first trophy is the hardest one to win. City were not as strong as they are now and it was a crucial win for them.
In terms of league results, Losa had no time to stamp his identity on the team with the squad already settled.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 cost the Gunners a place in the Champions League. The league restarted a week after the Lionesses had won bronze and some of the England players came back injured, like Jordan Nobbs, or tired and their form dropped.
Despite this, Pedro Losa managed to win the Conti Cup with a 3-0 victory over Notts County.
It has to be said, in men’s football, the league would never be allowed to start a week after the World Cup final; players always get a month off to rest and recharge the batteries.
The squad was also a bit short at the time with many youngsters thrown at the deep end without much preparation for big games in the second half of that season.
In 2016, the League title challenge was finished after matchday three as Arsenal lost their second game in a row. Manchester City and Chelsea finished in the top two places.
The manager resorted to chopping and changing formations and the starting line up.
There was another cup win with the FA Cup, won at Wembley Stadium against Chelsea thanks to a Danielle Carter screamer.
In 2017, a quality Spring series produced a lot of hope, as the team went unbeaten. With a stabilised squad and starting XI, the club looked to be on the right path back and went back to winning ways.
The defensive stability was built upon the pairing of two 18-year-olds at centre-back, Patten and Wubben-Moy, but unfortunately both left to study in the USA during the summer transfer window.
The season 2017/18 was a short one unfortunately for the manager.
An awful start to the competition sealed his fate and he left the club after three league games.
Honours in that period:
- FA Women’s Cup 2015-16
- FA WSL Continental Cup 2015
League Record:
- 2014: Losa’s record P3 W2 D1 L0, 7 pts, finished fourth
- 2015: P14 W8 D3 L3, 27 points, finished third
- 2016: P16 W10 D2 L4, 32 points, finished third
- 2017: Spring Series, P8 W5 D3 L0 (unbeaten), 18 points, finished third
- 2017-18: P3 W1 D1 L1, 4 points before Losa was sacked
Arsenal Women’s FA WSL years can be resumed as follows: superb for two seasons, disappointing for the next two and inconsistent for the following three.
Hopefully, Joe Montemurro will be able to bring back the glory to the club that was once the leading women’s side in England and is now just a shadow of its former self.