In 2014 the Women’s Super League expanded into two tiers comprising 18 teams and Manchester City were ready to take the opportunity to climb. Having worked their way into the Premier League National Division, they ambitiously bid for a place in the top two leagues. Controversially, the side were granted a place in the top flight, relegating Doncaster Rovers Belles to the second tier to make way.
City were serious about cementing their place at the top, and one of the players they recruited to help do so was Lincoln Ladies’ Karen Bardsley. Now 33, the England international has watched as City have shaken off the discontent around their WSL place to become one of the world’s leading women’s football teams.
With the WSL set for further change next season – the top tier becoming fully professional and second tier semi-pro – she is excited about what this next step will do for women’s football.
“I think what’s really exciting about the women’s game at the moment is the professional interest from clubs,” the goalkeeper says.
“The technical ability and tactical understanding is going to improve massively, which is going to improve the game as a whole. But also, as you can already see, it can start attracting international talent and you’re going to open the league up for even greater global audiences. So that, for me, is what is really exciting about the league and obviously competition for places is also, importantly, going to improve the national team too.”
For Bardsley – who was born, grew up and developed as a player in the US but, with parents from Greater Manchester, chose to play for England – the opportunity to provide young girls with aspirations to become professional is also key. “For girls coming into the game it’s really important that they realise that there is a potential career and a living to be made playing women’s football,” she says.
“It’s no longer just a hobby where, when you get the age of 14 or 15, you just kind of lose interest because there’s no future in it. If you want one you can make one. Hopefully it will affect the number of girls participating early on but also increase the numbers that stick with it as they grow up and perceptions of the general population will change.”
Having held on to their unbeaten crown this season for a month longer than the men’s side, City relinquished their place at the top of WSL1 as a double from international team-mate Ellen White handed them a 2-0 defeat at Birmingham on 21 February. Bardsley had to watch from the sidelines, 18-year-old Ellie Roebuck thrown into the breach, having picked up a shoulder injury in their goalless draw at Chelsea at the start of the month.
But with seven games to go and the Citizens a point behind Chelsea, the destination of the title is still in the balance. “The great thing is that the league is becoming much closer. At the top but between the mid-table teams too. On the day anyone can beat anyone so that’s really exciting,” she says.
“It is going to be hard because every team is constantly evolving. We’re being spurred on to adapt and change and that’s a really exciting for me to be a part of, because it really challenges you and puts you outside your comfort zone.”
The veteran goalkeeper sat out virtually the whole of February, but was back between the sticks for Phil Neville’s first game in charge as England ran out 4-1 victors against France in the SheBelieves Cup.
It was apt that Bardsley should make her international return against France, having not played since England’s Euro 2017 quarter-final win over the French. With the Lionesses 1-0 up, a collision with captain Steph Houghton saw Bardsley play on for 14 minutes with a broken leg before she was forced off. “It got to the point that I realised it was more of a detriment to the team. Basically if I had conceded I goal in that period of time I never would have forgiven myself,” she says.
She then had to watch from the stands as England were outplayed by Holland in a semi-final they thought they could win. “Yeah, that sucked,” she says. “It’s one of the first times that every person in the camp believed that we were going to go to the final, if not win it. Maybe on the day, whether we got tactics wrong or it was the execution, we still had moments in the game where we could have scored. So I would still have approached everything we did in the same manner.”
While, as a keeper, the clock is not ticking down on her career, she is preparing for life beyond the grass. “Unfortunately everyone’s football career does come to an end,” she says. “Hopefully mine doesn’t come very soon. But I’m a big believer in taking the necessary steps to being prepared for any scenario.”
Bardsley is currently studying on the Master of Sport Directorship (MSD) course – which, for the second year running, will have a £9,000 Women in Sports Leadership scholarship – at Manchester Metropolitan University whose alumni include Steve McClaren and Ashley Giles. Getting more women involved at the top of sport is something she is enthusiastic about: “I think the course was really attractive because women’s sport is really underrepresented at multiple levels.
“You have to stand and fight for what you believe. Until people take a more vested interest nothing is going to change. Everyone provides a different experience and for me personally it’s important that all perspectives are seen. That’s the difference we can make.”
Her experience at City has shown her how productive a more representative approach can be: “I think City is a really good example of how you shift the culture internally,” she says. “We’ve had a big culture shift, particularly in the academy. Young boys are now more comfortable with strong female athletes being around. Everyone has a mother, sister, daughter or girlfriend in their lives, but it’s about recognising the importance of them having a right to opportunities as well.”
Talking points
• England remain unbeaten at the SheBelieves Cup after Ellen White’s double helped the Lionesses twice come from behind to salvage a point against Germany. Having comfortably beaten France, Phil Neville’s side struggled defensively against the Germans, with their second bouncing off the back of Millie Bright after they missed multiple chances to clear.
Ellen White fires at goal. Photograph: Elsa/Getty Images
• In the Algarve Cup Holland beat Denmark 3-2, one goal shy of their winning margin against the same opponents in the Euro 2017 final. Pernille Harder put the eventual losers ahead but an own goal in the 94th minute with the scores level punished the Danes.
• And in the Cyprus Cup Italy put three past Wales – who play Finland on Wednesday – but Spain were held 0-0 by Belgium.
• Arsenal and England winger Jordan Nobbs has been voted the London FA Women’s Player of the Year for the second year running.