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Cheltenham Town Women assistant manager Mike Harris has explained his in-depth thoughts on the recent Women’s Super League rebrand.
Harris supported CTFC Women manager Tom Davies during a record-breaking season for the club. The Robinesses finished eighth in the FA WPL Premier Division South and View this post on Instagram
“>made it to the final of the FA WNL Plate.
The Women’s Championship will be renamed to the Women’s Super League 2 from the start of the 2025-26 season as part of a major rebrand. Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), the company that oversees the top two divisions in women’s football, showed off new emblems, names, and visual identity.
Speaking to Park Life Sport reporter Ben Stevens, assistant coach Harris provided his thorough verdict on the rebrand. See his uninterrupted statement below.
MIKE HARRIS: I’ve seen all the stuff come out with the new marketing materials and for me, it’s all about the why. I don’t necessarily understand why. What I do understand is that the Super League brand is quite strong, and maybe going for the championship is acknowledging that the term is too closely associated with the men’s game, and by having a Super League two and tying in this Super League two to the women’s football brand, it makes sense to me.
We’re not just a league. We’re a movement.
— Barclays WSL 2 (@BarclaysWSL2) May 12, 2025
This is the new era of Women’s Super League Football.#BarclaysWSL #BarclaysWSL2 pic.twitter.com/wYnUSqKkgl
But ultimately, it’s important to know what actions are going to come off the back of it. So, I think the biggest things that people are waiting for are the changes in the size of the leagues and the changes in the structure of the expectations of clubs.
For me, the impression that I get is that there’s a big focus on those top two leagues to really build interest in the women’s game out of the National League at Tier 3 and 4. I have introduced minimum standards, and those standards are rising every single year, they’re trying to raise the profile and the professionalism of the game. which is in some ways great.
It’s really important that there’ll be a fine investment in the women’s game and that we grow crowds, but also that we set up a set of expectations that you don’t need the funding from the men’s teams ultimately to run because, for sustainability reasons, that kind of push puts teams in difficult positions.
I think it’s really important that we acknowledge the importance of independent clubs at a time when London City, Lionesses and Rootford, can be done. So, for me, it’s all about good, sustainable growth whilst pushing investment as much as we can and growing the game.
