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Bristol City Women - WSL / W Championship


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52 minutes ago, Hamdon Mart said:

The subsitution of Abi Harrison was almost certainly down to injury; as she walked towards the tunnel at half time, she was holding the back of her left leg. Could have been a hamstring pull and taken off as a precaution?

As regards the crowd, it was more or less what I thought it would be. The men's and women's team probably have quite a few crossover fans & the men play twice this week; it's the first game after Christmas & before pay day; the weather was nice (albeit a tad cool) today after about 25 years of dark, gloomy weather so maybe the walk-up numbers were down. Any number of reasons why it was down but that said, this game would have been 600-700 at the RHPC last year, it's four times that at Ashton Gate this year. That's rapid progress. 

Rapid progress that will all be for nought if the team are relegated at the end of the season. I appreciate that the finances for Bristol Sport might be a bit tight as the Lansdowns want to stem the overall losses and need to consider FFP, but the rules are different in the WSL and the fact remains that staying in the top tier has to be an absolute priority. No investment in new players would signal that the owners don’t really consider Women’s football as a growing product, which again suggests that they have little or no understanding of sport in general, and the expansion in women’s professional sport more widely.

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11 hours ago, Dr Balls said:

Rapid progress that will all be for nought if the team are relegated at the end of the season. I appreciate that the finances for Bristol Sport might be a bit tight as the Lansdowns want to stem the overall losses and need to consider FFP, but the rules are different in the WSL and the fact remains that staying in the top tier has to be an absolute priority. No investment in new players would signal that the owners don’t really consider Women’s football as a growing product, which again suggests that they have little or no understanding of sport in general, and the expansion in women’s professional sport more widely.

Bristol Sport doesn't directly financially support the women's team, they are not connected apart from both being owned by Pula

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59 minutes ago, phantom said:

Bristol Sport doesn't directly financially support the women's team, they are not connected apart from both being owned by Pula

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Not part of Bristol Sport? So does that mean that the Women’s team are expected to be purely financially self-sufficient, whereas other WSL clubs can bundle their funding in with all of the other football club spend including sponsorships etc? That includes all of those major men’s Premier League clubs who now have successful Women’s teams, in large part financed through their men’s teams. If so, poor Lauren Smith is even worse off than Nige was compared to the other clubs in the division.

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42 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Not part of Bristol Sport? So does that mean that the Women’s team are expected to be purely financially self-sufficient, whereas other WSL clubs can bundle their funding in with all of the other football club spend including sponsorships etc? That includes all of those major men’s Premier League clubs who now have successful Women’s teams, in large part financed through their men’s teams. If so, poor Lauren Smith is even worse off than Nige was compared to the other clubs in the division.

They sit under Bristol City Holdings.

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Not really sure where I'm going with this, but in Bristol City's infancy we became known as The Bristol Babe due to our fast rise up the league and FA Cup final appearance. Back in the day, we never really built on those foundations, and capitalise and invest to become a powerhouse in football.

Could the same argument be said with the Womens football team? Didn't we play and beat Barcelona only a few years ago? We now find ourselves back in the top division with almighty attendances compared to other teams (Arsenal aside) and so, are we at risk of falling into the same trap as The Bristol Babe, and ultimately missing the boat on becoming a true player in womens football due to lack of ambition?

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Would be interesting to know what was the mid-season friendly that Lauren referred to in her pre-match interview.

Also, I'm gutted with yesterday's result. Good to solely focus on the league now, but as the game progressed on, I genuinely thought it could have gone to extra time.

Looking at the other results in the fourth round, this was the only 1-0, which shows how close it really was

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14 hours ago, shahanshahan said:

Would be interesting to know what was the mid-season friendly that Lauren referred to in her pre-match interview.

Also, I'm gutted with yesterday's result. Good to solely focus on the league now, but as the game progressed on, I genuinely thought it could have gone to extra time.

Looking at the other results in the fourth round, this was the only 1-0, which shows how close it really was

It was more of a disappointing result rather than a bad performance. On lots of the stats the Vixens outplayed Liverpool but the lack of goals remains a major concern (similar to the men’s team). And the bigger position of relegation remains worrying, considering the recruitment by other clubs, especially West Ham.

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2 hours ago, When the river runs said:

They don't have any money and never have.

