Burnley Women remain focused on long-term success despite falling short in promotion bid once again

The Clarets have made no secret of their desire to win the Northern Premier Division, but for the second season running they’ve just fallen short.

Rebecca Sawiuk’s side have enjoyed a strong campaign, losing only three of their 21 games to date. But a strong Newcastle United outfit have already clinched the league title.

There’s only one promotion spot in the Northern Premier Division, meaning another season in the third tier of women’s football for the Clarets.

But Burnley Women’s head of football Lola Ogunbote is positive for the future and remains pleased with the club’s progress.

“We’re second in the league behind a full-time outfit,” she explained.

“Of course we want to be first, we want to get that top spot. We haven’t managed to do that this season but we’ve done ourselves and the club and the town proud with how we’ve performed this year.”

While the women’s team currently remain part-time, Ogunbote insists it’s one of the club’s longer-term aims to change that.

“Longer term, that's one of our ambitions,” she said.

“Alan Pace has made it very clear that our long-term ambition is to play at the top flight of women’s football, we want to be in the WSL.

“There’s a process behind that though that needs to be planned and needs to be steady and not rushed.

“We’re making the changes we feel are necessary to get ourselves closer to that, so we’re looking at our recruitment, our playing style, who we’re able to attract, so we’re thinking long and hard about what changes we need to make to get us closer to that top spot, because we want to be in the Championship and then hopefully in the WSL.”

The Clarets have now enjoyed two fixtures playing at Turf Moor, both against Liverpool Feds.

After securing a dramatic 2-1 win last season, Sawiuk’s side eased to a far more comfortable 3-0 victory at the weekend in front of just over 2,000 fans.

The club do, however, play the majority of their home games out of town at the headquarters of Lancashire FA in Leyland.

While it’s the club’s long-term aim to play in Burnley on a permanent basis, Ogunbote warns it won’t happen overnight.

“We’re very happy to have a good relationship with the Lancashire FA,” she said.

“We also understand we want to bring our football to the town of Burnley, so in those discussions it’s making sure we have the right infrastructure around that, we have the right place and timings etc.

“Our relationship with Lancs FA will always be strong, but there’s no doubt in my mind that our long-term plan is to bring the women’s team home to Burnley.

“We want to do that in the right way, with the right facilities and with the right support around it and that doesn’t happen overnight. It will take a lot of time but a lot of those conversations are happening now to ensure fans are easily able to access the women’s team.”

Ogunbote added: “We’re proud to have a women’s team that affects Burnley and has players who are from this town that affect the club.

“In three years we’ve turned what was a community team into a Championship-seeking side and that’s an incredible achievement in a short space of time.

“We have the talent, we’ve recruited some wonderful footballers. I think we have the best keeper in the league, I think we have the best left-back in the league, we’ve got one of the best 10s in the league, we’ve got some really young, exciting players that are coming up.

“We have good relationships with other clubs to dual-reg players, we’ve done a lot around the commercial side. Our TikTok partnership stands out and something we’re still getting awards for.

“We’re doing things the Burnley way. We’re not going to be pressured into following the trend, we’re going to do it our way and do it in a way that is long-term and sustainable and that is going to give us the success we need.”

Sawiuk has impressive in her debut campaign in the dugout, having replaced Jay Bradford, who stepped in as interim boss last season following the departure of Jonathan Morgan.

Not only is she getting the results, she’s also a perfect fit for the “DNA” the club were looking to implement.

“We lost our previous manager and we had to really plan and go back to the drawing board in terms of the plan and the profile of person we wanted,” Ogunbote said.

“When I had my conversations with Rebecca, I knew she fit the qualities of a head coach we were looking for and a head coach to lead this group.

“In terms of performances, if you watch Burnley Women we have a strong DNA. Without being bias, I think we play the best football in the league. We play exciting football, it’s possession-based and she has led that charge in terms of implementing a DNA, implementing a style similar to what Vinny has done with the men’s team.

“She’s helped really change that perception about who Burnley are and how we play, so I’m really pleased with how she’s done.

“She’s got a great work ethic. She works really hard, she’s relentless. She’s always about the finer details and that’s shown.”