Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Kadeem Simmonds

Paul Konchesky makes Old Trafford admission ahead of West Ham Women vs Manchester United Women

Paul Konchesky has called for more WSL games to be played in large stadiums ahead of West Ham United Women's trip to Old Trafford.

The Hammers are next in action against league contenders Manchester United Women on Saturday and the game will be played at United's main stadium as opposed to Leigh Village Stadium.

The move to larger venues has been increased this season on the back of increased exposure and fanfare in women's football after the England national team won the European Championships last summer at Wembley.

READ MORE: West Ham’s Declan Rice responds to ‘harsh’ Graeme Souness comments amid Arsenal transfer links

And Hammers manager Konchesky believes the game will only grow the more these fixtures take place in front of bigger audiences.

"Playing at men's stadiums is a massive thing for the women's game," he told Sky Sports. "You really get to see how many people are interested - 20,000, 30,000 or even 40,000 people there.

"If you can start putting games in stadiums more regularly, you'll get even more people through the gate too. The exposure of the game speaks for itself. Every week now, there's WSL games on, midweek games, that's massive for the women's game.

"And on the back off the Lionesses, you can see they're bringing more people into the stadiums. That's only going to grow, and the more exposure it gets, it's only going to go one way."

The last time the two sides met at Old Trafford was during the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning no fans were able to attend, with West Ham losing 2-1.

This time, supporters will be in attendance and having played there during his career, Konchesky will be telling his players to enjoy the experience but not to treat it 'as a day out.'

"I've been lucky enough to play there a few times and we have here too but it was in Covid so there weren't any fans. It's going to be a big thing, not just for me to go and manage there but the team to go there and play," he said.

"It's a fantastic stadium and a good place, but sometimes you just have to forget about that - it's a grass football pitch, and we just have to concentrate on that.

"I don't want us to think about it as a day out, you can get lost in thinking about too many things around the game. Enjoy the experience, but concentrate on the game."

READ NEXT

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.