Phil Neville reveals Birmingham City as the second Women's Super League team to be furloughed

Phil Neville has revealed that Birmingham City’s women’s team was the second team to be furloughed in the Women’s Super League.

Last month Reading became the only known top flight side to place their squad on the emergency government scheme during the Covid-19 lockdown, while committing to supplement the other 20 per cent of players’ salaries.

However, on Wednesday England manager Neville appeared to effectively out another WSL club, Birmingham City, claiming it had also put their players on furlough.

Earlier this week the Football Association cancelled the season for the top two women’s divisions and, while speaking on beIN Sports, Neville referenced Reading and Birmingham, saying he hoped it would not spell a downward turn in commitment from clubs to their female squads.

“I’d say for the whole of the lockdown period the news and focus has been on the Premier League. You could say League One and Two had been brushed aside but the Women’s Super League have been in a lot of talks and the goings on of what they were going to do and got cancelled [on Monday],” Neville, who announced last month he would be stepping down from the Lionesses job next summer, said.

“But the momentum we’ve built up over the last two years, my biggest concern is we need to keep that momentum, and to do that we will need the support of the big clubs, the Premier League, the big organisations, to keep backing women’s football because at the moment nobody has spoken about women’s football for the last 60 days. I think it was disappointing the league got cancelled but I do think it was the right decision for women’s football.

“I’m pretty sure the likes of Man United, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal, will look after their women’s team, there is a massive commitment there. It’s teams like Bristol City, Birmingham, who are in the WSL, Brighton even, when they’re looking at their budgets for the year, obviously the biggest income is on the men’s side.

“Reading and Birmingham have both furloughed their women’s teams and staff in this moment in time – I hope we don’t lose them because ultimately there’s only 12 teams in the women’s senior division so we need to keep teams like Birmingham, Bristol City, Reading, because they’re really good teams that have been there from the start.”

The FA are yet to confirm the sporting outcomes of the WSL and Championship season, with the possibility of scrapping relegation and promotion as well as a points-per-game determining the results among the options still on the table. With no word yet on when women’s football will resume, the Telegraph Sport reported on Tuesday that the decision has left some players out of contract and in limbo until further details are released.

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