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As radiant, August sunshine glistens around a peacefully silent Aston Gate before Bristol City Women’s pre-season media day, Hannah Buckley takes a seat, pitch side, with a gleam in her eye, surveying the scene. The sight of a top-class venue makes her beam in a way that perhaps only somebody whose CV includes job titles such as regional facilities manager and head of infrastructure, safety and sustainability can. Nice stadiums, particular ones used by women’s sports teams, give her a kick.

But after more than 20 years in football, the past eight at the WSL, Buckley is working on building something rather different: a club capable of thriving independently from the auspices of a men’s club. She was appointed as the Women’s Super League 2 side’s chief executive in May, starting her role in June, at a fascinating time in the team’s history, after they were taken over by the investment group Mercury13 last year to break away from the Bristol Sport group that oversees Bristol City’s men’s team and the city’s rugby union and basketball sides.

That breakaway has ensured it has been a relentlessly busy summer and Buckley, in her first sit-down interview, explains some of their changes: “Our headcount in staff has doubled. We’re having to put in place all the back-house services, which historically would have been carried by Bristol Sport. We’ve made improvements at the training ground, we have upgraded our training pitch, and I think I’d describe it as: ‘We’re in the marginal gain phase,’ reviewing what we have to do [to] supercharge our growth and success.”

Buckley, a board member at Somerset County Cricket Club, remembers the anguish she felt when told girls could not play football at her school when she was 11. She revived her playing days at university but creating opportunities for young girls is partly why she says it was a “no-brainer to apply” for the CEO role at Bristol City. There is a vast catchment area for youngsters across the south-west and she says: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s a true ‘build’ project.”

Mercury13, which has investment from familiar names such as the former Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata, owns three women’s clubs: FC Como Women in Italy, FC Badalona Women in Spain and Bristol City Women. Their standalone focus on women’s football, without ties to a men’s team, excites Buckley, who recently led the WSL’s design guidelines for building or upgrading venues specifically for women’s teams. She says: “Independent clubs don’t carry some of the risks that you potentially see where the men’s club may get relegated or [have a] change in ownership and so the independent nature of the club for me was a real opportunity.

“What’s really interesting for me with being part of a multi-club ownership group dedicated solely to women’s football is the opportunities for research, the opportunities for cross-collaboration with different sporting competitions, and actually demonstrating that you can make it work as a standalone women’s entity.”

The owners’ passion specifically for women’s football has also invigorated City’s head coach, Charlotte Healy, who took over in June 2025 after coaching at clubs including Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chesterfield and Derby. Healy says: “This football club, I really feel like it cares about its women’s team.

“We had to evolve the workforce – when I came in, I think there was probably [only] seven or eight staff – but we’re already starting to see that the people we’ve brought in the building are good people and we’re really starting to see the benefit of their expertise.

“[For example] we’ve brought a performance wellbeing manager in, which I think was really important – helping the players, because being a professional footballer is not easy, to come in and play under pressure environments and have to win. We brought in a head of performance services in January, who [has] great WSL experience – because we can talk about ‘being WSL ready’, but if we’ve got staff who don’t know what WSL ready looks like, how are we going to get there?”

Buckley adds to that list of hires by saying: “We now have a commercial director and a head of finance, we now have a full-time marketing manager, a club secretary.” And then there have been the most important recruits: players.

They include the 20-year-old Australia defender Alexia Apostolakis, who signed from Melbourne City in July and says part of the reason she moved from the other side of the world was “how ambitious Charlotte and the staff were to get promoted”. Healy says of the summer recruitment: “We felt we needed more squad depth, and I think we’ve made some really good signings. We’ve again looked at younger players. Alexia is one of the best young players in Australia.”

The Finland forward Lotta Lindström, who signed from London City Lionesses, says Healy’s team having been the top scorers in WSL2 last term was part of the attraction. The 21-year-old has for two years running been in squads that have won the division, with London City in 2023-24, then on loan at Birmingham City last season, and she says: “I hope I can bring up that winning mentality and [help by] doing those little things right, those little things that actually make the difference between being good and being the best.”

