By Gethin Thurlow (7/1/26)
Above: Glasgow City celebrate scoring a goal earlier in the year Photo: @GlasgowCityFC on X
As the winter break hits, we’re as close to halfway through the SWPL season as we’re going to ever get thanks to the 6/4 split format giving teams unequal games played overall. There’s no better time to reflect on what has been an astonishing-as-ever SWPL season. While the title race isn’t looking as legendary as the last few years, anything can happen in this league and the stories of the nine teams below are as interesting as usual.
Glasgow City turn back the clock
Talking about Glasgow City is always inspiring, and as they just keep defying the odds every time it is always a feel-good story. Founding in 1998, they have been at the forefront of women’s football in Scotland from the very start. As they like to refer to themselves, the ‘original trailblazers’ continue to set the standards today. Having won 14 straight titles, the professionalisation of Celtic and Rangers, and later the Edinburgh rivals threatened to bury City after the reformed league post 2020. However, Glasgow City held strong and won two of the next three titles.
With the trophy embroidered in green the last two years, City’s utter dominance has been halted, even if they’ve remained competitive. However, this year feels more like 2014 or 2015, when they won the domestic treble and played some big opponents in Europe. In Scotland, Leanne Ross’s team have won every single game except two draws with Hibs, and a seriously impressive run in Europe only ended in extra time against Portuguese giants Sporting CP.
Having lost two crucial players in the window – striker Brenna Lovera and centre-back Sam van Diemen, probably their best asset at either end of the pitch last year; City have adapted better than other SWPL clubs and seem to have come out of the winter with a better overall squad. Crucial to that was the signing of Abi Harrison from Celtic after her contract ran out, who has filled in magnificently at the top of the pitch. Lana Golob meanwhile has filled the gap left by van Diemen to form the best centre-back duo in the league with Kimberly Smit.
Conceding only four goals all year, the Smit-Golob partnership with Lee Gibson behind them has been the recipe to getting over the line in games, and particularly while facing other big sides. If you get a clean sheet that’s at least one point guaranteed, and having built up such a significant lead, that all they really need to do in the second half of the season.
The post-split challenge of facing high quality attacks two or three times a week will be the last test of this defence and the team as a whole, but there are no indications that the independent side won’t write a new resilient chapter in their storied history – as they remind the league that while the money from men’s teams keeps pouring in, Glasgow City have not been conquered yet.
Montrose shock the league to lead top six race
With that incredible record, Glasgow City must have been the standout team of the season, right? Well arguably not so much. While Aberdeen brought in some significant names, Partick Thistle and Motherwell both improved upon squads that battled hard for sixth place last year, Montrose were quietly building under the radar. While it may sound irrelevant, taking a lead over Rangers in the opening game (even if they went on to lose it 6-1) showed that Craig Feroz’s side had something about them this year.
Given the nature of the league, the five non-professional teams always know they are fighting for that final place in the top six and hence top split and can’t rely on taking points off the pros. For them, those games are a useful way to show themselves off but defining the season overall are the games against those around you. Montrose started perfectly, dismantling last years ‘best of the rest’ Motherwell 4-1 in the second week of the season. Strike partners Sophia Martin and Kaela McDonald-Nguah grabbed too each, with some slick passing moves between them shredding apart Motherwell’s defence.
The style of goals in that game was very much an indication of how Montrose would target teams throughout the season. Rather than try to take control of the game and compete with the opposition in the middle of the park, Craig Feroz’s team sat back and looked to create goals on the counterattack – relying on the speed of their strikers to turn defence into goalscoring chances as quick as possible. While Aberdeen, Partick and Motherwell have focused on trying to dominate games, Montrose have had more success by going back to the basics.
The key player for Montrose in this system is striker Kaela McDonald-Nguah. Having started in the Celtic academy, she has played all over Scotland before joining Montrose this summer. As a striker, McDonald-Nguah’s speed and technical ability mean that she is an ideal candidate for getting the ball early with space to the goal and just a couple of defenders in front of her to beat. As the graph below shows, she has been more crucial to Montrose’s attack than any other player in the SWPL this year.
