Bristol City Head Coach Lauren Smith on relegation, rebuilding, and the WSL resource gap

Upfront - A Women's Football Podcast

Stak Production

Girls Football, Womens World Cup, Chloe Kelly, Lionesses, Nwsl, Football, Womens Football, England Womens, Keira Walsh, Womens England Football, Sports, Leah Williamson, Soccer, Womens Sports, Womens Soccer, Female Sports

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bristol City’s relegation was confirmed last Sunday after defeat to Manchester City. Today, Lauren Smith joins Rachel on the pod to reflect on relegation and their WSL journey this season.

Lauren reveals what it’s really like to fight at the bottom of the table in the WSL, the importance of getting the backing of the board at Bristol, and her continuing ambition to promote young talent – even with their return to the Championship. Rachel also finds out how Lauren thinks the gap can be closed between the top and the bottom in the WSL – including rewarding smaller clubs’ academies when talent like Lauren Hemp move to pastures new. Join us for a fascinating discussion!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, it's Rachel here back with another upfront interview.
0:07.6	Today I'm delighted to be joined by Bristol City Women's Head Coach Lauren Smith.
0:11.8	It has been a tough season for the Robins who were
0:14.5	relegated back to the championship on Sunday after only one season in the top flight and
0:18.9	winning just one in 20 games so far. Lauren has a long history with the club so today I'm chatting to
0:24.5	her about her feelings on relegation, her plans to bounce back with Bristol City
0:28.0	next year and what Lauren really thinks about closing the resource gap between the
0:31.6	top and bottom clubs in the WSL.
0:36.3	Well, welcome to the pod Lauren, thank you so much for joining us.
0:39.9	Gotta ask you how you guys are feeling maybe a silly question but I'm sure our
0:45.0	listeners would love to know how you're doing.
0:46.5	Yeah I mean you know it's been something that we've spoken about and been asked
0:51.5	about in terms of relegation being on the horizon I guess for a few months
0:56.3	almost so it wasn't like something that really crept up on us and shocked us so I guess there was a bit of time to prepare, although you don't ever want to look it directly in the eye.
1:08.0	So we had a couple of days off. Everybody had time to take a moment emotionally and get over it to some extent
1:18.0	before we go back in and we've got a big challenge ahead of us. So I'd say that the
1:21.5	group have come back in yesterday in a
1:23.6	raring to go like they always do. There's no question of that and that's that
1:27.6	that's the brilliant thing about football and then this team that we won't stop
1:31.2	for for these moments. But yeah there's a ruleness to it absolutely yeah I
1:38.6	mean I will say commiserations you know leaving the WSL we will be sad to see you go.
1:45.2	You're a very special club but hopefully you know we'll bounce back. You've obviously got a long
	...

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