Oxford United Women will find out soon whether their application to move up the leagues has been successful or not.
The U’s applied for ‘promotion’ after their National League season was ended early and boss Liam Gilbert is now hoping that a decision goes in their favour as to whether they can move up a league
“Because of covid the last two seasons have been null and voided and the FA have put together a list of requirements if we want to play in the league above” he told us. “55% of that is based on Points Per Game over the last two seasons, which we have done quite well with, and cup runs come into it as well where we had a good cup run this year.
“Then the rest is down to off field things like facilities, RTC and the structure of the club. There are a lot of different factors but we are confident in what we are doing as a club and would love the opportunity to take us back to that higher level.
“We have applied for the Championship. It would be a challenge but I think that’s what we need right now. Over the last three years we have rebuilt things from bare bones to a very strong side, with a Development Team, decent attendances and we have been close to the top of the league both seasons: I would have loved this season to have played out to see what happened on the pitch.
“A decision is expected around the end of the month and we are hopeful. If it’s not to be then we stay in the same league and we go and try to win promotion on the pitch next season. That would be a massive incentive.”
Women's football continues to grow with the First Team ending their season with a friendly against Nottingham Forest this weekend, the Development Side growing all the time and everything set for further growth whichever division the First Team find themselves in:
“We’ve been playing friendlies and trying to arrange them as ‘double headers’ with the first team and development team playing straight after each other so we can see everyone play, especially some of the younger players coming through to see where they are at. Other players are coming back from injury so it has been good to have these games to end the season.”
This summer will also see open trials for new players:
“There may be players out there who are interested in joining” Liam said. “It may well be that they are part of the development team, which is going into its second year and is growing all the time but we are also committed to helping women’s football develop so if there are players out there who aren’t sure what level they can play at then get in touch too and we can help you with that because we have connections with all of our local clubs.“
This weekend sees one final big game before a well-earned rest :
“We have a little time off in June then we come back in from July and we prepare for another season, hopefully with the fans at games. We have had fantastic support and growth: we streamed the FA Cup games and had fantastic viewing figures so we know there are fans out there and we would love those fans to come and see us live.”
Interested in trials? email: kfaulkner@oufc.co.uk