Only a few years ago , that academy players parents were paying subs for the year that would go towards supplying the first team with balls apparently. 

Why do you think managers leave. It's bang amateur down there.

Not sure that's accurate, they're funded by Bristol City Holdings now 

But is coming out of the same pot our mens team is funded 

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8 hours ago, phantom said:

Not sure that's accurate, they're funded by Bristol City Holdings now 

But is coming out of the same pot our mens team is funded 

Fair point . 

They have money,  but the womens team and academy have never seen it.

I've heard of staff not being paid and managers complaining they can't do anything because of no money.

In previous posts , I stated that a bit of money would go along way, however it was rubbished. The women's game has grown a bit since then though

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"Bristol City have a rich history of producing high-profile women's footballers, including England's Lauren Hemp, Mary Earps and Katie Robinson. As they bid for WSL survival, youth development is still their calling card"

New article in The Mirror

 

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9 minutes ago, shahanshahan said:

"Bristol City have a rich history of producing high-profile women's footballers, including England's Lauren Hemp, Mary Earps and Katie Robinson. As they bid for WSL survival, youth development is still their calling card"

New article in The Mirror

 

Not sure if they are developing it to be honest. More they don't have much competition in the area and therefore girls of talent go there.

If you look at the head of the academy credentials at the womens he has a very poor resume

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39 minutes ago, shahanshahan said:

"Bristol City have a rich history of producing high-profile women's footballers, including England's Lauren Hemp, Mary Earps and Katie Robinson. As they bid for WSL survival, youth development is still their calling card"

New article in The Mirror

 

It’s because buying young players is cheap as are their wages. But as they improve, they leave for better options and success elsewhere, while Bristol City remain at best also-rans. The similarities with the men’s team is perhaps bigger than we think!

 

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1 hour ago, shahanshahan said:

"Bristol City have a rich history of producing high-profile women's footballers, including England's Lauren Hemp, Mary Earps and Katie Robinson. As they bid for WSL survival, youth development is still their calling card"

New article in The Mirror

 

Bristol Academy must take some credit there surely?

It's all a bit desperate clinging to players from so long ago

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3 minutes ago, shahanshahan said:

It covers from that time and since the City rebrand. Lauren Hemp, for example, was with City...

I hadn't realised she came through with us 

It was interesting listening to a Mary Earps interview earlier in the week, she said until recently women only ever had year to year contracts, hence why so many moved around multiple clubs 

It's only in very recent years anyone is staying at a club for a longer period of time 

1 minute ago, shahanshahan said:

And she's gone...

 

I've lost track of what is happening in goal 

It's been a revolving door recently 

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39 minutes ago, shahanshahan said:

It covers from that time and since the City rebrand. Lauren Hemp, for example, was with City...

Lauren hemp was there at the end but I wouldn't credit city for producing her.

The academy staff has changed multiple times during this period and it is night and day in comparison with the boys academy.

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9 minutes ago, astrondrew said:

Lauren's press conference today ahead of Brighton.

Seems pretty clear she is wanting signings as much as we are.

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/smith-previews-brighton-and-hove-albion/

It's the same old story and problem all the managers have complained about.

I said in a previous post about the academy, that parents had to pay subs of over £200 a year. 

You would never think a Billionaire owned them . Probably why he's a Billionaire though

 

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20 hours ago, phantom said:

With Villa winning at Leicester this evening, we're getting very close to a situation where we could get left behind at the foot of the table 

Screenshot_20240119_221304_BBC Sport.jpg

They are level on points with the team immediately above them and three points behind the team next up again. 

There are 12 games left still.

Don't agree that they are in danger of getting left behind at the bottom. They play Brighton tomorrow and the Hammers next weekend, pick up points from those games and the table looks healthier.

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6 hours ago, When the river runs said:

It's the same old story and problem all the managers have complained about.

I said in a previous post about the academy, that parents had to pay subs of over £200 a year. 

You would never think a Billionaire owned them . Probably why he's a Billionaire though

 

Yep, Scrooge McDuck might throw a few more pennies at the women’s team than the Lansdowns. I just don’t understand the logic of the only top flight football team in the whole organisation, with massively bigger crowds this season, in a competition that is growing, with a relatively high media profile, and not at least investing enough to ensure survival at that level. It’s just a fraction of the men’s team. Crazy but then bonkers decisions at Ashton Gate is hardly new!

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