Mcwfc

[Vic]

Manchester City relaunch women's side to much fanfare and investment

Manuel Pellegrini, Patrick Vieira and a packed out auditorium studded with television cameras – welcome to Manchester City's vision of women's football at the launch of Manchester City Women's FC (MCWFC).

The club formerly known as Manchester City Ladies FC have been taken under the wing of the men's club, revamped and thrust into the limelight with five new signings – including the former Arsenal captain Steph Houghton, the England stars Jill Scott and Toni Duggan, and the goalkeeper Karen Bardsley.

The new look is extraordinary. Where once nine-times league winners Arsenal Ladies, sharing the men's facilities at London Colney, set the benchmark for club football in this country, now Manchester City – along with Liverpool, last season's Women's Super League (WSL) winners – are blowing apart the traditional parameters for a women's club.

While Arsenal train four times a week, City's professional players are already training twice a day. And then there's the pre-season stint in La Manga. And a share of the state-of-the-art training facilities that the men's team will be using from the start of next season. And a brand new 7,000-seat stadium to play in from 2015. It's practically a revolution.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jan/24/manchester-city-relaunch-womens-football-investment

MCWFC, which will mirror and benefit from its association with its male equivalent, will be structured in all aspects of its operations to take advantage of the resources of the wider organisation – from community programmes, to youth development, scouting, coaching, sports science, digital coverage and first team football operations.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2545446/Star-studded-girls-Man-City-womens-relaunch-ahead-new-Super-League-term.html

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Teams/Women