The Blues boss spoke excitedly to the media ahead of this afternoon’s opening Barclays Women’s Championship fixture of the season against Sunderland at St Andrew’s. Speaking about this season’s targets and challenges, Merricks made it clear that her team are going into the campaign very much focused on knowing their own identity and taking things day-by-day. “We’re an ambitious club and so we should be with the history we have and the investment we have now,” Merricks said. “My message very much to the players and staff is that we have to earn the right. I’ve been in the WSL, I know what it takes to sustain WSL status, that is not easy. “We have to be focused on day in, day out what we’re doing in training, our identity, how we play and how we improve. If we continue with that mindset, then anything is possible. “Firstly, Sunderland at the weekend; perform well and that should do for us but it’s step-by-step. This is a competitive league, it’s not easy. One team is promoted, it’s not easy, so we have to take it day-by-day.” The Blues finished last season just five points behind this weekend’s opponents and Merricks recognizes the competitiveness of her side’s opening game. She said “I’m excited to see the team showcase themselves and I’m excited to see it come together on Sunday. “This weekend will be a tough challenge. Sunderland are a top side and I must say, credit to Mel [Reay], she’s done incredible work there. We won’t be taking them for granted; we will be focusing on our performance and playing with some real intent.” Merricks is set to begin her first full season in charge of Birmingham City and she is pleased with the squad that she has at her disposal. She said “When I first came in, I spoke about how talented the group already were. We already have really good talent here and it’s about blending that together. “The additions we’ve made first and foremost are great characters and great people; [it’s] a variety of experienced Championship players with good WSL potential.” This summer saw Birmingham City stage a pre-season camp abroad for the very first time. Merricks highlighted the commitment of the club in providing their players with a top-class environment to prepare for the new season. “It’s a huge statement [from the club],” Merricks said “It creates a professional environment and allows us to get away from the training ground which is really importent. It shows their commitment to us as a women’s team and not just the club in general.” Birmingham City’s Barclays Women’s Championship fixture against Sunderland kicks-off at 2pm. Tickets remain on general sale and can be purchased by clicking here. The Lady Black Cats kick-off the 2024/2025 season with a fixture at Birmingham City on Sunday afternoon. Both Sunderland and Birmingham City have the qualities to challenge for promotion again this season after finding themselves in the mix last term, however, defender Westrup believes that the title race can never be mapped out given the unpredictability of the Barclays Women’s Championship. “The biggest thing about this league is that you can never really call it,” Westrup said. “That’s a wonderful thing for the neutral fan I’m sure. “Keeping the core of our team is probably the most important thing because you don’t have to re-integrate eight or nine new players into your style of play. Having a handful of new players will hopefully enhance our team and put us in good stead. “Palace have gone up and Bristol have come down; the last time Bristol were in the league, I thought they were head and shoulders above everyone other than maybe London City. We haven’t seen them for a year, so we don’t know how they’re going to be, similarly with Portsmouth and Newcastle coming up, you don’t know how they’re going to cope with the jump from Tier 3 to Tier 2. “You have to take it a game at a time. If you get too far ahead of yourselves, you could find yourselves out of the race well before the end of the season.” Westrup is going into this weekend’s fixture at Birmingham City with an open mind. She doesn’t know exactly what to expect from the Blues but she’s prepared for a different challenge to what Sunderland faced last season. She said “The first game of the season is always a tricky one because nobody has form yet. “Birmingham have made quite a few big signings in the summer, so they could play completely different this year than they did last season. It’s about taking things with a pinch of salt and looking at the personnel that they have, what their assets are. “As you go through the season, you can see a bit more of teams’ style of play and you can identify them a bit more as opposed to the individual. “We just have to take it a game at a time early on. We have two really good opponents in Birmingham and Southampton. There has also been a lot of movement with coaches and players, so I don’t think you could possibly say how each team is going to be. “It’s going to be exciting. There’s going to be a lot of twists and turns for everyone.” Sunderland’s most highly-anticipated fixture this season will be the Tyne-Wear derby against neighbours Newcastle United. Westrup believes that the fixture could provide a real boost to the women’s game in the North East. She said “I think it will massively [grow local interest]. Whether you support the men’s side or women’s side, as a supporter of either club, you’re going to want to be at that game because it’s the rivalry. “Hopefully, it’s a huge asset to the game that we are in the same league. It’s a shame that the men haven’t been in the same league for such a long time now because you don’t get that same buzz around the game. When you’re playing in the same league, it feels a bit more even playing field in terms of ability. “It should be a massive boost and everyone will be looking forward to it.” Sunderland’s opening Barclays Women’s Championship fixture of the season at Birmingham City kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon. Sunderland Women’s head coach Mel Reay is hoping her side can be ‘as competitive as they were last season’ within the coming Championship campaign. The Black Cats were a surprise package within the second tier