From Bar?a to relegation: what went wrong

It is almost a year since Bristol Academy recorded a famous aggregate win over Barcelona to reach the quarter finals of the UEFA Womens Champions League, the last remaining English team left in the tournament.

The scenes on the Ashton Gate pitch were amazing, an historic day and proud moment for women’s football in the city. I was privileged to be commentating for radio at the match, and even managed to sneak onto the pitch to interview the captain amongst the mayhem.

Fast forwarding to the present day, few people would predict that the same team would be relegated from the Women’s Super League (WSL).

Sunday was the final round of games in the WSL, and with the Vixens already aware of their fate, they went down fighting, ending their 13-year top-flight stay by beating Liverpool 4-2. The irony being that the Merseyside outfit, last year’s league Champions, had just started their own UEFA champions league campaign last Wednesday.

The Bristol club finished the season bottom on eight points, with a goal difference of -26, and recording only one other league victory all season. So what went wrong?

Criticism of football clubs often start with the manager – and during this period the club had changed the person in charge three times. The start of the club’s demise can, in fact, be traced back to several months before the Barcelona triumph.

The Vixens possessed the most outstanding young manager in the women’s game in the shape of Mark Sampson. His final season with the club was the most successful in its history, reaching the final of the FA Womens Cup, finishing runners up in the WSL, and qualifying for the Champions League.

This talent was recognised when he was headhunted for the England job – and went on to guide the national team to finish third in the World Cup finals, with the Lionesses winning the hearts and minds of the nation. When he left, it would have been a loss to any club at any level.

His replacement Dave Edmundson, a Manchester-born coach who they recruited from Australian league football, took over the reigns in January 2014. Whilst he oversaw their heroics in Europe, it masked over their poor league form where they dropped to the foot of the table, with only relegated Everton finishing below them.

Edmundson was eventually sacked by the board in April of this year, with rumours that team spirit had reached an all time low. His replacement former Hibernian Ladies manager Willie Kirk was introduced three games into the season and hailed as an impressive motivator. Evidently Kirk’s motivation could only get the team so far.

Blame can possibly be laid at the players. The personnel in Sunday’s game was very different than that of the Barcelona game – with only four remaining players that started on the night.

Other key players had left when Samson moved on. Club captain Yorston left for Yeovil, top scorer Natalia and on-field captain Jemma Rose joined Arsenal, outstanding winger Natasha Harding joined Man City and Spaniard Laura Del Rio headed to Washington Spirit. These were all world class players, and their loss has made a huge impact, proving impossible to recruits players of the same quality.

Impossible because of one thing – money. The truth of the matter is the club’s demise is less to do with what it has or hasn’t done, and more about what other clubs have done.

In Simon Arnold I believe they have a passionate and visionary chairman, who could appoint any manager, develop any strategy, but would still be unable to compete with the resources of the new powerhouses in WSL.

The likes of Man City, Chelsea, and Arsenal are now bank rolled by their Premier League club chairman, primarily Russian and Arab oil money. Bristol Academy can no longer attract top names, or keep them, because of wage increases. Chelsea won the league, pipping Man City by two points, followed by Arsenal – by a huge 17 points above mid table Notts County. One could argue there is now even greater financial disparity in the women’s game than mens.

Having previously been part of Bristol Rovers, the club is now independent, although has moved across to become part of the Bristol Sport network alongside Bristol City, Bristol Rugby, Bristol Flyers basketball club, and Bristol Sport Racing.

This is the brain child of Steve Landsdowne the multi-millionaire owner of city based investment firm Hargreaves Landsdowne. The logo of Bristol Sport is said to represent the “beating heart” of sport in the city.

The Robins recently bid a reported £8m for Crystal Palace striker Dwight Gayle, so the real question is not if Bristol Academy have the financial backing, but whether Mr Landsdowne will inject funds into the club next season?

It would appear that is the only solution if we want to see women’s Champions League football in our city ever again. That this slide has occurred so quickly and been allowed to happen over 12 months or so, has left many hearts not beating, but broken.

Main picture: @BristolAcademy