The seeds of Bristol City’s surge back towards the WSL were sown the moment Lauren Smith returned to the club as head coach in June 2021, but if you’re looking for a very clear and obvious spark, it occurred at Ashton Gate just over a year ago almost to the day.
For the second successive season, the Championship title and promotion to the top-flight could be decided in BS3 as having mournfully watched on as Liverpool gleefully celebrated their 4-2 win and their place in the big league. Twelve and a bit months on, the Robins have the opportunity to follow suit.
Smith’s side host Charlton Athletic at Ashton Gate on Sunday and although with two games of the season remaining leaving them more than one chance of getting the job done, their mission is clear - beat the Addicks and they’re up.
City ran the might of Liverpool for a long way last season as underdogs, finishing third in the table and well ahead of schedule following a huge summer rebuild that was necessary after their relegation from the WSL in 2021.
Striker Abi Harrison was the first to speak after the defeat, imploring her younger colleagues to use that disappointment and - as Smith feely admits - “jealous eyes” as motivation for this campaign. And while there are an inordinate numbers of other factors that have gone into the 20 games that have taken the Robins to this point, it’s a narrative arc that can’t be ignored.
“It seems a little bit too perfect that in some sense this time last year, when we were playing at Ashton Gate, we watched somebody else do what we want to do on Sunday,” Smith said this week. “It’s something we’ve seen happen before but probably with jealous eyes. So, if we get to it, in our control, in our home, that would be brilliant.
“It’s the first thing Abi Harrison said on the pitch after we played Liverpool. She’s a competitor and saw that as an opportunity and it’s absolutely something that everybody wanted to be part of and thought, we want to be the ones doing that next time.”
City have led the way at the top of the women’s Championship since taking over from London City in February. Last weekend’s resounding 5-0 victory over Sunderland, following a slight bump in the road as they were beaten 1-0 by Sheffield United, has set them up for what promises to be a special occasion, with more than 5,000 anticipated inside Ashton Gate.
On the one hand, Smith has to embrace the situation they’re in - one game from glory - and how that presents a clear indication of the progress that’s been made on her watch, with the club blueprint ripped up and completely redesigned in her image.
The wage bill had to be slashed dramatically, the academy mined and Smith’s brief was to work with a squad predominantly built around homegrown and younger talents including Brooke Aspin, Naomi Layzell and Aimee Palmer, who could grow as individuals concurrently with the club’s own development.
That resulted in last season’s surprise run at promotion, which fell perhaps understandably short, but the foundations have enabled City to go again.
With recruitment tweaked to bring in some more experience in the form of Rachel Furness, Vicky Bruce and Chloe Mustaki and making goalkeeper Fran Bentley’s loan into a permanent switch, plus easing the goalscoring burden on Harrison with the addition of Shania Hayles, but with many of last year’s class stepping up once again and making another notable jump forward.
As did having the benefit of working daily and playing regularly at the High Performance Centre, making use of the facilities and having a place they could call home.
But they’re not there yet and with London City and Birmingham City - who the Robins face on the final day of the season - still in the hunt, and while the excitement and what they’re on the brink of achieving needs to be acknowledged - and Thursday’s press briefing saw a number of different TV and radio commitments - there has to also be a sense of normality about how they prepare for the game.
“It’s the pinnacle of where we want to get to, it’s a really exciting week,” Smith said. “There’s pressure but it’s also the privilege that comes with that; being top of the league and being able to talk about what we can achieve this week is a privilege and the pressure does come with that however I think the group is in a really good place for that next step.
“We’ve spoken about it in the past more than this because we’ve been at the top of the league for quite a while, we’ve been chasing this ambition of promotion from the start of the season so we knew there’d be a point where the pressure comes and it’s more about us accepting that’s a good thing when you feel there’s something to play, a lot riding on one point," Smith added. "But in terms of how our week is going, it’s business as usual.
“We’re all working towards the cup final. We don’t need to talk about it because it’s there and what we wanted, so we have an opportunity to do it. It’s not being ignored. It’s not like it’s any other day, it’s a huge day, and everybody wants to be part of it so it’s just about making sure that’s a positive feeling and a positive drive force, and I feel that we’ve got that right.”
The sense of journey for Smith is a fascinating one having worked for the club in a multitude of different roles in the days of Bristol Academy before returning to rebuild the club and (hopefully) placing it back where everyone connected feels it belongs. The fact it could be achieved through a combination of patience, careful planning but also significant hard work, will be an immense source of pride for all concerned.
“For me, personally, I love this club and it’s the reason I came back, to follow its values, make sure our young players get opportunities to play, we look after our pathway, we inspire the city to get behind us,” Smith said. “And, I think, with the squad we’ve used - homegrown players, young players getting their debuts - and being able to sit in front of a crowd of more than 5,000, hits the things that really inspire me about this club. So, yeah, it would be perfect to do that in that way.
“What we achieved in year one, I think we overachieved but it meant we had the right people in the building, and meant that everything else fell in a really nice way. Everybody’s ambition when they walked through the door and when I started was to get promoted, the timescale is irrelevant to players and staff because you just want to get it done.
“It’s more of an excitement, now, like a little tickle in the belly. There’s a bit of nervousness around it and that’s right; players should be feeling that, staff should be feeling like that. Because it means a lot and the more it means to you the more feeling you’ll have about it. And it’s about ensuring that nervousness comes out in the performance, or in a pass, or whatever aspect. It’s about embracing that little tickle in the belly and making it into a good thing.”
