Emily Evans profiles the leaders of each of the Championship clubs (27/12/23).
Christie Harrison-Murray
Birmingham City
The Scottish international is an attacking midfielder, who joined Birmingham City in 2020, becoming captain at the start of this season. She currently has made over 70 appearances for the Blues. Harrison-Murray’s previous clubs include the likes of Arsenal, Bristol Academy, Doncaster Rovers Belles, and Liverpool. As of Christmas 2023, the Blues currently hold first place in the Championship table, after coming in at second place in the 22/23 season, just one point off promoted Bristol City.
Since making her national team debut in 2010, she has 80 senior caps for her country and has been playing for them since the under 17s. Some of her biggest appearances include being selected for the Women’s Euro squad in 2017 and the Women’s World Cup squad in 2019.
Kate Longhurst
Charlton Athletic
The 34-year-old midfielder had been involved in the Women’s Super League from 2011, when she joined Chelsea, and reached the FA Cup final in 2012. She made the move to Liverpool, winning back-to-back WSL titles in 2013 and 2014. After spending five years at the club, Longhurst moved south to West Ham United before moving to Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2023.
The midfielder has represented England at many of the youth age groups, and scored a goal to secure the 2-0 win for England in the Nationwide under-17 Tournament final against Scotland.
Brianna Westrup
Sunderland
Playing as a defender, the Scottish international joined Sunderland in 2022 and has thus far made 23 appearances for the club, scoring three goals. During 2019-2020, she played for Newcastle United, before moving to Rangers in 2020. She stayed there until the end of 2022, when she won the club’s Player of the Year, before moving to Sunderland.
The 26-year-old was selected to be part of the Scotland squad in 2021, due to her mother being born there. She made her international debut that month during the game against Northern Ireland where they won 1-0. Since then, she has two caps for Scotland.
Aimee Everett
Everett joined Crystal Palace in the summer of 2021 after leaving Leicester City, having won the Championship with them. During her first season at the South London club, she won Palace’s Player of the Season award. The midfielder made 18 appearances last campaign, and since the start of this season, has made 11 appearances and scored two goals.
After first signing for Crystal Palace, Everett stated: “Personally, I’d like to get as many minutes as possible, to gain lots of experience and improve my game. As a club, I’d like to help us win games and improve on where the team finished in the league last year and show how good of a club Palace is.”
Rosie Parnell
Southampton
The 27-year-old defender joined Southampton in 2019. Parnell started her journey out at Townhill under-10s, while also representing Southampton’s Centre of Excellence between the ages of nine and 12. After that, the defender moved to Reading’s Centre of Excellence to represent them at the under-14s level, before moving to Oxford United at 19 years of age singing for four years. Parnell joined the Saints and played a crucial role in the team winning the promotion in the 21/22 season.
Sarah Wilson
Durham
Sarah Wilson joined Durham in 2014 and currently stands as one of the longest-serving players at the club, she received the captain’s armband not long after she joined. The 32-year-old centre-back is currently very close to reaching 200 appearances for the North-East side, and in the 2020/21 season, she led the club to the runners-up spot in the Championship.
Don’t miss Part Two of Emily Evans’ profile of all the Championship captains on the site tomorrow (Thursday 28th December).
Follow Impetus on social media – we’re @ImpetusFootball on Threads, Instagram, X (Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook.
impetusfootball.org 