last term, improving from their 11th-placed finish in the disappointing 2022-23 season, to becoming serious title contenders. A defeat at home to eventual runners-up Charlton, and an 1-1 draw against title winners Crystal Palace on the final-day meant they missed out on promotion. Despite beginning last season in scintillating form, cementing themselves as title challengers with an unbeaten run in their first nine games, and leading the league for multiple weeks, the Eppleton outfit ended just five points adrift from champions Palace. Nevertheless, it was a remarkable campaign from the Black Cats, and veteran head coach Reay - former double golden boot winner in her time as a Sunderland player - is hoping to go one better and push the promotion picture once again this season. Ahead of their opening-day trip to Birmingham this Sunday (September 8), Reay sat down with ChronicleLive to discuss last season’s exploits, targets for the coming season and the feeling in camp ahead of the Blues curtain-raiser. On the reasons behind their resurgence in only 12 months’ time, Reay said: “We obviously did a lot of recruitment last summer, brought a lot of new players in. The immediate thought process was ‘how do we get them to gel as a team?’ “We did that really well, I think, over the summer. You know, we picked some really competitive games in pre-season to try and embed our principles into the new players. “I think getting off to a good start always helps, and I think we just had that momentum from the off. I think we just got better and better each year we played. The team got stronger and understood each other, and we found ourselves in a really good position come the end of the season.” That team strength was evident in many games last season, but was epitomised in the 4-3 home comeback victory over Lewes, in which midfield ace Jenna Dear found the net twice in the dying embers to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. That goal not only sent the Eppleton stands - and dugout - into raptures, but was imperative in maintaining that ‘momentum’ for the Black Cats’ title charge. “I think we pride ourselves on our togetherness as a group,” Reay added. “I think that’s really important. We got each other’s backs on and off the pitch, but the quality of the players that we brought in certainly helped. “The strength of the team, they raised the bar in terms of the standards, and we put on for that campaign. And then looking into the new season, obviously. I think last season has probably changed the goalposts a little bit.” As head coach Reay admits, last season’s impressive efforts have indeed “changed the goalposts”, and as such the Eppleton faithful are rightfully expecting a similarly stellar season come September. The 43-year-old continued: “I think we don’t want to put any kind of pressure on ourselves. We know it’s important to get off to a good start. We’ve got some really tough fixtures to open up the season with, so we’ve just got to concentrate on getting the foundations right and making sure that players know their roles and responsibilities on the pitch.” It has been a busy summer window in Sunderland, with Reay’s side losing last season’s Championship golden glove winner, club and league player of the season Claudia Moan to arch-rivals Newcastle, who the Black Cats will face this season following the Magpies’ promotion. Sunderland have made some very shrewd and clever signings, in the form of a new No 1 with keeper Demi Lambourne, striker Eleanor Dale as well as loanee duo Keira Flannery and Jessie Stapleton. They have also tied down key talents including the likes of skipper Brianna Westrup, homegrown star Jess Brown and prolific forward Emily Scarr. Reay said of this summer’s transfer business: “We’re obviously really delighted with the new four players that we’ve brought in. They’ve all added quality to the group, which again is really important that we grow and evolve as a team. We have to get better and stronger each campaign we go into.” Sunderland have endured a testing pre-season so far, beaten by Rangers 2-1 and getting the better of Super League side Everton with a 2-1. “We’ve certainly picked tough fixtures, friendly fixtures for the team to encounter different challenges along the way.” added Reay. “It would’ve been really easy to pick six easy friendlies to win every game. That’s what I don’t want. I want the team to feel uncomfortable. I want them to be able to problem-solve and make sure they’re in the best place possible come the first game of the season. “They’re in good shape and I’m looking forward to the start of the season. And then obviously this season as well there’s been a slight change with being four together at the stadium.” Reay’s side are set to take centre stage at the Stadium of Light on four occasions this season when they host arch-rivals Newcastle on October 13, Birmingham on February 2, local rivals Durham on March 2 and finally with the visit of Sheffield United on May 4 on the final day. Reay explained: “I think it’s really exciting. To be honest, I think it’s becoming the norm. I think every away game that we play is probably going to be in a major stadium. There’s certainly excitement. We want to make sure that when we do play there that it’s in front of a big crowd and they can get behind the team and they can hopefully pick up three points. “It’s really good for the community. We understand and have listened to feedback from the supporters. Eppleton (Colliery Welfare Ground), it’s a really hard place to get too sometimes. Putting a fixture in the city centre is a lot more accessible for new fans and current fans to get to. Hopefully over the next couple of years that might be the norm. That might just be a normal procedure that we play out of there. Who knows? We’re excited for the four games that we’ve got. We hope we can get some positive results for the fans to cheer about.” Despite the noise surrounding the return of the Wear-Tyne derby this term - with Becky Langley’s Magpies tipped by some to be title contenders - the ever-composed Reay was not drawn into any early rivalry. She said of Newcastle’s return to the league: “It’s exciting for