Blues Ladies launch their 2016 campaign tonight with a “beer and balti” launch event at St Andrew’s to introduce their new kit, sponsor and captain.

This year marks the sixth season of the WSL since it was launched in 2011, and the first with nine teams after the expansion at the end of last season. With more money than ever floating around the womens’ game it has the potential to be even harder for Blues Ladies with David Parker’s team operating on a budget a fraction of that of the front runners.

With talismanic captain Karen Carney having left the club for Chelsea, along with Becky Spencer (Chelsea) and Chelsea Weston (released) the lineup this season might be seen to be a bit more unexperienced and it wouldn’t be hard to name Blues as pre-season favourites to be struggling against the drop. However with youngsters such as Coral-Jade Haines and Chloe Peplow coming through the hope is at the Autotech Stadium that Blues will continue to be able to build on their impressive list of players to graduate from their Centre of Excellence.

The launch event tonight marks another step in the continued integration of the team under the umbrella of the main club. While for budgetary reasons this is important for the Ladies team, it could also end up being very beneficial to the men’s side as teams such as Manchester City and Chelsea have found. Money invested into the Ladies team is counted favourably in FFP calculations as it is seen as investment within the infrastructure of the club – something that would definitely be assistance to Blues now they are reliant on loans from an investor such as TTA rather than money from broadcasting revenue.

From a personal angle, I think there is more to it than that though. As the father of an 11 year old daughter who is an affirmed fan of the club  I think it’s important that she (like every other young female Blues fan out there) can see that football isn’t an avenue closed off to her because of her gender. Football is a changing landscape and I think it’s important that Blues do all that they can to attract the next generation of fans away from thoughts of supporting the “big teams” – and unfortunately for the more old-fashioned among us it means appealing to women as well as men.

One thing that may be of interest to Blues fans is that the Ladies’ kit will be launched tonight – if they’ve gone with the men’s new kit suppliers it’s possible we’ll see the first adidas Birmingham City kit in 33 years tomorrow evening. I’ll be in attendance along with my camera so keep an eye out on social media for pictures.

Tickets for the event may still be available – To book your place, contact Blues’ commercial department on 0344 557 1875 (option 3) or email commercial@bcfc.com.  

Tags: Blues Ladies, Kit