Healy is not shy about stating their goal, as they try to improve on last season’s fourth place. Last term, the top two were promoted, with the third-place team going up after a playoff against the WSL’s bottom side. This time, there will be one automatic spot and the sides in second and third will battle for a place in a playoff against the second-bottom WSL side. Healy believes defensive improvements can help them take the next step: “We want this club to be in the WSL. We understand the challenges that come with that – every team wants to be in the WSL. We need to be a little bit more consistent. We scored the most goals in the league last year and finished fourth, so it is really clear that we needed to be better out of possession. Our biggest evolution needs to be without the ball and making sure that we concede fewer goals – if we can do that, we’ll be right up at the top.”

Buckley, who was part of the Football Association facilities team that developed St George’s Park into the national football centre and therefore is perhaps accustomed to a patient approach, says rather more cautiously: “I would say it [WSL2] is the hardest league to get promoted from – you only have to slip up once or twice and the opportunity goes. You saw how tight the margins were last year.

“There are so many facets to success – building the right culture here, first and foremost, is the important thing, professionalising our environment and setting ourselves up for success. I’d hope that we achieve top three. I think that would be a fantastic outcome. But I also have to be really measured; we are technically nine months old as a business.”

She points to their opening fixtures – away to Sunderland, another side taken over by a multi-club women’s-focused ownership group, the Bay Collective, then at Ashton Gate against promotion-chasing Newcastle – as a good “barometer check”, before concluding: “Ask me again at Christmas!”

Robins tend to thrive at Christmas. Whatever their final position, this could be an intriguing case study to observe how well women’s teams can fly solo.

Talking points

Rio calling: The draw for the 2027 Women’s World Cup will take place on 11 December in Rio de Janeiro, Fifa has announced. There will be 32 teams in the tournament. The draw at Rio’s Museum of Modern Art, has been scheduled days after the conclusion of the European qualifying playoffs.

A Shaw thing: The Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw took the main prize after being voted for, by her peers, as the Professional Footballers’ Association’s players’ player of the year, while Birmingham City’s Lily Crosthwaite took the WSL2 players’ player of the year prize and Arsenal’s Olivia Smith took the young player award. The former England midfielder Karen Carney received the PFA merit award in recognition of her legendary career in football.

Liverpool shaping up nicely: Gareth Taylor’s Liverpool look well-prepared for the WSL season after securing their fourth pre-season victory in a row. Their latest was a 2-1 win over their rivals Manchester United at their hosts’ Carrington training ground, with Ceri Holland scoring the winner. Taylor’s team travel to Charlton on 6 September for their opening WSL fixture.

Quote of the week

We know the level of competition in Poland will be extremely high, but we’re excited by the prospect. There were some very difficult decisions to make when naming the final squad, which reflects the strength and depth we have across the pathway. [Now] the focus is on making the most of this opportunity, representing England with pride, and seeing how far we can go together” – the England Under-20 head coach, Lydia Bedford, speaks after naming her squad for September’s Women’s Under-20 World Cup, which looks poised to go ahead despite Uefa’s threat of a boycott. England’s campaign begins against Canada on 5 September.

Recommended viewing

The veteran Italy striker Cristiana Girelli scored her first goal for Bay FC and the 36-year-old’s celebration showed how much it meant to her, her 89th-minute strike securing a 1-0 victory over Houston Dash in a tense NWSL contest.

Still want more?

Suzanne Wrack gets her chat on with Emilie Joramo, the Norwegian midfielder ready to make an instant impact at Brighton this season.

Meanwhile, Tom Garry sat down with Mapi León to find out why the defender exchanged Barcelona for Bromley in her move to London City Lionesses before Rachel Daly revealed her ease at playing for Aston Villa after retiring from England.

Previews, get your WSL previews! Up first we have: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Brighton.

Curious about the cash in the WSL? Read our club-by-club financial breakdown which highlights the financial might of the elite, and the challenges the rest of the division face.

And the Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro’s storied 78,838-capacity stadium, will host the opening game and the final of next year’s Women’s World Cup, reports Tom Garry.

• Moving the Goalposts will resume as a twice-weekly newsletter from next week, arriving every Tuesday and Thursday.