LIVERPOOL, England – When the final whistle blew at St Helens Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Liverpool manager Gareth Taylor gathered his players into a huddle. Their struggling team had just won their first match of the Women's Super League (WSL) season, beating Tottenham 2-0 with two goals in stoppage time, and the excitement (and relief) was palpable.
“That's what happens when you trust what we do,” he told the team. “The energy was good today. I'm very, very proud of you.”
Among that elated group of players was midfielder Denise O'Sullivan, who had just made her WSL debut for the club after signing from NWSL side North Carolina Courage just eight days earlier. O'Sullivan is one of six signings made by Liverpool in January in a bid to strengthen Taylor's squad for the second half of the campaign. Reinforcements are also very necessary: with nine games left, Liverpool remains at the bottom of the table, one point away from safety.
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Head of recruitment Rob Clarkson has been tasked with identifying the quality and experience needed to ensure the club is not dragged into the league's inaugural relegation play-off in the spring. Liverpool have spent accordingly with this month's recruitment drive totaling more than £1 million ($1.37 million), paid for with money raised by star striker Olivia Smith's departure to Arsenal for a fee of the same amount, then a world record.
As her new record signing, brought in for a fee of £300,000, O'Sullivan knows the expectations placed on her are high.
“I'm very excited,” O'Sullivan told ESPN. “It took a while for everything to come together and the deal to be done, but I'm very happy to be here. The club has been fantastic and to have an Irish contingent here with Leanne Kiernan and [technical co-ordinator] Niamh Fahey has made things easier.
“I've been in America for nine years. I played for a club and had a great time there, but at the end of last season I felt the need for a new challenge. I've played in the WSL before. [for Brighton] for a few months in 2020 and it's a really world-class league, so I felt it was the right move.”
O'Sullivan's signing is a coup for Liverpool, who had attracted interest from many other clubs in the WSL and Europe. Having earned over 128 caps for the Republic of Ireland, the 30-year-old arrives on Merseyside with a huge pedigree and a hunger to get the club back on its winning ways.
“Liverpool are one of the best clubs in the world, one of the biggest clubs in the world,” O'Sullivan said. “So I think the name itself was a main attraction straight away. Another thing was hearing about the kind of facilities the club has here, that was huge for me.
“I think you really have to be here to see how good they are and to be part of that over the last few weeks has been absolutely incredible. “When you come in every morning you feel like a professional footballer. They look after you so much, everything is there for you.
“Coming in every morning, having chefs there to prepare your breakfast, you have everything you need on board to feel your best as an athlete and as a footballer. There are saunas in the locker room, jacuzzis, everything you need. And then when you enter the training ground, everyone is very friendly and everyone has a role within the club, so you already feel at home.”
Indeed, Liverpool's training ground, the AXA Melwood Training Centre, is one of the club's biggest assets and has been key in attracting a number of players to Merseyside in recent times. Home to the Liverpool men's team for more than 70 years before moving into a new state-of-the-art training facility in 2020, the club had initially sold the site to a local housing developer before owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) repurchased it for £13 million in 2023.
The venue is among the best of its kind in the WSL and acted as a symbol of the club's renewed commitment to its women's team following their ignominious relegation to the Championship in 2020. However, despite securing a top-four finish in just their second season in the top flight in 2024, Liverpool have yet to take the next step and emulate the successes of the club's men's team, which won its last Premier League title last season.
The departure of star striker Smith in the summer was a blow. Long-term planning for the current campaign was also thwarted by the delayed arrival of new manager Taylor, who was not officially appointed until August due to stipulations in his former club Manchester City's contract.
While the former Wales international has not achieved instant results on Merseyside, sources told ESPN there is an acceptance within the club that his task has been complicated by a disrupted summer, while he has always been a much-loved figure on the training ground.
The victory over Spurs was the culmination of months of hard work, with clear evidence of Taylor's influence even before Mia Enderby scored twice in added time to seal three invaluable points. Certainly, for O'Sullivan, the head coach's vision for the club was one of the factors that compelled her to join the two-time WSL champions.
“I had a Zoom call with Gareth before signing and I was really impressed,” she said. “He has a clear vision of how he wants the team to play and he is here now and it is part of his training sessions, I can really see it. I think he is a very good coach and there are a lot of details in his training. He sees the little things that can improve you as a player and I really think I will improve working with him.”
Taylor's assignment at Liverpool has been made even more challenging by a spate of injuries to key personnel, with three first-team players suffering anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in 2025. On an emotional level, the team was devastated by the death of beloved former coach Matt Beard in September, and the team's kit manager, Jonathan Humble, passed away suddenly in October.
While it is impossible to quantify the impact of those tragedies on Taylor and his players, it would be remiss to suggest that they have not influenced the team's form in what has so far been, for a multitude of reasons, a difficult season.
But against Spurs, the spirit and commitment of the group was clear, and O'Sullivan is confident the club has all the ingredients to make the second half of the season a success.
“I really want to help the team,” he said. “That's why I came here. The desire is huge. Everyone is contributing to that throughout the club, and everyone wants the team to be in the top half of the table. Obviously I think that for this year, the main thing is to get out of the situation we are in and get out of the relegation battle. Talking to everyone in the club, in the next few years, they want to compete to win the WSL. And that's why I'm here. I want to win trophies with Liverpool and push the team forward.”
Indeed, whatever happens in the remainder of the season, there is no escaping the fact that Liverpool will still fall short of the club's ultimate ambition of becoming one of Europe's elite.
“This is just the beginning,” Taylor told his players Sunday afternoon. Now, with that elusive first victory under their belt, Liverpool will hope it is the start of an exciting new chapter.
