Newcastle United part ways with head coach Becky Langley

Newcastle United have confirmed they have parted ways with manager Becky Langley.

“Everyone at Newcastle United thanks Becky sincerely for her service to the club and wishes her the very best in her future career,” said a club statement.

“An interim coaching structure will be put in place while a successor is appointed.”

Langley was appointed in 2019, and led the team to back-to-back promotions from the fourth tier to WSL2.

Under her management, the team turned fully professional two years ago, the first third-tier side to make that move.

She was in charge for the team’s first-ever matches at St James’ Park, and led them to a fifth-place finish in WSL2 last season.

She was initially head of women’s football at Northumbria University, taking on the Newcastle team management as part of a partnership between the club’s foundation and the university.

Prior to that, she had coached at Nottingham Forest’s academy while leading the women’s football and futsal programmes at the University of Nottingham.

Newcastle’s season so far

The team are currently ninth in the Women’s Championship after six matches.

They have won only one match, drawing three, and are on a goal difference of minus two.

The current Newcastle United squad includes some well-known names, including former England internationals Jordan Nobbs and Demi Stokes, with experienced US midfielder Morgan Gautrat currently on loan from Orlando Pride.

Newcastle United: penalty loss against Manchester City

Langley’s last match in charge was a Subway Women’s League Cup game against Manchester City in Gateshead on Sunday.

The score was 3-3 after 90 minutes, and Andree Jeglertz’s team edged the shoot-out 7-6 after the Magpies scored two late on.

Lois Joel had opened the scoring after 11 minutes, and Laura Coombs netted in first-half added time to send City in level at the break.

Yui Hasegawa and Gracie Prior then put City 3-1 up – but Freya Gregory grabbed one back in the 82nd minute, and Shania Hayles got the equaliser as full-time approached.

However, City got the bonus point by winning the penalty shoot-out after Khiara Keating saved Demi Stokes’s spot kick.