Player, coach, manager, club founder, administrator – Liz Deighan was a true women’s football pioneer in every sense.

Liz Deighan was a rarity among managers in the early days of the Women’s National League – the Knowsley United (later name-changed to Liverpool) boss and former England international midfielder was a woman!

“I think I was the only woman in charge of a top flight team when the League started,” recalls Deighan, “but it wasn’t a problem. I’d coached the England Under 21’s and as a player I’d won 49 England caps, so I knew what I was talking about.

“I knew more about the game than most of the men who I came up against in management, and I always felt that I had their respect.”

Deighan was to be respected not just for her playing and management skills but also for her 1989 formation of Newton Ladies and, two years later, as the prime instigator of the team’s integration with men’s club Knowsley United for the specific intention of becoming founder members of the WFA National League.

She says: “We (Newton) had correspondence from the Women’s FA saying they were going to form a National League and that if we wanted to be in it, we had to meet certain criteria – like a pitch with barriers around it, changing rooms with a certain level of facilities like decent showers, and at least £1,000 in the bank.

“All of that was a pretty tall order in those days, but Knowsley had the facilities we needed so it was a good move for us. And of course if we were going to start playing in a national rather than a regional league, we had to have the money to pay for things like travelling to away games and sometimes for overnight stays.

“I think the biggest obstacle was the finances. Like most teams in those days the players had to pay subs to help with running the club, from small things like first aid kits to the hire of coaches for travel. We also did stuff like selling raffle tickets, having social events and trying to get sponsorships to raise money.”

Knowsley’s off-field as well as on-field efforts led to the team finishing fourth in the first season of the new League’s top flight and, in the second campaign, not only having a third place finish but also reaching the League Cup final.

What’s more, the final was to be played at Wembley for what was the first and only time in the history of the Women’s National League Cup. 

The historic game was lost 3-0 to Arsenal, but Deighan says: “It was a brilliant occasion for us as a club. I’d played there for England, because we used to play five-a-side matches to entertain the crowd (ahead of men’s games) and to promote the England women’s team.

“But to actually lead a team out there as manager and take in all the atmosphere was very special, even though there wasn’t a big crowd (the game was played ahead of a men’s Football League third division play-off final). 

“The only downside of the day was that we couldn’t use the dressing rooms because the men’s teams had priority. So we had to change in an ordinary room up in the gods and then had to walk down all the steps where the spectators were to get on to the pitch – and go the same way back after the match.

“Our players would obviously have liked to use the proper changing rooms, but it was still a great experience for them and they loved it.”

That Wembley final was Deighan’s swansong as Knowsley manager. “I retired after the match,” she says. “I’d been involved in football in different categories for so many years and to be honest, I was tired. But to retire after a Wembley final, what a way to step away from women’s football!”

Deighan handed over the Knowsley reins to another former England international, Angie Gallimore, who became player manager and in 1994 led the team through the link-up process with men’s Premier League club Liverpool FC.

Meanwhile Deighan, Northumberland-born but an honorary Merseysider having moved to the area in the 1970’s to work and pursue her football career, did not totally walk away from the game but for a while helped out at one or two regional league teams. Once a football woman….  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to Liz Deighan for the images.