The 2023–24 season was Nottingham Forest Women's sixth consecutive season in the FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division, which stands at level three of the women's football league pyramid.
Prior to the beginning of the season Nottingham Forest Women were fully integrated into the wider football department of Nottingham Forest moving to a professional hybrid model for the 2023/24 season as phase one of a strategy to create a full-time professional team.
This transition brought multiple changes to the clubs staff. Amber Wildgust was appointed as Head of Women's and Girls Football, Carly Davies was appointed as Head Coach and Dave Long was appointed as Head of Girls Academy.
This was the first season that the club used Grange Park in Long Eaton as their main home ground after 4 years at Halbrooke Stadium in Eastwood.
Forest started the season strongly with successive league victories over Stourbridge (home, 7-0), West Bromwich Albion (away, 1-4), and AFC Fylde (home, 3-1) and a 5-0 away win against Solihull Moors to progress to the FA Women’s National League Cup first round and defend their 2022-2023 crown.
September and October proved to be challenging for Carly Davies’ side, however, with an FA Women’s National League Cup second-round home 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and home 5-0 league win over Liverpool Feds sitting between league defeats over promotion rivals Burnley (away, 4-2), local rivals Derby County at (home, 1-2), and a Women’s National League Cup third-round away 3-0 defeat against eventual beaten finalists Newcastle United. Forest responded by winning 10 of their next 11 matches including four Women's FA Cup wins against Sheffield FC (home, 7-0), Sporting Khalsa (home, 3-2), Boldmere St Michaels (home, 3-1) and Plymouth Argyle (away, 1-6) to set up a fifth-round proper tie against Women’s Super League outfit Everton. This run (of which the only loss was a 0-1 home defeat against league leaders Newcastle United) left the side in 2nd place (four points behind Newcastle).
Carly Davies’ side was unable to take their momentum from eight consecutive wins into the Women’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Everton with the Women’s Super League side running out comfortable 1-7 winners at Grange Park with Forest generating £123,000 in revenue from their furthest run in the competition since the 2012-2013 season. Forest was unable to rebuild the momentum they created between November 2023 and February 2024 for their final nine FA Women’s National League Northern Premier League fixtures and took only 17 points from a possible 27 and finished their title defence in 3rd place on 47 points (1 point behind 2nd placed Burnley and 12 points behind champions Newcastle United), missing out on promotion to the Women’s Championship for another season.
Squad information
First team squad
Name Nat. Date of birth (age) Since Signed from Goalkeepers 1 Emily Batty 18 July 2021 Sheffield United 18 Aja Aguirre 1 July 2019 Aston Villa 34 Holly Mears 13 January 2024 Leicester City Defenders 2 Lyndsey Harkin 1 February 2016 Doncaster Rovers Belles 3 Nat Johnson 10 August 2023 Lewes 5 Olivia Cook 1 July 2019 Doncaster Rovers Belles 11 Chloe Dixon 19 August 2023 Blackburn Rovers 15 Laura-Jayne O'Neill 1 July 2017 Notts County 21 Hayley James 1 August 2020 Leicester City 24 Ella Haughey 20 October 2023 Lisburn Rovers 32 Abi Cowie 16 August 2023 Birmingham City Midfielders 6 Lauren McMurchie 1 March 2024 Onyx F.C. 10 Holly Manders 2 August 2023 Sunderland 12 Niamh Reynolds 1 August 2020 Reading 16 Mollie Green 5 August 2023 Birmingham City 17 Freya Thomas 7 August 2023 Coventry United 19 Becky Anderson - 2 July 2021 Coventry United 25 Alice Keitley 6 October 2023 Aston Villa 36 Lily Stevenson - - Academy Forwards 7 Sophie Domingo 1 July 2022 Derby County 8 Mai Moncaster 1 September 2019 Leicester City 14 Louanne Worsey 16 September 2023 Birmingham City 22 Charlotte Greengrass - 1 September 2020 Aston Villa
Squad Changes Transfers In DatePos.PlayerFromFeeRef. 2 August 2023 MF Holly Manders Sunderland Free agent 5 August 2023 MF Mollie Green Birmingham City Free agent 7 August 2023 MF Freya Thomas Coventry United Free agent 10 August 2023 DF Natalie Johnson Lewes Free agent 19 August 2023 DF Chloe Leigh Dixon Blackburn Rovers Free agent 20 October 2023 DF Ella Haughey Lisburn Rangers Free agent 9 March 2024 MF Lauren McMurchie Onyx F.C. Free agent
Transfers Out DatePos.PlayerToFeeRef.
