ON paper, it is the kind of David-versus-Goliath encounter that the FA Cup was made for.
Manchester United Women boast the backing one of the biggest men’s clubs in the world, enabling them to have splashed out in the summer to poach England internationals Nikita Parris and Maya Le Tissier from their leading rivals. Having just passed the halfway stage of the Women’s Super League season, they currently sit at the top of the table, a point clear of Chelsea and three ahead of Manchester City.
Durham Women are currently in their first season as a full-time outfit, having previously been a part-club that was only founded in 2014 thanks to an initial collaboration between South Durham & Cestria Girls and Durham University. They currently sit eighth in the FA Women’s Championship, the second tier of the domestic game.
In many ways, they are poles apart, and as the leading men’s clubs continue to pump increased sums into the women’s game, the gap dividing them is only set to grow bigger. Yet, over the course of 90 minutes, anything is possible, as proved by this season’s Continental Cup game when Durham beat an admittedly much-changed Manchester United side on penalties after a 2-2 draw at Maiden Castle.
On Sunday, the clubs lock horns again in the FA Cup fifth round, and while a full-strength Manchester United will start as strong favourites at their Leigh Sports Village home, Durham will hardly be overawed by the challenge of taking them on.
“We’ve beaten them once this season, drew last season, and beat them the season before,” said Durham head coach Lee Sanders, who has been the driving force behind the club’s development into the leading women’s team in the North-East. “The record we’ve got against them is quite good.
“Obviously, it’s a different game altogether. They’ll have changed things up in the Conti Cup, like most teams do, so we’re expecting a different challenge. But I’m sure the players and staff will want to rise to that.
“Historically, we’ve done well in these kind of games. In the FA Cup and other cup competitions, we’ve competed against Everton, Bristol, when they were in the Super League, Chelsea, where we got to the FA Cup quarter-final and just lost by a goal.
“That was a great occasion back in 2018. Then we’ve played Manchester United a few times as well. We’ve always managed to raise our game and step up. I fully expect that the players and staff will want to do that again.”
Having evolved out of the North-East grassroots scene to secure a spot in the new WSL structure when it was initially formulated in 2014, the Wildcats are no strangers to having punch above their weight.
The current Championship fixture schedule pits them against the likes of Southampton, Crystal Palace, Blackburn and Sheffield United, while in their own region, the growing interest that both Newcastle United and Sunderland are showing in supporting their women’s teams means their status as North-East top dogs can no longer be taken for granted.
They have never competed on a financially-level playing field, and so have had to develop innovative approaches such as the tie-up with Durham University that enables them to entice young players with the offer of an educational scholarship, but in the last few years, with the success of the Lionesses having taken the women’s game to a new level, the gulf between the haves and the have-nots has got ever wider.
Last month, Arsenal Women reportedly offered £500,000 to try to sign England striker Alessia Russo from Manchester United, even though she is in the final six months of her contract with the Red Devils.
Manchester United stood firm, but such sums would have been imaginable within the women’s game just a couple of years ago. Is the influx of so much cash at the very top end of the pyramid a good thing? Or does it create a barrier that will prevent the likes of Durham from ever being able to dream of achieving success at the highest level?
“That’s a tough one,” said Sanders. “I think you’ve got to look at it as a huge positive for the women’s game. The commercial revenue has been transformed, and let’s be honest, the broadcast deals probably wouldn’t have been possible without those big clubs really buying into it.
“Of course, there is a big difference in budget, but if you strip away that investment that the men’s clubs are putting into it, then there’s not actually that much difference in terms of what is being brought in by the independents and the clubs that are backed by men’s teams.
“They’re just fortunate that the men’s clubs are willing to invest, and that’s great. We’re a different model. In some ways, it’s quite exciting because we’ve got the potential to do things differently in the opportunity arises."
Hence, the university tie-up, and also Durham’s willingness to explore commercial avenues that would perhaps be closed off to the likes of Manchester United, who are so closely entwined with their respective men’s teams.
“Who knows? The owner of NetFlix could come in and say, ‘We want to invest in a women’s club’,” said Sanders. “All of a sudden, that would elevate us, just in a different way.
“We can go out and make our own commercial deals. If you look at our club compared to a lot of women’s clubs, in terms of how much we bring in commercially, then we probably do better than most.
“Even if you look at the league we’re in at the minute, we are competing against some budgets that are bigger than ours, and have done in the past. But we’re quite comfortable in the space where we’re at, at this moment in time, and how we’re developing as a football club.”
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