Former Everton Ladies striker talks about transition to becoming a Red

Everton’s top goal scorer, Courtney Sweetman-Kirk, left the team over the summer to play for Liverpool Women. The move came as a surprise because she still had a year left in her contract with Everton, but in a recent interview with the FA WSL website, she stated that she left “on really good terms” even though it did make her nervous:

“I’ve not had far to move – just across the Mersey. I must admit, I was a bit nervous but I left Everton on really good terms and it was just something I had to do personally for me.”

She recalls her time as a Blue as being successful:

“Last season, I came in and scored goals at Everton at this level and put in good performances as well.”

Sweetman-Kirk may have joined Liverpool this season because her former manager at Doncaster Belles, Neil Redfearn, was newly in charge of the Reds but after a poor preseason and a 5-0 loss to Arsenal, he unexpectedly quit.

There were rumours that there was tension at the leadership level, but the full story has yet to come out. Liverpool appointed goalkeeper coach Chris Kirkland and assistant coach Vicky Jepson to be caretakers and some order has been restored. Despite their rough start, Liverpool currently sits one spot above Everton at 8th place.

Only time will tell if Sweetman-Kirk made the correct decision for her career. So far, she has scored one goal for the Reds but describes the transition as “exciting.”

“Now I’m at Liverpool, I’m really enjoying my football and I’m playing with a lot of players I’ve played with before, and it made that transition easier to settle in and I’m really excited.”

“There’s a fantastic team spirit in the club that I haven’t seen in a very long time and it’s exciting. We’re very good technically but we will pull together for each other. We aim to finish as high as possible and have good runs in the cups.”