the North East to have three teams in the same division. There’s lots of opportunities for people to come and watch football. “I’m sure there’ll be two decent crowds at both games. It’s exciting for the city but the full focus currently is on Birmingham.” Looking ahead to the opening-day Blues clash, Reay made some candid admissions about the mammoth task facing them this term, with the Women’s second division possessing a plethora of talented sides. The Sunderland veteran added on the coming campaign: ““I think playing in the Women’s Championship is a really tough league. There were some really good teams. I think every game is unpredictable. I think everyone can beat everyone on any given day.” “We’ve had a really good pre-season. Staff have worked really hard behind the scenes to pitch the best programme possible, to get the players in shape physically, technically and tactically. We’re really excited to go into the new season. We hope we can be as competitive as we were last season, and get off to a good start and hopefully be there or thereabouts.” The Blues play host to The Lady Black Cats at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park on Sunday afternoon. The game sees two of last season’s promotion challengers go head-to head. Sunderland were arguably the surprise package in the Barclays Women’s Championship last season with Mel Reay’s side keeping their unexpected promotion push going until the final few games. Birmingham City performed well against the Wearsiders last season, taking four points from their two league games. The Blues may go into this weekend’s meeting as favourites but attacker McGowan says that Sunderland can never be taken lightly. “There’s always so much hype around the first game,” McGowan said when speaking in a Barclays Women’s Championship media event. “People assume that teams that have done well in the past should do well [again] but that depends on what happens on the day. “It’s going to be a tough game. Sunderland are always tough to play against, they’re physical and they’re strong. We have to rise to the challenge but also focus on us.” Birmingham City are one of a whole host of clubs that could push for promotion this year. McGowan isn’t focusing too much on promotion rivals or pole position at this stage, she’s only concentrating on what happens on the pitch. She said “We can’t look at the competition too much. When we start the season, the football will speak for itself. I just focus on Birmingham, I don’t look at anyone else.” A four-game winless run at the start of last season played a big part in derailing the Blues’ promotion hopes. McGowan said that talk of last season’s slow start hasn’t entered the dressing room during this year’s pre-season programme. She said “Last year was a completely different manager and a bit of a different squad, so I don’t think that’s been brought into our dressing room how they started last year.” On a personal level, McGowan is set to kick-off her third season playing in the Barclays Women’s Championship and she says that the product on the pitch is improving year-on-year. “I moved into the Championship two seasons ago after leaving Chelsea and even when I’ve been watching on from the sidelines [during my injury], the football has got so much better than when I first joined [the league],” she said. “It’s so good to see the growth of the Championship, it’s exciting.” Birmingham City’s Barclays Women’s Championship fixture against Sunderland kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here. The Blues boss spoke excitedly to the media ahead of this afternoon’s opening Barclays Women’s Championship fixture of the season against Sunderland at St Andrew’s. Speaking about this season’s targets and challenges, Merricks made it clear that her team are going into the campaign very much focused on knowing their own identity and taking things day-by-day. “We’re an ambitious club and so we should be with the history we have and the investment we have now,” Merricks said. “My message very much to the players and staff is that we have to earn the right. I’ve been in the WSL, I know what it takes to sustain WSL status, that is not easy. “We have to be focused on day in, day out what we’re doing in training, our identity, how we play and how we improve. If we continue with that mindset, then anything is possible. “Firstly, Sunderland at the weekend; perform well and that should do for us but it’s step-by-step. This is a competitive league, it’s not easy. One team is promoted, it’s not easy, so we have to take it day-by-day.” The Blues finished last season just five points behind this weekend’s opponents and Merricks recognizes the competitiveness of her side’s opening game. She said “I’m excited to see the team showcase themselves and I’m excited to see it come together on Sunday. “This weekend will be a tough challenge. Sunderland are a top side and I must say, credit to Mel [Reay], she’s done incredible work there. We won’t be taking them for granted; we will be focusing on our performance and playing with some real intent.” Merricks is set to begin her first full season in charge of Birmingham City and she is pleased with the squad that she has at her disposal. She said “When I first came in, I spoke about how talented the group already were. We already have really good talent here and it’s about blending that together. “The additions we’ve made first and foremost are great characters and great people; [it’s] a variety of experienced Championship players with good WSL potential.” This summer saw Birmingham City stage a pre-season camp abroad for the very first time. Merricks highlighted the commitment of the club in providing their players with a top-class environment to prepare for the new season. “It’s a huge statement [from the club],” Merricks said “It creates a professional environment and allows us to get away from the training ground which is really important. It shows their commitment to us as a women’s team and not just the club in general.” Birmingham City’s Barclays Women’s Championship fixture against Sunderland kicks-off at 2pm. Tickets remain on general sale and can be purchased by clicking here.