Image source, KAREN RODHAM
- Author, Jonny Manning
- Role, BBC News, North East and Cumbria
A football club plans to reinstate its women’s team just a few days after a controversial decision to axe it.
Thornaby FC announced earlier this week it had voted to drop its female teams following a “difficult year”.
The decision sparked backlash, including from the club’s first team manager Abbey Lyle and England player Beth Mead.
The club has appointed Alison McGee as its new chief executive officer and said its girls’ and women’s teams now had the “foundations to carry on”.
Ms McGee is a director at Durata, a power infrastructure company, which has sponsored Thornaby FC Women for the last two seasons.
“We have been around this fantastic club for the last couple of years and this next chapter is an exciting prospect to be part of,” she said.
“There is so much potential for men and women together, girls and boys, one club.”
Image source, Paul Fraser
Pending financial due diligence checks, Ms McGee will be joined on the board by chairman Garry Morris, Philip Genery and Rachel Stonehouse, along with her husband and Durata managing director John McGee.
Thornaby FC Women’s co-managers Abbey Lyle and Claire Streeter said: “We want to shine a positive light and we are proud of the football community for standing by us on this.
“We are excited about what is to come and we want to look ahead. We would love for the club to hit new levels and look to the future.”
The added they wished to create a boys’ team in the future, which the club currently lacked.
Image source, KAREN RODMAN
The decision to scrap the women’s section of the club had threatened to leave about 100 players without a team.
The move would have affected all Thornaby FC’s female teams including the under-7s, under-8s, under-10s, under-11s, under-15s and the women’s side.
Lioness Beth Mead, who grew up near Whitby, North Yorkshire, criticised the club’s committee for making a “horrible decision”.
The six board members who voted to scrap the teams have stepped down, including former chief executive Trevor Wing.
Gary Morris, chairman of the Northern Football League Division Two club, voted against the decision.