When fourth-tier Southampton FC welcome Championship side Coventry United to St Mary’s in the FA Cup on Sunday they will get a taste of the professionalism they are aiming for. “This challenge is a huge part of our learning,” says their manager, Marieanne Spacey-Cale. “The physicality of a Super League or Championship team gives us a chance to test where we are. It’s an opportunity to feel it, to smell it, to taste it. What would it look like if that was us every Sunday?”

In 2018 the FA opened bidding for places in the fully professional Women’s Super League and semi-professional Championship, and there were hopes that the chance to jump in towards the top would prompt big clubs, and specifically Manchester United, to join the increasingly profitable and marketable game.

Like United, Southampton had scrapped their women’s team in 2005, though in their case it coincided with the relegation of the men’s team from the Premier League. Both relaunched a senior side for the 2018-19 season and bid for the Championship. United were granted a licence by the FA that meant they flew straight into the second tier. But Southampton missed out.

Some speculated over whether the will to stick to their club’s launch would still be there should they have to climb from the fifth tier, but just after they were deemed to have not met the entry criteria for the Championship, they appointed the former England international Spacey-Cale as manager. Poaching the 91-capped forward from the FA was a statement move.

“When I came in we had just lost the opportunity for a licence,” she says. “The club did appeal, but they were straight away saying that whatever happens we want to have this programme, we want a successful women’s team as part of Southampton football club.”

Like United, in their first season Southampton FC won promotion – and they are on course for another, as they are unbeaten in the National League Division One, South West. “For me, there was never any scepticism and even if there was then that’s certainly in the past, because what the club has done shows how much they support what we want to achieve here,” Spacey-Cale says of the perception that some clubs may be frustrated at their entry as big-spenders in the lower leagues.

“Other clubs have gone through this. When there wasn’t a lot of money for the women’s game, other clubs have shut down teams and now they’re coming back. Charlton are back in the Championship, Fulham have a team again, Man United did, and are now in the WSL.

“It’s a situation that you can’t control but you can look to the future and be positive about it. There’s an appetite for the women’s game now and we want to be a part of that now and for the future.”

Southampton forward Rachel Panting celebrates a goal. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Handout

On arrival, Spacey-Cale was given a “blank piece of paper” to mould Southampton FC’s new programme. “I’m a very positive person so if I didn’t believe we had an opportunity to climb through the leagues then I might not be sitting here today,” says the 53-year-old. “We’ve got a young squad, a tier one Regional Talent Club that is transitioning players through from the under-16s to the development squad and some into the first team, so we’ve got real clear pathways and not having a Championship licence has given us the opportunity to build that.

“Now we’ve got a real sustainable pathway fully supported by the club that says that you can come into Southampton as a nine-year-old and hopefully one day be playing in the Super League.”

Continuing their FA Cup run would be a bonus, but the focus is on the league and getting to a position where they, like Coventry United and other tier one and two clubs, are entering at the fourth round instead of battling their way to it. “Tier three we’ve played and beaten in the last couple of rounds. We want to feel that every week next year, so promotion is key. And now we’ve got an opportunity to go up a level and play a team that got promoted out of that last year.”

Closest to Southampton FC in the league, confusingly, are another Southampton team – Southampton Women’s FC, who are eight-times FA Cup winners and have also reached the last 32 of the competition. They play against the Championship side Crystal Palace on Sunday.

“What’s great is that the two teams from Southampton are showing what Hampshire is all about,” says Spacey-Cale diplomatically. “It’s a fantastic hotbed of talent for women’s football. Our aim is to be promoted, and to do that we have to win the league. It’s one team that goes up, so that’s our aim.”