Managing Change — Mick Mulhern (Sunderland WFC)

The first half of a Managing Change double interview, with Sunderland manager Mick Mulhern on how the Super League split hit a club left in the FA Women’s Premier League. Mulhern says players being asked to move unsettled everyone: the manager did not know where he stood, remaining players did not know where they fitted, and new signings hesitated. Only Leeds, he reckons, had a bigger turnover, and he compares it to 2001 when at least seven players left for American universities. Missing out has cost Sunderland international players, public profile, finance and the region its role models, with Jordan Nobbs and Lucy Bronze now being educated outside the North East. He finds the National Division hard to judge without Arsenal, Everton and Chelsea, expects two Super League clubs in the FA Cup final, and declines to elaborate on approaches to join the new league.