Newcastle owners sticking to ambitious Women's Super League target

Newcastle United Women are a “priority” for the club’s owners, according to sporting director Dan Ashworth.

Speaking to The Guardian, Ashworth discussed Newcastle’s aim to have its women’s team in the Women’s Super League by 2025.

Becky Langley’s side currently play in the fourth tier of women’s football, meaning they will need to achieve back-to-back promotions to reach the WSL in just three years’ time. But Ashworth did not seem deterred about the magnitude of the task.

A Saudi Arabian-led consortium, financed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), took control of 80 percent of Newcastle last year.

The club now runs the women’s team, taking the reins from its independent charitable Foundation.

A phased funding approach, which includes becoming full-time and having a budget for transfers, was also introduced.

“Becky’s [Langley] team is absolutely a priority for the owners,” Ashworth told The Guardian.

"Already, they’ve gone from a team where the players had to pay to play last year to being professionalised. We will do everything we can to give them the support to get to the WSL as quickly as possible.”

The women’s team has already got an impressive fanbase, with 22,000 spectators attending a match at St James’ Park last season.

Concerns over the takeover of Newcastle United have largely stemmed from the ongoing violation of human rights in Saudi Arabia.

Although the country’s guardianship system is not as stringent as it once was, women and girls in Saudi Arabia continue to face discrimination in law and practice in relation to marriage, divorce, inheritance and employment.

Until recently, women in Saudi Arabia did not even have the right to drive, and many who campaigned for this rule to change are still in prison.

But