A stalwart of the game, Kate Longhurst is synonymous with women’s football. Only two players have made more appearances in the Women’s Super League (WSL), a twice champion with Liverpool, and an FA Cup finalist with Chelsea and West Ham. In short, she is a legend.
After a short season spell at Charlton last year, Kate has become Nottingham Forest’s latest marquee signing. I was lucky enough to sit down with her, to talk about aspirations for the club, a look back at her career and just a little and a wee smidge about her time at West Ham. Did you expect anything less?
With such an amazing career, we had to start looking back before going forward. So much has changed since Kate started playing. So what are some of the biggest, more positive ones she had seen?
“The professionalisation of the game had to be number one”, Kate told me. “That clubs have seen the product is worth backing, the media see it as something worth covering and supporting. On a personal level, the type of facilities that clubs now offer their players are unrecognisable compared to when she started playing as a paid player.”
‘It was a very loose definition of professional, because it wasn’t’.
“The crowds coming to games to support both the national and club teams is something else that has grown exponentially and it’s a really exciting time to be involved.”
However, with every success we have reached within the sport, there have been some devastating lows. Such as the news coming out of Blackburn that their average wage for a full time team was just £9,000 a year.
Plus the more devastating news that Reading who had until two years ago been a team challenging in the WSL have now gone to tier five due to their umbrella club’s inability to maintain full time funding.
So what would Kate like to see as a player from clubs to stop this from happening?
“The shame it seems is some clubs backing out of supporting their women’s team, Kate lamented. Especially a club as Reading who had come up the ranks from lower tiers to be that solid WSL team. Unfortunately, this has now been pulled out from under their feet and a lot of players, coaches and support staff wondering where they are to go next.”
I’d like to see more punishment for the clubs that do seem to stop backing their women’s team. Let’s be honest the top two leagues are fully professional or they are supposed to be.
“If you can’t sustain that due to financial mismanagement or you have decided not to. Then there needs to be tougher consequences for that decision.”
Looking ahead to the upcoming season, Longhurst has joined Nottingham Forest, a club that truly supports its team. This signing is significant for both the player and the club, bringing high potential for success in tier three. What motivated her to make this decision?
“Ambition” first and foremost was the attraction to Longhurst. With the club going full time in this league shows that they are really going for it this season. That was a major pull as a player after all that we have just talked about.
“Basically I am not ready to hang up my boots just yet” Kate laughs. “I can’t just chill out and relax”. Their ambition matches hers and her main goal is to work hard and get the club into the best possible place to go for promotion.
Is that the biggest goal then for the club, to be promoted into the Championship next season? Longhurst nods.
As it’s a new league for Longhurst there are some tantalising match ups for teams she has not played yet in her illustrious career. Who is she most looking forward to playing then?
‘Derby County is the one, as that is our derby and you know I love a derby.’
A little nod to her late equaliser against Tottenham when she played for our shared club of West Ham. “Burnley has to be up there as well as Wolves and Rugby.” There are some great teams that I am sure Kate is just chomping at the bit to take on, in her trademark style.
After covering the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly. To finish what has been a fun interview, I cheekily stole some questions we ask on my other side adventure, a podcast called the Women’s Soccer Show. Maybe check it out ;).
A feature called Shirts of Your Lives. This allows players to sum up their career through the kits they have worn. Who doesn’t love a bit of fashion with our footie?
Let’s take Kate back to the very beginning and discuss the shirt that epitomizes her career in football, whether as a fan or a player. Many of us, especially those of a certain age (apologies, Kate), remember those boxy polyester starter shirts we wore when we first kicked a ball. So, what was Kate’s first football shirt?
“Can I have two as it’s tough to narrow down to just one?” Kate smiles. Her first choice is her first Colchester United kit as a player. The kit sponsor is what first springs to mind, that being Admiral on the front, ten times too big, coming to my knees as an under 10s player.
“As a fan, it’s the 100th-anniversary shirt that West Ham produced, with the bubbles on the front. That kit was worn to death and faded but despite having so many West Ham shirts, that one is my favourite, Longhurst reminisces.
To the midpoint of her footballing journey, what kit made Kate think that she could make a go of this footballing lark as a career?
Ooh again we have to go to Colchester back when I was a striker. I dunno how I thought I was a striker.
“At 16/17 playing against Arsenal in the FA Cup going toe to toe with Faye White. That shirt is when I first thought I was holding my own while keeping the ball. I mean we got battered but it was definitely the start of my belief in being a footballer.”
Finally, we move on to the subject of pride. What shirt symbolises for Kate her proudest moment or biggest achievement in football? Despite having won the league in a Liverpool shirt, Kate went with heart over head with her choice.
“Probably my first shirt as a West Ham player” Kate smiles. “Playing for the club I support, getting to an FA Cup final in the 18/19 season. Our first season. That will always mean the most.”
It’s looking good for Forest and Kate this year but they need the fans to get down and give them the love and support they deserve. Kate is promising some fast, furious and competitive football. So if you are in Nottingham get down to the City ground and show them the pride of Nottingham.