For most of the season, Montrose focused on peaking at the right times – saving their better performances for the teams they had a chance of beating and frankly looking uncompetitive against the top five. However, when a vulnerable Hibernian side travelled up north in between games against other top sides, there was always going to be an opportunity. By holding out defensively in the game, they were able to quickly respond after going behind and eventually saw out a draw. With which they became the first non-professional club to take points off a professional outlet.
Hibs’ title defence grinds to a halt
After an incredible underdog title run, with Champions League qualifying and title defence on the agenda, it looked like an exciting season for the Hibees. Winning the league with what was a much smaller squad than their competitors, people wondered whether they would look to go ham in the transfer window – but instead, Grant Scott focused on signing youth. Milly Boughton, Hannah Jordan and Tiree Burchill joined the attack while Jess Fitzgerald bolstered the midfield, and Scarlett Herron provided a crucial centre-back option.
The lack of established SWPL names seemed a deliberate move and perhaps one that the Edinburgh side regret now. After keeping up a strong fight for most of the year, injuries to Kirsten Reilly, Linzi Taylor, Kathleen McGovern and Eilidh Adams at the same time derailed the Hibees, seeing them on a run of just two points from four games. This included losses to Celtic and Hearts, a draw with Glasgow City and a draw with Montrose – making them the first professional side to drop points to a non-professional team in 2025/26.
The shocking announcement on the first day of winter break that Grant Scott would depart the club and join Celtic certainly reset the expectations around the Hibees’ campaign. With Hibernian legend Joelle Murray stepping into a managerial role earlier than anyone probably would have wanted, she will have to pick up things very quickly if her team want to fight for anything more than fifth place.
The compensation fee from the Glasgow side was clearly enough to convince the Hibs ownership – alongside the injury crisis ongoing that a rebuild of the team was necessary. There could’ve been a desperate search for a qualified manager and some experienced SWPL names, but Hibs have instead chosen to stick to their guns with the promotion of Murray, even if she hasn’t learnt everything from Grant Scott that they would’ve wanted yet.
With vulnerabilities in all three clubs that are six points ahead – Rangers, Hearts and Celtic; the battle for second and a European place is well alive for Hibs if Murray can start well. While anything can happen in the SWPL, it does look a step too far to close that 13-point gap to Glasgow City at the top.
New era for Celtic
Back in the days when Grant Scott only knew one shade of green, Celtic’s season began under the cloud of a terrible end to the last season and a mass exodus before this one even began. With only limited signings to replace some big names like Abi Harrison, Kelsey Daugherty, Murphy Agnew and Lucy Ashworth-Clifford, hopes of a return to the top were slim amongst fans and there was pressure on Elena Sadiku’s position from the off.
Ultimately, two losses against Rangers and a seven-point deficit to first damned Sadiku, even if her last result was a good win at Hibs. In some ways the first half of the year is now a write-off, and a new dawn starts for the Ghirls. Sitting seven points back, the split always offers an opportunity to take points back and the pressure will be off Celtic with their new manager – so that offers a possibility to push for the title. Even if the trophy is beyond them, then a second place is well up for grabs; seemingly all they need to do is get over this atrocious Old Firm run.
Having won a miracle title last season with Hibernian, Scott clearly has a established pedigree within Scottish football – and given the fact his contract was announced at the same time as Sadiku’s departure, surely he was the number one choice for the job. As a manager, Scott’s success comes from building relationships with players and improving each of them on an individual level, rather than building a narrow and complicated tactical system. There’s rarely a player that joins Hibs without crediting Scott’s words and vision for the club.
The rest of this season will not define the Scottish manager’s legacy at Celtic, and he will have at least a year unless things drastically go wrong, allowing Scott to assert his blueprint for the club onto it. Celtic fans – while still holding some resentment towards the ownership – can feel at least somewhat excited for a new outlook at the club, even if it might look the same at the start. Winning titles consistently and competing in the Champions League remains the aim of the club, and they will keep pushing to achieve that.
