Izzy Christiansen was right… January investment was the difference maker in the WSL relegation battle between West Ham and Bristol City

• Bristol City have been relegated after losing 4-0 to Man City on Sunday
• They were level on points with West Ham on January but the gap is now eight
• Come off it, Pep! Chris Wood didn’t miss chance after chance because of the dryness of the pitch – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off! podcast

It was Sky Sports pundit Izzy Christiansen who made the best point of the weekend.

In January, West Ham and Bristol City were level on five points at the bottom of the Women’s Super League table. Ten games later, Bristol have six points and West Ham 14. 

The Robins are on course for the lowest points tally from a 22-game WSL season. The difference, Christiansen rightly explained, is investment.

The Hammers brought in four new signings including Australia international Katrina Gorry, Canada’s Shelina Zadorsky and a US World Cup winner in Kristie Mewis. 

The latter may only have played twice, but the depth and experience boss Rehanne Skinner was able to add was invaluable. 

Bristol tried to compete in the window but the three players they brought in were not enough to make a difference. The Robins’ defeat by Manchester City on Sunday saw them relegated back to the Championship after just one season in the top-flight.

On the same day, Crystal Palace were promoted to the WSL for the first time. Unlike Bristol, Palace have the backing of a Premier League side. 

They will probably have a better chance of surviving than the teams they were competing against for promotion – Charlton and Sunderland – who would have faced an uphill battle to survive. But in order to ensure promotion and relegation from the second to first tier is not a revolving door, the WSL has to expand.

In October, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes said the 12 teams in the league should be increased to 16 or 18. The issue with jumping to 18 before 16 is that you would undoubtedly get some lopsided scorelines, but that may be a price worth paying.

Interestingly, every club competing in the WSL next season will be tied to a Premier League team. 

Palace’s promotion is a sign of the club’s progress. In 2018, players had reportedly been told to come up with £250 in sponsorship or risk being let go, while a significant donation from Wilfried Zaha helped keep them afloat.   

The club is now full-time and, under the management of Laura Kaminski, have earned their place in the WSL by playing exciting and free-flowing football.

The question is where do Palace go from here? They have seen the likes of Leicester promoted from the Championship and just about hold on for two seasons, before stabilising this term. Liverpool were always unlikely to go straight back down after their promotion in 2022 while Bristol knew they faced an almighty task of avoiding the drop.

Palace chairman Steve Parish has been part of a working group of executives tasked with mapping out the future of the women’s game. Parish, interestingly, led the opposition of Championship clubs in November when they decided to reject the initial proposal for the new company (NewCo) that will take over running the top two leagues from the FA this summer.

The conflict surrounded the 75-25 revenue split between the WSL and the Championship and the lack of voting powers in the second tier. But after an ultimatum from the FA, who said WSL clubs may go alone if the Championship did not back the proposals, all teams voted unanimously in favour.

Parish also previously called for a hard salary cap in the WSL. ‘I’m very passionate that we need to put in cost controls and salary caps,’ Parish said last year.

‘If you look at the WSL, the top four (or) five clubs last year had a positive goal difference of (around) 166 and the rest were obviously minus 166.

‘So there’s a disparity in quality because of access to talent and there’s disparity in quality because there’s no (strict) salary cap, you can spend as much as you want.’

There is currently a soft salary cap in the WSL – 40% of turnover can be spent on wages – but that turnover includes the parent club, giving Premier League-backed women’s sides a significant advantage.

Palace are one of those clubs, so it will be interesting to see how they approach next season. They were dealt a blow when their top scorer Elise Hughes ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament last week. 

The striker will miss much of next season so Palace will need to replace her and strengthen other areas of their squad. This will require investment, something which all clubs who come up from the Championship need. But this brings us back to the original point of expansion. To create a more competitive environment for the long-term, the league needs to grow, sooner rather than later.

Toone and Russo link up off the pitch

England stars Ella Toone and Alessia Russo are now the stars of their own podcast.

The ‘Tooney & Russo show’, which launched on BBC Sounds on Monday, will give an insight into the Lionesses camp while the description said to expect a ‘no-holds-barred conversation where nothing is off limits.’ 

In that case, England boss Sarina Wiegman may want to have a listen to the final edit!

Tynan family hoping to make a change

The family of Zoe Tynan are seeking support to host U12, U14 and U16 girls football tournaments this summer with the aim of raising awareness around suicide prevention among young people. 

The tournament is in memory of former Everton and Manchester City footballer Tynan, who tragically took her own life at the age of 18 in 2016, and uses the hashtag ‘ZOnE in to talking’ – which encourages young people to break the silence and speak about their feelings. 

This year’s event will take place on May 18, two days before what would have been Tynan’s 26th birthday, and is being run by her grassroots club Liverpool Feds. 

The family are asking for donations in the form of match tickets, signed items, merchandise, or sports equipment to use as prizes in their tombola raffle. People wishing to support the tournament should contact bethtynan@btinternet.com