I’m Nikki Doucet, and the CEO of NewCo.
Firstly, don’t worry, we will have a better name than NewCo at some point!
I grew up in Canada and my background is in investment banking originally but then I worked at Nike for eight years and most recenty, I headed up the women’s business for the UK and Ireland for Nike. My family is based here now and I’ve been here since 2015.
NewCo will be a new and independent company that will run the women’s professional game in England, both the Barclays WSL and Championship and the clubs will be the shareholders of that company.
It will be a revenue-generating, for profit, standalone entity with professional and dedicated management team.
We’re ready for this growth opportunity, the market is ready, the audience is there and everyone is screaming for this.
The experience of going to a women’s football match is fun, it’s kind, it’s welcoming but it’s hugely passionate – this is competitive sport and that’s why we all love it so much.
It’s an environment which is welcoming for everybody and these are the most incredible role models on the planet and it’s something that everybody wants to be a part of.
The reason why we’re here, the reason why I’m here and the concept of NewCo exists is because of the FA and their investment into women’s football.
They have belief in the women’s game and has funded the proof of concept for women’s football in this country and now we’re at a stage where it’s set up to be a standalone entity to capitalise on the growth and opportunity in front of us.
Our vision for NewCo is what we’re saying is ‘women’s football transformed’ so what does that actually mean?
In ten years from now, I hope you’re asking me questions around things like how do I get off the waiting list for tickets to WSL games, so we’ll have stadiums at top capacity, all the top players wanting to come here and I want to be answering questions around elite female athlete health and how that has transformed the high street physiotherapy. I want you to look at an all-female team and the first thing that goes through your head is ‘wow, that’s a high performing team’ with no hesitation.
Those are the types of visions I see in ten years.
I’m equally as excited as all the fans about this. The athletes are all amazing, I love watching women’s football and I was a footballer myself, so selfishly I wish this was available for me growing up.
But the main thing for me is to know that the generation behind me, my daughter, is going to grow up in a different world to what I did.