Hearts take advantage in fight for Champions League
Every year since 2021 with the restructured SWPL, Hearts have been slowly building under Spanish manager Eva Olid. Having secured fourth place finishes in 22/23 and 23/24, Hearts were jumped by Edinburgh rivals Hibs last year who claimed that unexpected title win – but their overall season was actually still an improvement. This year has been almost the opposite; their results and overall standing indicate a big jump when in reality they have kept that same pace of improvement up.
The issue of Hibs and Celtic have been analysed already, and Rangers have had a drop off as they adapt to their new manager Leanne Crichton. Last season’s winners are closely to Montrose behind then they are to reclaiming that title, Celtic’s three losses against their professional opponents from Glasgow have limited their points tally, while Rangers’ two derby victories make up all their points against the top five except one draw with Hearts.
Hearts had already cemented themselves as a team who could be counted on to beat almost any non-professional side. Towards the backend of last season, they began regularly taking points off the other top sides, and while the Edinburgh derbies are always a toss-up, the ‘Jambo’s’ record against Hibs, Celtic and Rangers this year is exceptional. Led by three of the best strikers in the league: Carly Johns, Bayley Hutchison and Georgia Timms, Hearts’ record of scoring multiple goals in all but one of those games has been a major reason for the success.
As is a little rare in the SWPL, Eva Olid is very set to a tactical style and a three-defender formation. While the wing-backs support either the attack or the defence depending on the opponent, the structure remains the same. Scotland youth international sister Erin and Jess Husband are essential to this, playing usually as centre-backs. Every year they get older and more experienced, developing into the mainstays in the team which they are now.
Monica Forsyth and Lizzie Waldie have played well this season, picking up assists and crucial defensive contributions in equal measure. Jamaican star Olufolasade Adamolekun has that X-factor in attacking midfield that can be employed when all else fails, offering pace, dribbling skills and a cheeky long-range shooting ability.
The split will test if Hearts can really sustain a full season challenge of these teams – all SWPL winners in the past, as they look to qualify for European football for the first time in club history.
Hamilton battle but struggle to compete
Down at the bottom, it is unfortunately a predictable story. It was always felt that by running fully as a non-professional team, Hamilton would simply be on different playing field to the other nine teams – who all have some if not very limited semi-professional elements. Having only picked up their first point the last weekend before the break, they sit six points off Aberdeen in 9th place.
Manager Robert Watson was always very open about the club’s expectations and difficulties that lay ahead, but that doesn’t they’ve sat back and taken it. There’s been many games where the ‘Accies’ have defended resiliently or lost to heartbreaking late goals. Right on the opening day of the season, they only lost 2-1 to an injury winner from Partick Thistle. Holding Glasgow City to just 1-0 in September showed how outstanding that defence could be, but they couldn’t replicate that in easier games against teams around them.
An 11-0 loss at Rangers was probably the low point of the SWPL this year and rightly raised questions about how fair or sustainable it was for teams with such vastly different resources to compete in the same league. After the international break, they came back stronger, holding Celtic to just 3-0, and only exiting the cup to an extra time goal against high-flyers Montrose. One week after Montrose took a point off Hibs, Hamilton took their first point of the campaign from Craig Feroz’s side, giving them something to be proud of and take into the break with them.
Post-split, Watson’s team will have an opportunity to improve. Knowing that every game will be against another team from the bottom five, it wouldn’t take them much to put a good run of form together, and they go into each gamen with the knowledge that realistically any result is possible. It will take an almighty effort to even force a relegation playoff by finishing 9th, but whatever happens the Accies can be proud of their effort in the top flight.
And finally, a look at how the table is sitting compared to my pre-season predictions.
Predicted table
- Glasgow City
- Rangers
- Hibernian
- Heart of Midlothian
- Celtic
- Aberdeen
- Partick Thistle
- Motherwell
- Montrose
- Hamilton Academical
Current Table
- Glasgow City
- Rangers
- Heart of Midlothian (+1)
- Celtic (+1)
- Hibernian (-2)
- Montrose (+3)
- Partick Thistle
- Motherwell
- Aberdeen (-3)
- Hamilton Academical
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