How Newcastle United are plotting a course to the WSL

Jordan Nobbs has 71 caps for England and joined Newcastle at the start of the 2025-26 season "A few weeks ago, we didn't have this room - it didn't exist," says Newcastle United midfielder Jordan Nobbs, laughing as she gestures around the club's smart new players' lounge. In a corner, next to a new coffee machine, is a smoothie maker that is ready to be unpacked. This is a small but telling detail that captures the rapid pace of change for the women's team at Newcastle United. Only a few years ago they were languishing in the fourth tier of English football, operating independently and without the support of the men's club. Now established in WSL 2, and in the hunt for promotion to the Women's Super League, the squad fly to games, have their own chef and have a new training ground to call their own. "It's crazy how you blink and football changes," says 71-cap England international Nobbs, a three-time WSL winner with Arsenal who moved to Newcastle in the summer from Aston Villa. "Travelling with a chef is huge for a WSL 2 side - the ambition is here. Newcastle have given me that fire in my belly again." Newcastle became the first third-tier team in the women's game to turn professional at the end of the 2022-23 season Nobbs is one of a number of internationals who have been persuaded to join Newcastle's push for promotion. Others include two-time World Cup winner Morgan Gautrat of the United States, England's Demi Stokes and Australia's Kaitlyn Torpey. But it is not just this recruitment that has caught the eye. Arguably, a bigger shift has happened off the pitch. The speedy development of the women's team can be traced back to Newcastle's takeover by Saudi-led investors in 2021. Not long after, the women officially became part of the wider club, and in 2023 they turned fully professional. In October last year, they moved training base to a site that underwent a £5.2m transformation in 2019 and is just a few minutes' drive from where the men's team train. They have also played a number of fixtures at St James' Park, and the 38,502 that watched them beat Sunderland in May set a record attendance for a WSL 2 fixture. While the progression is clear, the Newcastle ownership, a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), remains a controversial backdrop because of the Gulf state's human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of 'sportswashing' in recent years after investing in sport and using it to improve its international reputation. Last September, Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah told the BBC she was the first to admit she "wouldn't choose Saudi Arabia as the owners of the club". However, she stressed supporters were the "last people who get to choose". It is an issue that will remain prevalent as long as PIF stays at the helm of Newcastle United. What's changed since Newcastle takeover? Council pressed to act over Saudi 'sportswashing' Newcastle manager Tanya Oxtoby was Emma Hayes' assistant at Chelsea before taking charge of Northern Ireland Grace Williams, director of women's football since August 2025, believes the club cannot wait around for promotion before behaving like a top-flight outfit. "The best way to explain it is the different departments that we've developed," Williams says. "It's not just a medical person and a coach. We've got a medical department, a head of performance and then there is social media, marketing, sports psychology, nutrition... "All the different departments that sit underneath the club are in place." There have been tough decisions taken too. In October, Newcastle sacked manager Becky Langley, who had led the club through successive promotions from the fourth tier to the second. In Langley's place, the club poached Tanya Oxtoby from Northern Ireland to be their new manager. "Big respect and thanks to Becky for where she got the club to. She should be really proud of what she achieved," Williams says. "For me, it was looking at what we can do to take it to that next level. "We wanted to be able to bring someone in that's experienced the top. Tanya brings everything that we wanted on and off the pitch." For her part, Oxtoby has fully bought into the drive to reach the top flight. "The biggest thing when I took this job was to try and get us WSL-ready," the former Chelsea assistant tells BBC Sport. "Since the moment I've walked in through the door, I've tried to challenge the processes and the way in which we work. "The club is ambitious - we don't shy away from that. And whether promotion happens this season, or happens next season, our destiny is in our own hands, which is great, because this league is so competitive." On whether she had any reservations about taking the job given the current ownership, Oxtoby says she is aware of the issues around sportswashing, but her decision to come to Tyneside came down to the club's ambition and values. "There was real alignment," she says. Oxtoby leaves NI to take over at Newcastle Former midfielder Rachel Furness can still picture the early reality at Newcastle's women's team. "I remember getting my first shirt and it was a men's over-sized shirt. That was what was spare so that's what you took." Now working as an under-16s coach at the club after two spells as a player, she believes the changes she has seen positively affect the next generation. "Since Tanya's come in, we are a lot more professional, in our behaviours and standards, which is what you need to do to be at the highest level," she says. "The difference is [young players] can see that they can be a professional footballer. The infrastructure is all there." After all, this season offers teams like Newcastle a unique opportunity for promotion. From 2026-27, the WSL will expand to 14 teams and, as a result, the top two from WSL 2 this term will gain immediate promotion. There will be a further play-off between the third-placed side and the bottom club in the WSL. Newcastle are firmly in the mix, but there is little room for slip-ups. Oxtoby's own outlook is relentless. "If we achieve [promotion], that's great, but the work doesn't stop there," she says. "We want to make sure that when we get to the Women's Super League that we are competing and pushing for Champions League places. "[Promotion] is the first step in what is going to be a massive journey for this club." Nobbs sees the process as potentially career-defining. "I didn't think there'd be much more I'd want to achieve in football," she says. "If I help Newcastle get into the top league, it'll be up there with one of the proudest things I've done." 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