Above: Katja Snoeijs celebrates her goal that opened the scoring at Anfield in the second WSL Merseyside Derby of 2024/25. Photo: Everton FC.
By Alyce Collett (3/9/25)
In the past few years it has not always been easy to be an Everton fan. The Toffees have never been among the title contenders and have consistently been around the middle of the pack.
Season 2024/25 was another one of those types of seasons.
It was not an easy start to the season for the Toffees, only picking up three points from their first seven matches of the season and not picking up a win until the first Merseyside Derby of the season two months into the season.
But just after that match against Liverpool, a defining moment for the season came for the club.
After being in the works for months, the Fredkin Group completed their takeover of the club in mid December, finally giving some financial security to the club, and from a WSL perspective, it allowed coach Brian Sorenson to really attack the January transfer. And attack that window Everton certainly did, bringing in three players on loan deals (Martina Fernandez, Emma Watson and Louna Ribadeira) and three players in on permanent deals (Kelly Gago, Hayley Ladd and Maren Mjelde).
This could not have come at a better time for Everton, who at the time were down in 12th and very much in the relegation battle. They already had two players out for the season with ACL injuries, and this was before captain Megan Finnigan went down with an ACL injury of her own in late January.
As you take a look back at Everton’s stats from this season, the difference between before the take over and after the take over is quite obvious.
Although some stats did not change too much, the important ones when it comes to scoring – shots on target, saves and score – all improved significantly after Everton were able to bring in some more players.
The players used stat is an interesting one, because although the averages show one story, in reality it was completely different.
Before the takeover, Everton had a match day squad that was equal to or larger than their opponents’ one three out of the eight matches. After the takeover, that number rose to nine of the 14 matches.
This increase in financial stability has also allowed the Toffees to have a pretty productive summer transfer window too, locking down several of their January transfers – including Kelly Gago and Martina Fernandez – and bring in even more new faces, including English international Katie Robinson and Philippines international Maz Pacheco.
Another one of Everton’s inclusions in the summer transfer window was young star Ruby Mace, who moves north from Leicester City.
Everton coach Brian Sorenson spoke very highly of Mace ahead of the season getting underway, saying that “I think she has a great future in front of her and that’s also what we identified.
“Despite her age, she actually has a lot of experience in the WSL. I think she has the same amount of games as Grace Clinton, who has two years more in the league but Ruby already is in on a similar level…
“and she also wanted to come because we weren’t the only team who wanted Ruby me and she chose us because of the project and the playing style. She could see the potential in the team but also in her personal development.”
Although these are not the big names that some of the other teams have made, that is not a reason for Everton fans to not be excited about how the new season may go for their team.
As the back end of last season showed, having squad depth allowed cohesion in the Everton side to grow, and although there were only four wins from 12 matches, the losses were significantly tighter than they had been earlier in the year. For example, the first time Everton played Chelsea last season the score was 5-0 in Chelsea’s favour, whereas second time round the margin was only a single goal.
Now that they do have that solid foundation in terms of squad size, Sorenson said that one of the biggest goals for his team this season is ”having consistency and stability in the team because we haven’t had that for three years.
“I think for me, I don’t think the hardest thing is to get a good result at against the top four, potentially a top five with how London City is spending.
“So I think we can always make a plan, get everything right and then we can beat a City, or we can take a point from Arsenal and so on. But the harder thing is to be consistent against the teams around us – to win against Liverpool on the weekend, to win against Brighton, to win against Villa, Leicester, West Ham and so on.”
This weekend is a great chance for Everton to get their season off to the best start in a number of years. They have not won their opening weekend fixture in the WSL since they beat Bristol City on the opening weekend of the 2020/21 season, and this weekend sees Everton take on Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby, a team the Toffees have lost too since November 2019.
With all of this in mind, Everton will be an interesting side to watch this season. It will likely take some time for them to truly compete with the Arsenals and the Chelseas of the competition, but with a solid foundation in place to build on, there is no reason that Everton cannot be challenging around the fourth or fifth place mark on the WSL ladder.
Follow Impetus on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball TikTok: @impetusfootball
Instagram: @impetusfootball
impetusfootball.org 