Moneyfields boss Watson: I’ll walk away and some of my players will hang up their boots if we’re not promoted as part of women’s football restructure

Moneyfields could not have been dealt a bigger blow in preparation for the Portsmouth Divisional FA Women's Senior Cup final with Pompey at Westleigh Park.
Moneyfields pictured after last month's Southern Region subsidiary cup final win at Abingdon. Now manager Karl Watson said will walk away from the sport if the club are not granted 'upward movement' in the women's pyramid.Moneyfields pictured after last month's Southern Region subsidiary cup final win at Abingdon. Now manager Karl Watson said will walk away from the sport if the club are not granted 'upward movement' in the women's pyramid.
Moneyfields pictured after last month's Southern Region subsidiary cup final win at Abingdon. Now manager Karl Watson said will walk away from the sport if the club are not granted 'upward movement' in the women's pyramid.

Moneys have been informed they will not be awarded 'upward movement' into the Women's National League pyramid as part of a restructure - but their hopes of promotion are not completely over.

Southern Region League rivals AFC Bournemouth CST were moved up a division instead of Moneys - although the latter believe they could still go up to replace a club who have applied for voluntary relegation from Division 1 South West.

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Moneyfields manager Karl Watson admitted it's going to be an almost impossible task picking his players up after being delivered such devastating news in the build-up to Thursday’s cup final (8pm).

And he conceded if the club are not eventually granted promotion this season, then he'll 'walk away from the game forever'.

Watson said: 'We got told that AFC Bournemouth are being promoted in front of us - even though we’ve beaten them in the league.

‘We’re just about to demolish a ground (Dover Road) which is in better condition than the one they use.

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‘Basically, someone from the league above has applied to come down, so now there’s a push for us to be accepted. The league above have accepted us to move up, our league has accepted us to move up.

‘We were told on Tuesday that we were going to be told on Wednesday that we weren’t going up.

‘I had to then go to training - still trying to keep them motivated (for PDFA Women’s Senior Cup final) - after being under the belief that we’re going to go up.

‘You’re then expected to let things go on Wednesday, try to motivate yourself to play Pompey Women to maybe get the answer you want - because it’s not guaranteed, it’s just a case of waiting.

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‘I’ve already decided that if we don’t get promoted - if things stay as they are - I will be resigning from football, per se, forever - the lot.

‘I know most of my players will hang their boots up.'

Moneyfields have already been beaten by their city rivals in the 2019/20 PDFA Women's Senior Cup final this term.

They went down 4-1 in the delayed 2019-20 season competition to Jay Sadler's side at Baffins Milton Rovers' PMC Stadium last October.

Moneys had won all 10 of their Southern Region Premier Division matches in 2019/20, including beating AFC Bournemouth CST, prior to the 'null and voiding' because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Watson's side had also won both league matches this term and were crowned Women's Southern Regional Subsidiary Cup champions after beating Abingdon in the final last month. En route to cup final success, they again beat AFC Bournemouth - this time on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

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