Salford City Lionesses to make FA Women's Cup debut

When Kay Baker takes to the pitch for Salford City Lionesses against Morecambe in the preliminary round of the FA Women's Cup on Sunday, she will carry on a family tradition.

Her father, Andrew Baker, played in the FA Youth Cup for Port Vale in 1981 alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s father, Mark.

“It gives me goosebumps to think my dad is going to be there,” says centre-back Baker. “When I was growing up, he always told me that I had to play in the FA Cup. It’s going to be a massive day for my family and an emotional one too. Fingers crossed we can come up with a win.”

Salford Lionesses' cup debut marks another milestone in the team's burgeoning existence. There are few start-up amateur clubs in the women’s game which can match their track record: after forming in 2018, the team did the triple in their first season, winning the Greater Manchester Football league - the seventh tier of women’s football - and bagged two league cups.

Their only defeat that season came in a county cup final. Ironically, before losing to rivals FC United, the team were showered with good luck messages in a pre-match video from five of the country’s most celebrated former footballers: Phil and Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, more commonly known as the Class of 92, who in 2014 each bought a 10 per cent stake in the club.

“It was a really lovely gesture which made us feel valued and goes to show they are aware of us and they do look out for our results,” recalls player-manager Ellen Thornton, a full-time pharmacy technician.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a journey. The only expectation we had in our first season was to enjoy it, but a few games in, we knew we had a bit of a special team.”

At 38, Thornton jokes she was “old enough to have been everyone’s mother” when she headed down to Salford Sports Village two years ago for team trials.

To her shock, Phil Neville, who was six months into his role as England Women’s manager, and Casey Stoney, who would later become the Manchester United women’s head coach, headed up the recruitment process.

“It was a bit surreal really,” Thornton says. “You don’t expect such big names in football to rock up to trials at your local team. We didn’t realise they were going to be there, so it was a nice surprise.”

Salford City men have executed an aggressive game plan since United's 'Class of 92' arrived on the scene five years ago, having won four promotions to seal their place in the English Football League last year.

After Neville was unveiled as England manager in early 2018, establishing a women’s branch at the club seemed inevitable - if not overdue - but with what ambitions?

“When I saw the news we were going to be involved in the FA Cup, the first thing I thought was, ‘We’ve got to aim for the Women’s Super League," Neville told Telegraph Sport earlier this month. “We’ve got to get Salford City Lionesses running parallel to the men’s team.

The aim of the club is to get Salford City Lionesses to the point where we can challenge for promotion and eventually play at a WSL-type level.

That is no mean feat, given the exponential growth of the female top-flight in recent years, but change is already afoot at Salford.

Last month, the club’s shirt sponsor, telecoms provider Talktalk, extended its existing partnership to include the women’s team, offering a rare glimpse of a semi-professional male side championing equality alongside its grassroots sister.

“We might have to train a bit more than two hours on a Wednesday night too,” quips Thornton. “It would take a few years to get to the WSL, but it’s what girls in the game aspire to now, so why not?”

Irrespective of whether they ever touch the higher echelons of the female game, Thornton and Baker can be assured of one thing: they will go down in history as members of the first ever Salford City Lionesses FA Cup side, whose tournament debut is another stepping stone in the team's evolution.

“We want to win, we want to get as far as we can,” insists Thornton. “The FA Cup final is at Wembley, so you can only dream, can’t you?”