Despite some within the women’s team feeling that cuts to the set-up — which will amount to roughly £500k — were initially framed by club figures as consequences of the ‘Spygate’ scandal, multiple sources familiar with the situation say that the scandal had no impact on the club’s decision to enact budget cuts.
Rather, discussions to do so were held as early as March amid a budgetary process and a decision made in May, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Last season, Southampton’s senior men’s team were expelled from the 2026 Championship play-off final after the club admitted to filming rival teams’ closed training sessions. Following an EFL investigation and an unsuccessful appeal, Southampton were replaced in the play-off final by Middlesbrough and issued a four-point deduction for the 2026-27 season.
While Southampton, whose women’s senior team currently compete in England’s second tier (WSL2), undertook a promotion application last year for their women’s team in the possibility of earning promotion, multiple club and team sources say it was communicated to them that promotion to the WSL was not a desirable outcome due to the increased funding and investment requirements for doing so and the club’s desire to operate at a sustainable level.
Southampton finished fifth in the WSL2 last season, missing out on promotion for the fourth successive campaign.
‘A shambles’
According to sources familiar with the situation, Southampton have only committed to meeting the WSL Football’s minimum requirements for participation, which requirements include having a squad of at least 18 contracted players (does not include loans), as well as meeting “minimum salary requirements” (from next season, WSL2 players 23 years and older will be paid a minimum annual salary of £26,900, while 21 and 22 year olds will receive £22,200 and those younger £17,500).
Four players who had been in discussion to sign for the club ahead of next season will no longer join, according to sources briefed on the matter.
Potential suitors have been aware of “assets for sale”, according to two sources within the team and another outside the club. These sales, sources say, will help fund the signing of enough contracted players to meet requirements.
However, one club source maintains that the selling of young talent is a business model for the entire club and the women’s team is no different.
Some members of staff and players discovered news of the cuts after receiving messages from agents and interested parties about potential players for sale.
Despite finishing fifth last season, staff and players felt encouraged by the trajectory under head coach Parker, according to three team sources.
While two club sources believe the team can still be competitive next season, news of Southampton’s cuts has spread quickly around the WSL and WSL2, and sources inside and outside the club have expressed genuine concern for what the future holds. Some sources have drawn comparisons to the women’s teams of Reading and Blackburn Rovers, both of whom were demoted from the second tier after failing to fulfill league’s financial requirements. Forest Green Rovers, meanwhile, announced last month that they have disbanded their women’s team for the 2026-27 season in an effort to return their men’s team to the EFL.
“Every club I’ve spoken to has said the same,” says one source. “There are concerns from all over about where Southampton will end up. It’s a shambles.”
Ahead of next season, Southampton are set to significantly cut the budget of their women’s and girls’ programme by at least £500k, with £100k directly impacting the senior women’s team’s playing budget, according to four sources familiar with the matter who, like all those spoken to for this piece, requested anonymity to protect relationships.
The remainder of the cuts are set to impact the club’s women’s and girls’ programme, including the demotion of the academy from Category 1 to Category 2 status, along with staffing around the women’s and girls’ set-up.
Head of women’s football Marieanne Spacey-Kale is set to depart, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, along with head scout Dean Gibson and at least one other women’s team analyst. The future of head coach Simon Parker also remains unclear, though one club source maintains that Parker — who joined the club last June — remains committed to the project.
The women’s first team will also no longer play all of their home matches at the club’s main stadium, St. Mary’s, as they have since 2022. Instead, the women’s team’s regular home stadium will be Eastleigh Stadium, the home of Yeovil Town, with showpiece matches held at St. Mary’s.
A change of direction
The budget cuts and move from St. Mary’s represent a distinctive shift in the club’s approach regarding the women’s team.
In 2022, off the back of Southampton earning promotion from England’s third tier, the club made the women’s and girls’ programme fully professional as part of a wider “long-term strategy” to reach the WSL.
Southampton have yet to reach the WSL, finishing sixth, fourth, eighth and most recently fifth.
However, while promotion to the Premier League merits a significant financial windfall for the promoted team, sources within Southampton and leading figures at WSL and WSL2 clubs have expressed frustration that competing in the WSL does not offer a proportional windfall.
According to a club source, senior figures within the club also believe that the club’s decision to commit to a full-time professional set-up as swiftly as they did was not sustainable for the long-term, given what is believed to be disproportionate financial return on investment.
A club source stated that a budgetary process was undertaken by the club in March due to cost concerns of running a full-time women’s and girls’ programme. The source adds that all decisions have been made in order to maintain the survival and sustainability of the women’s senior team.
In the club’s most recent financial records for the 2024-25 season, the Southampton Women and girls’ programme recorded a pre-tax loss of £1.97m, down from £2.07m the year prior. In the same year, which saw Southampton’s men’s senior team relegated from the Premier League, the club reported an overall pre-tax loss of £53.9m.
However, one source within the women’s team described the cuts as “stripping the women’s programme to the bare minimum.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Southampton, Women’s Soccer, Women’s Super League
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