By Gethin Thurlow (9/8/25)
Above: Gareth Taylor is unveiled as the new Liverpool manager Photo: Liverpool FC
Two crucial assists and a game saving penalty in the quarter final, the winning goal in the semi and a game tying assist followed by the tournament-deciding goal. It’s not been the worst summer for Chloe Kelly.
However, this was so nearly taken away from us. In January, Kelly was close to taking a break from football all together to get away from what was happening at Manchester City; she made a public statement to force their hand and let her move to Arsenal. That ultimately saved England’s dream.
This point was only reached after almost a year of poor treatment by Gareth Taylor. It started by dropping her for one FA Cup game, and then she was a second-choice winger for the entire rest of her City career. It was clear that Kelly wasn’t held in the high regard by City that she is by England when they didn’t sell her in the summer. Whether Taylor or the higher management felt the next season would be different or no sufficient offer was made for the now 3-time European champion we will never know, but it was a dreadful decision to keep her at the club knowing how it did go.
Whether she was performing or not in training and the very limited opportunities she had in matches is irrelevant, given how well she performed in different environments at Arsenal and England just months later. Clearly, Taylor and Kelly didn’t get along well and it was a toxic space for her to be in. This may not be so damning on the new Liverpool boss if they weren’t a number of other players that have had similar experiences under him at City.
Ellie Roebuck has referenced similarly being frozen out at City after receiving a red card in a game, missing a game and never being the number one again. Esme Morgan is another player who has thrived after moving away from City, where she was dropped by Taylor. The mass exodus of talent in the summer of 2022, including England trio Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway also doesn’t reflect well on the new Liverpool manager.
After all the perfect stories that got capped off by Kelly’s heroics at the Euro’s it feels like all this is being undone by the hiring of Taylor. What did we learn from the Kelly situation? Seemingly that she was problem and Taylor won’t do the same damage to players at Liverpool.
For a club that has sold its best player and asset in Olivia Smith and captain Taylor Hinds and failed to replace them with top internationals, there seems a serious lack of ambition for the womens team’s future, especially in comparison to the mens team that have thrown money around this transfer window.
It feels as though Taylor was a relatively well-known name in the WSL, so they just went for him based on that rather than considering best overall outcome for the team. While the club as a whole is certainly not a mid-table straggler, the womens team is acting like one for now.
With the rigid possession-based style that has been forced into him through years of coaching within the City group, it is hard to imagine how Taylor will manage a team that will probably have less possession in most games. His lack of squad rotation could actually work out better for a club like Liverpool with much less squad depth and therefore less high-quality players being left on the bench for a long period. It just seems a strange appointment and one that doesn’t particularly fit the direction Liverpool need to head.
Another aspect of this appointment is the demotion of Amber Whitely. After transforming Liverpool in her few games in charge she openly admitted she wanted the job full time, but now she steps back into the assistant role. It is worth noting that her previous tenure in this role didn’t allow her to express herself tactically, something which she did as interim and that was effective.
In a time where we are crying out for more women to become coaches this is a massive blow. Rather than actively seeking to employ women or at the very least helping women to get trained up to be coaches, many clubs are still turning to the same journey-men coaches that have gone around the houses, safe but not brilliant options.
Liverpool had a perfect opportunity to give Whitely a go after she had that fantastic season with them, but instead chose to ignore that and introduce someone that almost derailed England’s Euros bid by subduing the talent of Chloe Kelly to the extent that she almost quit football all together.
Whatever happens with Liverpool this season, this choice reminds us that while there has been some wonderful progress made this summer in womens football; many problems still exist, there is a long way to go and a lot of attitudes to be shifted.
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