shahanshahan

Saw this woman on the news earlier, and almost thought it was our very own footballer that just left City to play for Racing Louisville in the US...

Interesting comments in this BBC Sport article about clubs in the transfer window https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57356271 "relegated Bristol City are expected to lose a few players, including striker Yana Daniels, with Liverpool among those rumoured to be interested, while Wales' Gemma Evans could join Reading. And Manchester United could bring in goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley, with Emily Ramsey potentially leaving" I believe Baggaley & Evans are out of contract anyway, but I don't think Baggaley would be #1 if she were to go to United, especially with former Vixens goalkeeper Mary Earps being #1 there. Evans would be a huge miss if she goes, and if she goes to Reading, she'd join fellow Welsh players who have left City & ended up at Reading. Yana Daniels I'd be surprised about. She left City a few years ago for Liverpool (before coming back a year later), so I wouldn't be sure why she'd go there again (unless it's the Matt Beard factor)

The FA have confirmed that Watford & Sunderland (a former WSL side themselves) were successful in their applications to fill the vacant two places in the Championship for next season. Last season there were only 11 teams in the league, causing an anomaly. With London Bees relegated, teams from Tiers 3-6 were eligible to apply. More details https://www.thefa.com/news/2021/jun/02/20210602-womens-football-pyramid-upward-movement

A follow up from Katie Whyatt, women's football reporter at The Athletic. Still would like some official clarification from the club anyway...

Interesting to read that Tanya Oxtoby is joining the Scotland women's national team coaching set up over the summer. I thought she was still on maternity leave at City. Looking forward to hearing the explanation to this one. Just hoping this isn't another comms failure by the club where this means she has left, but someone else has announced it beforehand https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/scotland-national-team/3189709/stonehavens-christy-grimshaw-receives-first-call-up-to-scotland-national-team

I assume a replacement for Lee Billiard will be brought in. As far as I'm aware, there's still key people involved like Gavin Marshall & Lisa Knights, who were part of the Bristol City Women board. The same board that was once led by Mark Ashton. Can only assume the new chief executive Richard Gould will hopefully have the same involvement, or more if ideal!

He was in other words the General Manager, which is common in women's football, although terms such as "Director of Football" or "Sporting Director" are also used. He pretty much ran the day-to-day of the club. His appointment was very significant considering that there was no General Manager in the 2019/20 season as the position couldn't be filled. His appointment wasn't publicly announced at the time, but he's been extremely helpful, not just in being a contact in regards to the Vixencast podcast, but was also helpful in being a point of contact when we in the Supporters Club & Trust raised queries. I just hope that the next General Manager etc will be as useful!

Emile Heskey is a coach there. I believe Jonathan Morgan is the manager at Leicester. Am hoping City Women would still be an attractive club for someone to join, even with the unfortunate news that Head of Women's Football Lee Billiard is now announced as leaving at the end of the month (my guess is he's been offered a lucrative offer elsewhere). So now we have no head coach, no assistants, no GM or director, and potentially no ground as there hasn't been an update on if the club would still play at Twerton Park or elsewhere. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/billiard-to-step-down-as-head-of-womens-football/

Tanya still on maternity leave, and both Marco & Loren gone. Will be interesting to see who comes in as Head Coach for the upcoming season, knowing they can potentially bring in their own assistants

Announced yesterday as being assistant coach at Wales. There was no chance she'd be able to combine both roles. Bit of a comms failure that the club had to announce after Wales made their announcement...

https://www.faw.cymru/en/news/grainger-confirms-coaching-staff Great news for Loren Dykes becoming assistant coach at Wales, but with the news she's joined the FAW full time, surely this must mean she's left the Bristol City coaching set-up?

Looks like Tanya will still be on maternity leave/club are trying different approach (without resorting to sacking her). At least there'll be some stability with the same head coach throughout the season. I'm still hoping Gemma Davies would want to apply, unless she ends up at Birmingham, since Carla Ward left them to join Villa. Lee Burch is another name that's been thrown around.

Abi Harrison's contract has been extended for the new season. Hoping she gets support with another striker! ? https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/city-take-out-harrison-contract-extension/

No, some teams are semi-professional, still. This was some advantage back when City were in the Championship (or WSL 2 as it was) a few years back

I can only assume it may have been the players. Both were on one year contracts & I assume they wouldn't want to stay/extend, given current circumstances. Either they rejected any offer, or weren't offered in the first place. I wish the club would release a "release list" and "retained list" like what City men, and other women's football clubs, have already done. I can't handle all this bad news being released one by one ? Speaking of lists, Brighton unveiled theirs & confirmed that Laura Rafferty has been released by then, so she could join City permanently, but I don't know if she will

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/city-women-duo-depart/ Ella Mastrantonio & Georgia Wilson released. Really gutted about Mastrantonio, as she's got the experience & would have been a fan favourite had fans been at the games, but I do feel she was underutilised this season, especially as she got left out in the last game against Brighton. Wilson is a former Academy player but hasn't really made a lot of first team appearances since she joined the first team.

Well today was a mad day regarding City Women news. Genuinely didn't think Matt Beard would want to step down to the Championship, but he has history at Liverpool. As for Ebony Salmon, I didn't expect her to leave England at all. However the NWSL is hotting up, and they play a summer league. I wish them all the best, apart from next season when City play Liverpool ?

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/haaland-signs-for-selfoss-fc/ This is a surprise. I thought she'd make a great #1 next season if Baggaley were to leave this summer. Best of luck, Beni!

Hopefully the name won't need changing if it'll be changed back again ?

Ellen Jones posted on her Twitter using emojis suggesting she is going to the US, so it seems she'll be playing college football there. I realistically don't expect Salmon to stay, especially if her contract is up anyway. I believe Baggaley's contract is also up as well. No news yet about head coach, however the club confirmed this morning that assistant manager Marco Chiavetta has stepped down from the club! I expected some sort of change within the coaching set-up anyway https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/chiavetta-departs-bristol-city-women/

Just realised...doesn't this thread need to be renamed now as City Women are no longer in the WSL? ?

Ellen Jones, who got promoted from the academy to the first team this season, has confirmed she is leaving. And so the exodus begins...

Looks like we dodged a bullet in case Sky were going to treat us that way in the new WSL TV deal ?

Really gutted about today, although I feel it's been on the cards since the first game of the season, or even in last season. Felt we played better last week against United than we did today. Had Bristol Academy not become Bristol City, we wouldn't be talking about them on OTIB! However I was informed by another fan that Bristol Academy had a crowdfunder at one point, before being taken over by Bristol City/Sport

Today's squad. Kick off 2:30. COYR First appearance from Megan Wynne after injury (on the bench). Where is Ella Mastrantonio!? ?