Leeds Carnegie L.F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Leeds Carnegie


fullname = Leeds Carnegie Ladies Football Club
nickname = "The Whites", "United"
founded = 1989
ground = The Park, Tadcaster
capacity = 1,500 (500 seated)
chairman = Melanie Vauvelle
manager = Rick Passmoor
league = Women's Premier League
season = 2006–07 | position = Women's Premier League, 5th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000077|body2=000077|rightarm2=000077|shorts2=000077|socks2=000077

Leeds Carnegie Ladies Football Club are an English women's football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. They currently compete in the FA Women's Premier League National Division for the 2007–08 season and are one of two Yorkshire teams in the National League, along with Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C.. They should not be confused with the other ladies football team in Leeds, Leeds City Vixens, who compete in the Northern Combination Women's Football League.

History

After playing in the Yorkshire & Humberside League for seven years, the 1997–98 season saw the team gain promotion to the AXA FA Northern Premier League. After consolidating and adjusting to National League football for a couple of seasons, the team achieved promotion as champions of the Northern Premier League to the Women's Premier League. In that same season they also played in the semi-finals of the FA Women's Cup and the final of the FA Women's Premier League Cup. Leeds finished a credible fourth in their first season in the top flight. The following season proved to be a tough one and Leeds finished the league in seventh place.

The 2003–04 season saw a new manager, Julie Chipchase, appointed and Leeds once again finished in fourth place – the highest-placed team outside London. In the 2004–05 season the side finished in fifth place. The 2005–06 season saw the team accomplish one of its greatest achievements to date, playing in the FA Women's Cup final against Arsenal L.F.C. [cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2006/04/25/sport_united_ladies_ward_feature.shtml |title=Sport - Leeds United in F.A. Cup Final |accessdate=2006-09-23 |date=25 April 2006 |work=BBC - Leeds |publisher=BBC] . Leeds United legend Allan Clarke presented them with sock tags before the match, similar to those worn by the Leeds United male team in their 1972 FA Cup Final victory, in a bid to give the team luck [cite web |url=http://www.thefa.com/Womens/TheFAWomensCup/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2006/04/Leeds_lookfor_luckyomen.htm |title=Leeds Ladies Look For Lucky Omen |accessdate=2006-09-23 |date=12 April 2006 |work=The F.A. |publisher=TheFA.com] . Nevertheless, the match did not turn out how the team had hoped, with Arsenal winning the game 5–0 [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/4947310.stm |title=Arsenal Ladies 5-0 Leeds Ladies |accessdate=2006-09-23 |date=1 May 2006 |work=BBC Sport |publisher=BBC] .

The 2006–07 season was a fluctuating one, with Leeds topping the table over the Christmas period and the team getting through to the FA Women's Premier League Cup final for a second time [cite web |url=http://www.thefa.com/Womens/PremierLeagueCup/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2007/03/FAWPLCLeedsArsenal.htm |title=Ludlow levels Leeds |accessdate=2007-04-14 |date=04 March 2007 |work=The F.A. |publisher=The F.A.] . The opposition was Arsenal once again and Leeds put in a much better performance than in their previous cup final appearance, but they cruelly lost out to a last minute strike by Arsenal's Jayne Ludlow. This seemed to have a big impact, as the team didn’t perform as well in the closing stages of the season and they had dropped down to fifth by the end of the season.

A change in management was made in the close season and Rick Passmoor and Leanne Hall were appointed manager and assistant manager respectively in July 2007. The new management team made a number of new signings, including international Steph Houghton, Carly Telford, Katie Holtham, Georgie Adams, Jade Moore and Carly Ward. By March 2008 the team were lying mid-table in the Premier League, finishing in third position 40 points, below Everton 57 points and Arsenal 62 points.The 2007-2008 season saw the club reach their second FA Women's Cup Final their third final in as many years. Arsenal again were their opponents; the match mirrored the previous Premier League Cup final and ended 0-0 at half time, however Arsenal produced most of the chances in the first half and constantly forced United goal keeper Carly Telford into some amazing saves. Action at the opposite end of the pitch was non-existent, as United striker Amanda Barr struggled, however a goal was scored, but later ruled off-side.In the second half Arsenal started aggressively and scored three goals in seven minutes Smith 53, Ludlow 59 ,Sanderson 60. United fought back with a header from Jess Clarke 69, but Arsenal sealed their season double with a final goal from Kelly Smith 83.

