Outrage as top football club to fold team with raft of Welsh players left to look for new jobs
Outrage as top football club to fold team with raft of Welsh players left to look for new jobs
It has been alleged that the players found out about the decision via a WhatsApp message from their teammate
Simon Parker, Head Coach of Blackburn Rovers' Women's team
Several Welsh footballers are set to be left looking for new jobs amid reports that Blackburn Rovers' owners are highly likely to pull funding for its women's side next season.
The team is set to withdraw from the Women's Championship next season due to the owners being unwilling to provide the funding to meet the division's minimum requirements on facilities, staffing and player welfare. While no official decision has yet been made, players have allegedly been told that the club's mind is "99 per cent" made up.
The deadline to decide if they want to meet the requirements and keep their place in the Women's Super League 2 next season is May 19, with talks set to be held over the weekend.
Without funding, however, they could be demoted to the Women's National League North, while the club's supporters group is concerned that the team is now "days away from ceasing to exist".
In the meantime, players have been left in limbo over what the future holds as they wait for an official decision to be made.
Eight Welsh players are set to be affected, with senior Wales internationals Georgia Walters, Chloe Williams and Poppy Soper likely to be forced into finding new jobs alongside Orla Howard, Senaiya Knill, Charlotte Salisbury-Williams, Casi Evans and Darcy Lancaster.
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Rovers Women have also produced England stars and Euro 2022 winners Keira Walsh, Ella Toone and Georgia Stanway.
Defender Niamh Murphy claimed earlier this week that the first team were told by a teammate via WhatsApp that there is a "99% chance the owners will not be financially supporting the team next season".
"Via WhatsApp today we, Blackburn Rovers Women first-team, were made aware that there is a 99 per cent chance that the club's owners won't be financially supporting the team next season," the 22-year-old full-back wrote on X.
"We were told by message by a fellow teammate that the club have been given a seven day deadline to state their intention to financially support the team and if this isn't signed then the club will be forced to drop out the Championship/WSL 2.
"I have been a Blackburn player for three seasons and the only consistency there has been is the lack of financial support from the club."
Murphy added: "Whilst this season may not look successful to others, we have once again avoided relegation despite having the smallest budget. This is a huge success and a credit to the women's players and staff.
"This group has worked relentlessly hard all season for so little reward. We all earn less than a liveable wage, with many players having to live away from home whilst also having to work other jobs to survive, and this is what we get in return.
"Us players and staff deserve far better than what we've experienced in recent seasons. We've once again been left in the dark, waiting to see if the owners will have the decency to do what's best for their players, staff and women's football."
The Blackburn Rovers Supporters Coalition has also issued a statement in response to the "deeply alarming" reports, saying that a withdrawal of funding would leave the women's team "days away from ceasing to exist".
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It slammed the club's owners for "putting their self-interest above and beyond the fabric" of the club, adding that "any move to scale back support is not only a betrayal of [the women's team's] legacy but a disgraceful signal of indifference".
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