Notts County Ladies – what are the Ladypies’ chances this season?

Notts County Ladies may have started off the season with a defeat at Manchester City – but their 2016-17 campaign is still full of promise.

In all the Ladypies face 16 fixtures against eight other teams across the next eight months.

This follows the Women’s Super League being expanded for 2016 with the addition of one extra team, taking the league from eight to nine.

Notts County v Arsenal in the Women’s Super League [picture: joshjdss cc-by-sa-2.0]

County will be hoping for a more successful campaign than last year where a rotten run saw them finish fifth in the league after a very strong start.

County won four of their 14 games and finished with 15 points, 17 points behind league winners Chelsea with 32.

Chelsea won the league last year, two points clear of Notts County’s opening day opponents Manchester City, who only came away with all three points last Wednesday thanks to a last-minute goal.

Lincoln were re-branded as Notts County in 2014 where they finished sixth in their debut season.

Notts County v Chelsea at the 2015 FA Cup final [picture: @cfcunofficial cc-by-sa-2.0]

And Notts County’s FAC Cup campaign this season started well on March 20  with a 3-1 win over Durham Women, with Rachel Williams scoring a brace and Ellen White adding her name to the score sheet.

This puts them through to the quarter finals where they could face fellow Super League names such as Arsenal, Sunderland or Chelsea

It follows Notts County reaching the first ladies’ FA Cup final at Wembley last year, where they lost 1-0 to Chelsea Ladies.

The Ladypies also reached the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup final where they lost in a final for the second team that season losing 3-0 to Arsenal.

Six new players have joined Notts County during the close season with Rachel Yankey being one of the best-known names in women’s football.

She has made 129 appearances for England and is on loan at Notts County for 66 days.

Joining her is fullback Chelsea Watson who was signed from Birmingham City after making over 50 appearances in her second spell at the Blues which lasted four years.

Aivi Luik will bring experience of winning silverware to the Ladypies as she won the W-League title with the newly founded Melbourne last season.

Swedish star Maja Krantz was signed from Linkopings, who won the top Swedish division during her seven year stint there.

Welsh international Angharad James signed from Bristol City, where she spent four seasons, bringing with her a depth of experience of the Women’s Super League.

She made her international debut in 2011 at the age of 17 and has earned 34 caps at the age of 21.

Also 21, Megan Walsh signed for Notts County from Everton after establishing herself in the first team after initially being signed with the view of being a back-up goalkeeper.

Four players have also left the club, with arguably the biggest departure being England international left back Alex Greenwood’s move to rivals Liverpool for an undisclosed fee after arriving at Notts County from Everton in 2015.

VIDEO: Ex-Notts County player Alex Greenwood speaking about inspiring young players

Alex Greenwood spoke to Notts TV last year about the rise in profile of women’s football in England because of a successful World Cup campaign last year, where England earned the bronze medal.

She said: “The feedback so far is that a lot of girls have been inspired by the World Cup.

“They look up to us as I think they want to play in World Cups and that’s certainly what we set out to do.

“Girls wanting to play in World Cups makes me happy and excited about what is to come.”

Women’s international teams are in FIFA 16 [picture: Marco Verch, cc-by-sa-2.0]

The rise in the profile of women’s football saw it integrated onto the world’s most popular football video game.

FIFA 16 saw the inclusion of twelve women’s international teams, including England, and the World Cup winners USA.

Many of the players that can be found in the FIFA 16 squad play their club football in the Women’s Super League including Notts County’s Laura Bassett and Carly Telford.