Referee: Sasa Ihringova

Player of the match: Carly Telford (Leeds united)

Attendance: 24,582 (new record)

In the 2007-2008 close season Leeds Carnegie Ladies have named two new summer signings Carla Cantrell England U23, previous club Doncaster Rovers Belles and Ellen White England U19 previous club Chelsea Ladies. [cite web |url=http://www.thefa.com/Womens/TheFAWomensCup/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2008/06/FAWC_ArsenalLeeds.htm
title= Arsenal on fire at Forest|date=25 June 2008|accessdate=2008-06-30] [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/7299741.stm |title=Arsenal face Leeds in Cup final |accessdate=2008-03-16 |date=16 March 2008 |work=BBC Sport |publisher=BBC]

The club won the "Marketing Club of the year" award at the FA Awards in May 2007 for the third consecutive year.

Club information

Financial background

After Leeds United chairman Ken Bates cut the club's funding by stopping the financial backing and withdrawing the Thorp Arch training facilities, the ladies team managed to survive using sponsorship money. They were first sponsored in a two year deal worth over £70,000 by EmpireDirect.co.uk, [cite web |url=http://www.thefa.com/Womens/PremierLeague/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2005/07/Leeds_Ladies_land_lucre.htm |title=Leeds Ladies land lucrative sponsorship deal |accessdate=2006-09-23 |date=22 July 2005 |work=The F.A. |publisher=TheFA.com] before receiving sponsorship from Leeds Metropolitan University in a deal reported to be worth in excess of £250,000 over 5 years, starting in 2007. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/6929714.stm |title=Leeds Utd women eye bright future |accessdate=2007-08-03 |date=4 August 2007 |work=Tony Leighton |publisher=BBC Sport]

tadium

The club currently play their home matches at "The Park", home of Tadcaster Albion A.F.C., in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. They used to play there in the 1990s, before moving to "Wheatley Park", home of Garforth Town A.F.C., in Garforth, West Yorkshire.

Teams

Leeds Carnegie L.F.C. has junior teams at U10, U12, U14 & U16, as well as a development team, a reserve team and the first team. The Leeds Carnegie Development Team, which encourages the growth of women's football, plays in the North East Regional Women's Football League Premier Division; the reserves play in the Women's National Premier Northern Reserve League and the first team play in the FA Women's National Premier League.

The club's most notable player is Sue Smith, who has played for over 10 years at international level for England [cite web |url=http://www.thefa.com/Womens/EnglandSenior/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2006/09/Sue_saysits_overdue.htm |title=Sue says it's overdue |accessdate=2006-09-23 |date=21 September 2006 |work=The F.A. |publisher=TheFA.com] , including at the 2007 Women's World Cup.

Name

On July 9, 2008, the team announced they where changing their name to Leeds Carnegie Ladies F.C.. This came to ensure all of the professional sports teams Leeds Met University were investing in carried the name of the university's sport department, Carnegie College (including Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/7496227.stm |title=Leeds women change name of club |accessdate=2008-07-09 |date=09 July 2008 |work=BBC |publisher=BBC.co.uk]

Current squad

"As of June 23 2008:" [cite web
url=http://www.leedsunitedladies.com/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showplayers&p=1&ttid=10&Itemid=46
title=Meet the teams
work=leedsunitedladies.com
accessdate=2008-06-23
date=June 23 2008]

Honours

*FA Women's Premier League Northern Division:Champions (1) 2000-01
*FA Women's Cup:Runners-Up (2) 2006, 2008
*FA Women's Premier League Cup:Runners-Up (2) 2000, 2007

Notes

External links

* [http://www.leedsunitedladies.com/ Leeds Carnegie Ladies Football Club official site]
* [http://femalesoccer.net/leeds_united_ladies Leeds Carnegie Ladies Information and News @ FemaleSoccer.net]
* [http://www.thefa.com/Womens/ F.A. Womens Page]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/default.stm BBC Sport - Football - Women]