Loans In Date fromPos.PlayerFromDurationRef. 16 September 2023 DF Abi Louise Cowie Birmingham City Season-long loan 16 September 2023 FW Louanne Worsey Birmingham City Season-long loan 6 October 2023 MF Alice Keitley Aston Villa Season-long loan 13 January 2024 GK Holly Mears Leicester City Season-long loan
Loans Out Date fromPos.PlayerToDurationRef.
Released DatePos.PlayerSubsequent clubDate signedRef. 30 June 2023 FW Iris Achterhof Retired 30 June 2023 DF Aryanna Daniels Retired 30 June 2023 DF Georgia Hewitt Loughborough Lightning 30 June 2023 DF Emily Jacobs Loughborough Lightning 30 June 2023 FW Gianna Mitchell Retired 30 June 2023 FW Yasmin Mosby Derby County 29 July 2023 30 June 2023 MF Naomi Powell Hibernian 29 July 2023 30 June 2023 MF Charlotte Steggles Derby County 29 July 2023 30 June 2023 MF Rosetta Taylor Adelaide United 28 September 2023 30 June 2023 MF Amy West Retired
New contracts Date Pos. Player Contract length Ref. 21 July 2023 MF Becky Anderson One year 21 July 2023 GK Emily Batty One year 21 July 2023 DF Olivia Cook One year 21 July 2023 FW Charlotte Greengrass One year 21 July 2023 DF Lyndsey Harkin One year 21 July 2023 DF Hayley James One year 21 July 2023 FW Mai Moncaster One year 21 July 2023 DF Laura-Jayne O'Neill One year 21 July 2023 MF Niamh Reynolds One year 2 August 2023 FW Sophie Domingo One year 19 August 2023 GK Aja Aguirre One year
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions Overall record
FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
Women's FA Cup
Matches
FA Women's National League Cup
Matches
Statistics
Overall No.Pos.PlayerLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotal1 GK 2201030003000280102 DF 2202040003000290203 DF 2161041103010287305 DF 9 (5)0002 (1)0002 (1)00013 (7)0006 MF 0 (1)000000000000 (1)0007 FW 16 (4)71052100 (1)00021 (5)9208 FW 13 (9)4103 (2)3002 (1)00018 (12)71010 MF 2211203100340028162011 DF 3 (6)1001 (4)0101 (2)1005 (12)20012 MF 0 (7)1002 (2)2000 (2)0002 (11)30014 FW 10 (6)8115600101016 (6)142115 DF 1 (3)0000 (1)0001 (2)0002 (6)00016 MF 17 (1)11141002 (1)20023 (2)41117 MF 21420410030102853018 GK 000020000000200019 MF 22030500030003003021 DF 4 (1)000000020006 (1)00022 FW 17 (2)13102 (2)200200021 (4)151024 DF 3 (5)0103 (1)01000006 (6)02025 MF 3 (2)3001 (3)10000004 (5)40032 DF 16 (2)0502000200020 (2)05034 GK 000000000000000036 MF 0 (1)000000000000 (1)000
Goalscorers
RankNo.Pos.PlayerLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotal1 10 MF 11 1 4 162 22 FW 13 2 0 153 14 FW 8 6 0 144 7 FW 7 2 0 95 3 DF 6 1 0 7 8 FW 4 3 0 77 17 MF 4 1 0 58 16 MF 1 1 2 4 25 MF 3 1 0 410 12 MF 1 2 0 311 11 DF 1 0 1 2Totals 59 20 7 86
Assists
RankNo.Pos.PlayerLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotal1 7 FW 13 5 0 182 22 FW 4 2 0 6 8 FW 4 0 2 64 17 MF 3 1 1 55 19 MF 2 1 1 4 16 MF 4 0 0 4 10 MF 4 0 0 4 14 FW 2 2 0 49 32 DF 2 0 0 2 11 DF 1 0 1 2 2 DF 2 0 0 2 24 DF 0 2 0 2 21 DF 2 0 0 2 3 DF 1 1 0 2 25 MF 0 2 0 216 5 DF 1 0 0 1Totals 45 16 5 66
Clean sheets
RankNo.Pos.PlayerLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotal1 1 GK 9 0 2 112 18 GK 0 1 0 1Totals 9 1 2 12
Hat-tricks
PlayerAgainstResultDateCompetitionRef.Stourbridge (H)7 – 020 August 2023 WNL Northern Premier DivisionLiverpool Feds (H)5 – 015 October 2023 WNL Northern Premier Division
Awards
e-on Player of the Month Awarded by an online vote of supporters on the official Nottingham Forest F.C. website. MonthPlayerRef.April March February January
References
External links Official site