“We need to win the league this season,” said Gareth Taylor, bluntly, before what promises to be a season of transition at the Academy Stadium. As if losing Ellen White, Jill Scott and Karen Bardsley to retirement, Lucy Bronze – and almost certainly Keira Walsh, too – to Barcelona, Georgia Stanway to Bayern Munich and Caroline Weir to Real Madrid were not taxing enough, City’s manager saw his side eliminated from the Champions League when they fell to a 1-0 defeat in their qualifier at Real Madrid in August.