Expected Goals

How big should a women's football stadium be? Maggie and Matt are on hand to try and give you a definitive answer, off the back of recent comments from Glasgow Rangers’ head of women’s football about building an 8,000 capacity stadium. They also analyse a record deal for Gotham in the NWSL with personal care brand Dove - and explore what it indicates about the next wave of sponsors in women’s foot...

Lee Sanders and Mark Donnelly, the driving forces behind English Championship side Durham, are special guests this week. Lee has spent much of his life and career as a youth football coach, and was the driving force of establishing Durham Women. He also managed the team for a significant period of its existence, and now serves as the club’s Head of Football. A former journalist, Mark meanwhile joi...

Chelsea signed the best defender to have ever graced women's football, according to Emma Hayes, for a world record transfer fee. Several other high-profile players left the NWSL for Europe. And Chloe Kelly had to take to social media to force a move. Matt and Maggie explain what the movements from this January’s transfer window tell you about the changing power dynamics across players, leagues and...

There's a consultation out from the English Football Association to allow B teams from Women’s Super League and Championship clubs to play in the National League from 2026/27. Maggie and Matt lay out the pros, cons and likelihood of it happening. They also look at the third edition of the Deloitte Football Money League for women’s football - what we can learn from it and what it demonstrates about...

This week Matt and Maggie discuss the rumpus being caused by news that Celtic and Rangers have been in talks about joining English football, and how that’s related to the WSL potentially becoming a closed league. They also do a deep-dive into finances in the lower tiers of English football, and answer a listener question about the launch of the Bay Collective, a new multi-club ownership group that...

Happy New Year and welcome to Season Two of Expected Goals. Because you've not heard from Maggie and Matt since before Christmas, in this first episode of the year they've got short and sharp analysis of all the news from the business of women’s football from the last month. Consider it a cheat sheet to bring you up to speed as you get cracking for 2025. This includes: The English Championship, wh...

This week Matt and Maggie are joined by a special guest, Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, who is the former General Secretary of FIFPro, the representative body for more than 65,000 professional men’s and women’s football players. So it's the perfect chance to answer all your questions on arguably the most important stakeholder in the women's football ecoystem: the players. The podcasts focuses on three areas...

With reports that the second-tier league in England, the Championship, is set to be rebranded as the WSL2, Maggie and Matt take a look at the rationale behind it, whether branding experts believe it’s a good idea, and what can be learnt from women’s leagues and clubs who have changed their identity. They also give an update on the Independent Review into women’s football chaired by Karen Carney fo...

Are we seeing a popularity and therefore commercial contest developing between the NWSL and WSL? This was suggested in a recent article from Mike Darcey, the former COO of Sky in the UK, who compared the domestic broadcast deals for the two leagues. Maggie and Matt are at hand to analyse. They also look at why almost all the main women's fantasy football platforms are run by unofficial providers a...

This week's episode of Expected Goals was recorded live at Edgbaston, home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, at the launch of Bears Women on November 20. Bears Women will be one of eight professional women's cricket teams competing in new regional "tier one" competitions from 2025, meaning for the first time, a professional Warwickshire women’s team will compete alongside the men’s. Maggie and...

Twitter, now known as X, has played an important role in the promotion and growth of women's football across the last decade. So what would an exodus of accounts and users mean for the game? Matt and Maggie take a detailed look, with the help of a Mary Earps social media case study. They also look at attendances in the Women's Super League and Championship for the weekend just gone, with both leag...

With Arsenal having to move their women’s Champions League game against Bayern Munich at the Emirates to make way for a men’s Carabao Cup game, Matt and Maggie ask the question: are clubs being too ambitious about playing games in “main” stadia? They also look at the pros and cons of bundling and unbundling commercial rights for women's football properties, and answer a fantastic question about ho...

Wrexham's Hollywood owners want its women's team to become "the best in the world". But if they are serious about achieving that lofty ambition, it's going to cause some serious headaches at a league, national association and international federation level. Matt and Maggie explain why. They also dissect the new broadcast deal for the Women’s Super League, and look at the women's football strategie...

This week Maggie and Matt are joined this week by their first ever guest, Polly Bancroft. Polly is currently CEO of Grimsby Town - whose men’s team are in League 2, and whose women’s team play regionally in the sixth tier - and spent several years heading up women’s club football at the highest level, including Manchester Utd and Brighton. And they are only taking listener questions, which include...

With the WPL last week saying they are going to test the waters of dropping the booze ban in the Championship, Maggie and Matt look at whether it’s a process driven by revenue or fan growth, and what it might tell us about the audience women’s football in the UK is going after. They also look at why “Hollywood” investors have come in for part-time, third-tier Watford Women, and the best way to str...

How big is the market for women’s football shirts, and why is it so complicated to buy what you want? Matt and Maggie are here to explain, and answer your questions too. Which include this week whether leagues, teams and players should focus MORE on the personal lives and relationships within women’s football to support growing interest They also raise the question of whether clubs should be inspi...

This week Maggie and Matt answer your questions on the merits of closed leagues vs promotion/relegation, and a call to make goals smaller for the women's game (!). The also explore whether we should be worried average attendances for the Women's Super League to date are the lowest since 2021/22, and in a world where countries and cities are shying away from hosting major sports events, why women's...

The first episode of Expected Goals is here! Join Matt and Maggie as they discuss the mechanics of the new Barclays sponsorship renewal and what it means for women’s football in the UK; why there's a lot of noise at the moment coming from the investment groups circling women’s football at the moment; and listener questions on the relationship between women's football and betting, and Chelsea's for...

Matt Cutler and Maggie Murphy are delighted to introduce you to Expected Goals - a new podcast to lead the conversation for the business of women's football. Every week they'll bring you an inside track on the stories and decisions being made in one of the fastest-growing areas of sport. They’ll be talking investment, ownership, sponsorship deals, and just how many pies you need to sell on a match...