According to Bristol City CEO Gavin Marshall, the competitiveness of the women's leagues is being seriously hampered by inadequate compensation payments when academy products are snapped up by other clubs.
Speaking to Telegraph Sport following Bristol City's relegation from the Women's Super League, Marshall warned that there is already a "huge gap" in quality between the WSL and Championship and called for changes to the rules to reward clubs for developing future lionesses.
Bristol City were the only team in this season's WSL not affiliated with a Men's Premier League club, nor with a club receiving parachute payments. From next season, following the relegation of Bristol City, the promotion of Crystal Palace and the promotion of the Leicester men's team, all twelve WSL teams will be directly linked to the Premier League.
"I don't think this is a great advertisement for the league," said Marshall, who believes neutral fans should be concerned. "The gap between the WSL and the Championship is huge. The WSL has definitely taken off, quality-wise. The gap is enormous."
Marshall is particularly concerned that money does not trickle down from the bigger clubs when they sign youngsters. In recent years, Bristol City have seen a number of their English stars snapped up without a transfer fee when they were able to move on their 18th birthday, most notably England star Lauren Hemp who moved to Manchester City in 2018.
Other examples include Manchester United signing England youth international Aimee Palmer in 2018 through the same loophole, winger Katie Robinson's move to Brighton in 2020 and, in 2023, Chelsea's addition of England youth international Brooke Aspin, who later was loaned to Lauren Smith. side for this term.
"That really hurt us. She [Aspin] is a generational player and we have no doubt she will play for England. For her [be signed by Chelsea] without compensation was difficult to accept," Marshall added. "You're almost at the point where you almost get a little nervous about giving under-18s too much attention because you know the vultures are going to be there."
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"It's discouraging. It is very frustrating that we produce these players, which benefits the national game and the national team. Until we have a system where clubs are adequately compensated for the development of those players, it's difficult to maintain that level of investment in your academy. and it's hard to be competitive.
"We had a very special group of players who all went for nothing at the age of eighteen. It was hard to bear and it makes you wonder why you do that."
Under rules in the Men's Premier League and EFL, it is mandatory for a club that signs an under-24 player when he is out of contract to pay a compensation fee, which rewards clubs for developing young talent. In women's football, no compensation fees were involved in such transfers until this season, but a new framework was introduced by the Football Association ahead of the current season.
A fixed 'recognition fee' must now be paid, based on the number of years a player has trained at his club's 'Professional Game Academy', but only since the PGAs were launched last year, and the scheme cannot be backdated are applied to take into account the number of years you have previously spent in a club's youth set-up.
That new framework, hailed as a groundbreaking first step for the women's game, includes the following allowances:
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A player moving from a WSL club to another WSL club: £5,000 per year he was on his PGA
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A player transferring from a Women's Championship club to a WSL club: £2,500 per year
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A player moving from a WSL club to a World Cup club: £1,000 per year
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A player moving from a World Cup club to another World Cup club: £500 per year
Players transferring from lower division clubs or non-PGA teams will not be charged a recognition fee.
The FA would not comment, but it is understood that the rules around recognition fees will need to be reviewed annually by the FA in consultation with clubs.
Speaking last June, Heather Cowan, the FA's head of divisional operations for women's professional sport, told Telegraph Sport that the new framework would be continually reviewed in the future, saying: "It is not yet the finished article and it will are revised year after year. years." She added: "We want clubs to continue to invest significantly in their talent pathways."
But Marshall believes the new rules are not enough, saying: "The change from the FA last year was a change, but it was not far enough. It was a small symbolic effort. It's very little compensation, and for the Championship clubs it's even less. There need to be better rules."
Marshall was speaking after a 4-0 defeat to Manchester City confirmed Bristol City's relegation to the Championship with two games remaining, but he remains positive about the future. Despite losing all their home league games so far this season, they are averaging attendances of over 7,000. On Sunday evening the club announced that they will continue to play all their matches at Ashton Gate next season.
"We wanted to give them as much certainty as quickly as possible," added Marshall, head of the Bristol Sport group, which also manages clubs including the Bristol Bears rugby teams and the Bristol City men and women. "We are really committed. We are here for the long haul. Yes, this is a bump in the road, but it's all part of the journey and we want them to stay with us.
"Of course we are very disappointed to have been relegated, but we are really proud of all the players and staff who have given everything this season. Our average attendance puts us well ahead of all other teams except the 'big four', so we are proud of the way the community gets behind the team. The most important message is: stay with us.
"We are confident that next season we will have a competitive side competing at the top of the Championship and we will look to return to the WSL."
Marshall also says that head coach Smith retains their full support despite the relegation, continuing: "One hundred percent, Lauren has our full support. She did a great job.
"This season has been tough and we have been unlucky with injuries to key players at key times. But Lauren and her staff and the players have been fantastic all season and have stuck together.
"We feel that Lauren is the right person to lead us forward in the long term.
"We have no illusions. We're probably one of six or seven teams that think they have a good chance of moving up next season. We expect to be competitive and do our very best."
