Thursday 23rd December 2021, 2 days before Christmas Day, a time where people across the country and the world would be waiting in anticipation for the arrival of Santa Claus down their chimneys to deliver their Christmas presents. However, the delivery of an early Christmas present to the players and staff of Coventry United Ladies Football Club was something they definitely weren’t expecting to receive.
On Twitter, several Women’s football journalists were stating that Coventry United Ladies Football Club had gone into liquidation. For those who are unaware of the term when a football team goes into liquidation, it means that the football club is beginning the process of bringing an end to the club and distributing their players to other clubs.
Then, several Coventry United Ladies players such as Anna Wilcox, Katie Wilkinson and Nat Johnson had posted on Twitter saying that they’ve been told their professional contracts have been terminated after a meeting with the club owners. Coventry United Ladies captain Katie Wilkinson posted a very emotional tweet stating “that she’s honoured to captain this group of players” and that her “teammates have sacrificed amazing jobs, careers, homes and families & more to become a full-time professional footballer for Coventry United”. The club then released an official statement stating that “With regret, the board of directors have instructed BK Plus Limited to assist with placing the company/club into creditors voluntary liquidation”. After this, Twitter saw a massive group of women’s football fans who were absolutely devastated with the news, which included many well-known Women’s footballers such as Alex Greenwood, who has more than 50 caps for the Lionesses.
One person who reacted to this was Michael Mogan MBE, a fundraiser and supporter of Women’s Football whose daughters Hattie and Alice play for the U-12s and with a little bit of persuasion, Hattie and Alice got their dad to help set up a crowd fundraiser, in order to raise money to support the players and staff of Coventry United Ladies. Overall, they have raised over £15,000 and this may have been the spark as to what was going to happen in the near future. Just like the city of Coventry’s symbol being a phoenix: an animal from Greek mythology, who is notorious for rising up from the flames, Coventry United proudly embellished the phoenix by returning from the dead, thanks to a businessman called Lewis Taylor. Lewis Taylor is the CEO of Energy Angels, an energy company based in Wolverhampton, and just in the nick of time, the Red and Greens were saved to the relief and jubilation of the world of Women’s Football.
As the voice behind every home game for the Red and Greens this season, us at Radio Plus, we are absolutely overjoyed and below, you can hear an interview where Radio Plus’s own Paul Wheeler talking to Coventry United defender Anna Wilcox and media manager Connor West about what it feels to still have a football club and to get their perspective on the whole story.
Coventry United Re-Birth Part 1 and Part 2:
