Manchester City Women: Can change finally break the cycle?
Years of potential, trophies just out of reach, and recent managerial shuffles—Manchester City Women continue to face familiar challenges. They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. For Manchester City Women, the cliché hits close to home.
After seasons of promise under former head coach Gareth Taylor, but with no Women’s Super League (WSL) title to show for it, each campaign felt like history repeating itself. Five years yielded only one FA Cup and a single League Cup, despite a steady influx of exciting new talent.
The most recent season began with promise, rousing fans hungry for success. However, by mid-campaign City was rapidly falling out of title contention, as eventual winners Chelsea maintained their momentum, and both Arsenal and Manchester United surged ahead.
Managerial shake-up fails
Alarmed at the sudden turn in fortune, the club removed Taylor swiftly—some would say ruthlessly. His squad had reached the League Cup final, the FA Cup semi-final and the Champions League knockout stage, and were still competing on all fronts, but that earned him no mercy.
Fans who had called for Taylor’s head welcomed the return of Nick Cushing—the coach who once delivered a WSL title, an FA Cup, and three League Cups, though with a squad that at the time was arguably levels above the competition.
Social media buzzed with words like “bold” and “free” to describe how Cushing would unshackle the team. Still, disappointment came quickly, as City crashed out of all three Cup competitions within a month.
The managerial switch solved nothing. Injuries to key players that some dismissed as Taylor’s excuse soon proved that the squad’s lack of depth was real as Cushing ended the season empty-handed—a signal that City’s attempts at change were falling short.
“Taylor out, Cushing in” proved to be an inadequate solution to challenges that are bigger than any one coach at the club.
The squad depth problem
The truth is that the squad’s lack of depth is a problem well beyond the pay grade of coaches who have little influence over Manchester City Women’s recruitment—a policy that prioritises developing talent rather than buying seasoned, world-class players for every position.
City brought in new talent each year to cover departures and bolster the squad. However, dividing those signings between experienced players and still-developing prospects meant the reinforcements were never enough to keep pace with Chelsea, and to a lesser degree Arsenal.
On one side of the spectrum are established stars such as Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Kerolin, Yui Hasegawa, Vivianne Miedema, and England internationals Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood. On the other are rising prospects like Aoba Fujino, Gracie Prior, Lily Murphy and new acquisitions Iman Beney and Jade Rose.
Together, with other players, they form a squad rich in talent, but at different stages of development—making it difficult to find the consistency to challenge for trophies.
Despite constantly refreshing the squad, it was still left exposed by the same lack of depth, a problem only magnified by injuries in recent years.
Locked into the City way
For those who haven’t followed the evolution of the City Football Group (CFG) over the past 15 years, it might be a rude awakening to also realise that their coaches have less room than most to shape playing style and tactics.
There are critics who felt that Taylor’s style was too slow in the build-up, that the defensive line was too high, that playing out from the back was too risky, and that attacks could be faster and more direct. Welcome, then, to the world of possession-based, positional play, Guardiola-style football—the same style the Manchester City men play, facing similar criticisms these days, and the same approach adopted across CFG clubs worldwide.
It’s important to understand that although Taylor is an enthusiastic advocate of the City style, he, Cushing, and any Manchester City Women coach cannot stray far from it. The Manchester City way is more than just a style of play—it is the club’s identity and is non-negotiable.
No wonder then that despite the managerial coup d'état of replacing Taylor with Cushing, very little shifted. That well-worn cliché about the more things change rang true once again.
So, Manchester City Women’s top brass decided to change things some more by signing their third head coach of 2025.
Is Andrée Jeglertz a difference maker?
Danish Coach Andrée Jeglertz—winner of the UEFA Women’s Cup with Umeå in 2004— was appointed as the new head coach, ending speculation that Cushing may stay on permanently. One of the first things Jeglertz did in his first interview with the club, following his announcement as manager, was to stress that the club’s playing philosophy aligns with his.
No surprises there.
“I think one of my key things [is] to come in and not try to change the world,” the head coach said. “It’s about continuing the job that has been done, and [taking] it to the next level.”
Well, Nick Cushing recently tried that, too.
Questioning Manchester City’s pursuit of coaches who rigidly adhere to its footballing philosophy may sound cynical. Cynical? Perhaps—and not without reason. CFG can be far too rigid in its style of play despite the constant evolution of football.
Still, this is not a call to abandon the philosophy. The CFG way represents beautiful and positive football, so long as it adapts to challenges and changing circumstances. After all, it has delivered untold success to the men’s team and trophies across several clubs within the CFG network.
Ironically, Pep Guardiola—the widely recognised master of this philosophy—is often less dogmatic than many of his disciples. These days, he is openly admitting to pushing his football toward a faster, more direct, transitional approach, after being undone by teams that play that way. He isn’t abandoning the style that has delivered him so many trophies; he’s tweaking it. And if you’ve followed Guardiola over the years, you’ll know he has always embraced adaptation.
Taylor and Cushing, on the other hand, as well as many other Guardiola disciples, have not shown Pep’s level of variation within their style of play.
Jeglertz, however, struck a more promising note in his interview even as he confirmed that he intends to operate within the framework of City’s style.
“We need to be better in finding ways of doing [things] in different ways, so we’re not just attacking in one way,” he said. The Dane also added: “In talking about the defending, there are things…that we can improve.”
Of course, every new coach talks about improvements. The proof will come after the opening whistle.
Small tweaks and great expectations
The irony, as fans wait expectantly for better outcomes, is that while Manchester City Women’s coaches are burdened with the responsibility for problems rooted in the club’s fixed identity—its playing style and recruitment strategy—they are still expected to deliver change. Yet they must do so in an environment that permits only small variations, not radical shifts. It is a difficult task because not every coach is a genius like Guardiola, with access to the world’s best players.
So, Manchester City Women are appointing new coaches with similar ideas as the ones before, hoping to do new and different things. And they continue to sign impressive players, but never quite enough to fix their squad-depth problem and consistently challenge the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal.
Will this season be another Groundhog Day, proving once again that the more things change, the more they stay the same? Or does the new head coach have enough tweaks up his sleeve to be truly different?
Over to you, Andrée Jeglertz.