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WSL newcomers London City Lionesses fined £15,000 but escape transfer ban – South London News
BY MAX HALL
Ambitious Bromley-based Women’s Super League (WSL) side London City Lionesses have been fined £15,000 by the Football Association for trying to ‘tap up’ a player from Southampton FC Women in the summer.
Announcing the fine today, without naming any of the individuals involved, the FA said Lionesses managing director Sarah Batters had approached the unnamed Southampton player on August 9, indicating the South Coast side were prepared to listen to offers for her and asking what her salary demands would be.
That constituted a breach of FA rule c87.1, which forbids clubs approaching transfer targets without the written permission of their parent club.
London City Lionesses have also been ordered to pay the costs of the FA commission which looked into the matter and can appeal against the fine.
Lionesses, who broke away from Millwall FC in 2019 after being bought by blockchain entrepreneur Anthony Culligan and his wife Diane, were bought by US businesswoman Michele Kang in December 2023. The team is at the heart of a global multi-club football model which also includes Kang’s Washington Spirit and French giants Lyon.
Lionesses became the first independent women’s team to reach the WSL, in May, securing the Women’s Championship title and promotion with a draw against eventual runners-up Birmingham City on the last day of the season.
The FA released details of the illegal approach incident, beginning with a social media message from Batters to the player in question on July 31, announcing Batters’ pending appointment as Lionesses MD and asking for details of the player’s agent.
On August 5, the FA said, Lionesses’ recruitment manager told Southampton manager Remi Allen the South Coast club were open to conversations about signing the player.
Ronald Thompson has been head of recruitment and player acquisition for the Lionesses since May 2023. Manager Allen, who left Southampton in February, had joined the South Coast side at the start of last season after getting her first opportunity in management – at Lionesses, in March last year.
The FA said Lionesses’ head of recruitment obtained details of the transfer target’s release clause from their agent, on August 6, and made an official offer to Southampton on the same day which fell short of that figure.
Southampton turned down the approach on August 9, according to the FA, citing the fact several clubs were interested in signing the player and some were prepared to meet the release clause.
The FA fine was imposed because Batters made her social media contact with the player, including asking her salary demands, before Southampton’s reply to the official approach had been received.
The governing body said Lionesses had admitted their guilt, co-operated with the commission’s enquiry and, based on legal advice, had said a warning over their future conduct, rather than a fine, would be an appropriate sanction. If the FA settled on a fine, Lionesses said, a figure “in the low thousands, and certainly less than £10,000” should be applied.
The club – which groundshares Bromley FC’s Hayes Lane stadium and has bought the 28-acre Cobdown Park site in Aylesford, Kent, to develop as a training facility – told the FA it was operating at a significant loss in “already tough trading conditions.”
Announcing the commission’s verdict, the FA said the independent commission members had “discussed at length” whether to impose a transfer ban on Lionesses for the offence but settled on the £15,000 fine.
The figure needed to be “at least five figures,” the FA announced, and £15,000 could not be considered excessive, it said, given Lionesses were prepared to pay £150,000 to sign the player in question.
PICTURE: ALAMY
