Hope Powell is full of praise for Albion and in particular Tony Bloom for the support and investment that he has put into the women’s team.

Powell’s side return to the Amex on Sunday when they take Birmingham in the WSL (2pm).

The Albion manager couldn’t speak highly enough of the club or Bloom for what they have done for the women’s team.

She said: “The club has been fantastic, I think the changes that have been made in terms of the support staff, the infrastructure and the new build.

“I think the club have been fantastic they have really invested a lot of money to make sure the women’s game at this club is sustainable.

“We are in a building phase if you like, the club are supportive, the board are supportive they give us everything we want really and then some.

“I have no complaints the club are true to their word, they value the women’s game I think it is quite evident.

“Everybody that works in this environment recognises it is a nice club to be at.

“For us Tony Bloom has been fantastic we have now got to repay their faith by getting good results on the pitch.”

It is not just Powell who has spoken highly of Albion’s support of the women’s team, skipper Dani Bowman was also full of praise for the club.

She said: “It has been fantastic from the moment I came down when I was considering signing I’ve known from that moment how much they were going to support the women’s team.

“With the history of the previous teams I have for me it was about the future of the women’s game and making sure it will be here long after I’ve gone.

“I was very fortunate that I have had those opportunities when I was younger and I would like them opportunities for the young girls to come through.

“It is a great statement and that is the one thing about this club, which differs itself from other clubs is how well it supports the women’s game and the girls’ football.

“It is not just the men of the women, it is a whole club thing.”

Albion are in the process of building a ‘Club Hub’ and three more pitches at the training ground in Lancing, which will cost £25 million.

The hub will include changing areas for the women’s and girls’ teams, who are temporarily training at the University of Sussex and Bowman says it a great move for the future of the women’s game.

She said: “We are very lucky as a women’s team that they are building us our own mini women’s training ground.

“It is going to be a mini version of the men’s.

“That is why temporarily we are at the Amex and the University, which for some people is also an amazing thing, that you get to say that you are going to work at the Amex every day.

“It will be brilliant and hopefully it won’t take much longer to build.

“For the future of the women’s game, it is fantastic.

“Hopefully we can keep pushing on in the league, stay in it and then work our way up it.”

Speaking of the future of the women’s game one thing that has come into the men’s game is VAR.

In the summer VAR was used for the first time in the women’s game at the World Cup and like it has done in the Premier League and Europe it has caused much controversy.

But, does Powell think we could see VAR used in the WSL in the near future.

She said: “Well it has been at the World Cup, so there is a lot of controversy around as it is still human beings at the other end making the decisions around it.

“The fact that a lot of women’s teams do not have their own stadiums that might be a bit challenging at the moment.

“As the game develops and it grows, as it is doing quite rapidly who knows that might come into play.

“Within the men’s game they might take it away because there is a lot of controversy around it.

“We will have to wait and see what happens.”

Women’s football is starting to grow not just in England but all across the world with some big attendance across the board.

77,768 turned up at Wembley last Saturday to see England beaten 2-1 by Germany, which was a new record for the Lionesses.

It’s not just in England where records are being broken in terms of attendances, in Spain a world-record crowd of 60,739 fans for a women’s football club match was recorded when Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 back in March.

In Italy, Juventus Women played for the first time at the Allianz Stadium in March and a total of 39,027 people turned out to see them beat Fiorentina 1-0.

So has Powell know a better time for women’s football.?

She said: “Not in terms of the air time it is getting, the fact that more of the women’s games are played in the same stadium as the men, the reporting around it, the faces of the girls are well known.

“I mean the support that has been galvanised.

“At the moment, it has got some great momentum, not just in this country by the way.

“I think it is really a global movement.

“Hopefully it will continue to grow and it will be sustainable over a long period of time.”