Gareth Taylor has targeted a return to the UEFA Women’s Champions League and a sustained push for silverware as key targets for City in the coming seasons.

The boss has committed his future to the Club until the summer of 2027 after agreeing to a three-year extension with City in a strong position to push for the Barclays Women’s Super League title.

Having missed out on European qualification on goal difference in 2022/23, Taylor’s side are in a hugely promising position to return to Champions League action next season.

What’s more, only goal difference currently separates us from league leaders Chelsea, with the boss excited by what this team can potentially achieve in the coming months.

He said: “We want to be back on the European stage, for sure. I think it’s really difficult now, outside maybe one or two teams in Europe, there are no guarantees. 

“I think everybody needs to really fight to, firstly, get that qualification and then have to qualify as well. 

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“For us, we want to take away that qualification by winning the league. I think that’s going to be really tough because we know we’re coming up against some really top teams with good levels of support, also.

“The challenge is exciting, but I think we’ve seen a lot of seeds of success in the last few years in terms of what we’ve done in quite a large turnover in playing staff which can happen sometimes and it’s normal.

“We want to try and manage that as best as we possibly can. If some of the people we have coming into the building now will help us achieve that.”

While there are sure to be plenty of twists and turns in the coming weeks as the business end of the 2023/24 campaign comes into view, City have laid the foundations for a grandstand end to the campaign.

Unbeaten in all competitions since November, Taylor’s side also boasts the best defensive record in the WSL this season.

But while the boss was always confident his exciting young team had what it took to compete for top honours, he believes our current success is the product of belief in a system, stability and hard work.

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“Of course, we really want to do it, we really want to be there and win the trophies we feel we’re capable of doing,” Taylor explained.

“But it takes time and when you look at last summer with one player out and one player in with Jill Rood, who is a top player, a lot of people probably looked at that and thought ‘okay what’s City’s ambition?’

“Our ambition was always to be right at the top and we’ve done that. It’s taken a lot of hard work from a lot of people behind-the-scenes. The players have really bought in to what we’re trying to do and achieve. 

“Probably similar to what we were talking about before with longevity, I really do see the benefits of working with the same group and the same players consistently over a period of time because that’s when you really start to see the magic happen.

“When you’re changing a lot and players are coming and going and you’re working with players for a year or two years, it’s really difficult then to squeeze out those real qualities we feel we can get. 

“What we’re seeing now is having players in the building who we’ve been working with for a while who are taking their games to very high levels.

“We still know there’s more to come from these players and our recruitment has been good in that respect. Not only are we signing very good players, but we’re also signing very good people who are open to learning and improving.”