AVON CALLING! Can Healy’s Robins fly high?

Boasting great support and a brand new head coach, could this be the time that the West Country giants Bristol fashion a route back where they (perhaps) belong, asks Danny Milwain.

Head Coach: New Bristol City head coach Charlotte Healy has her first job in the hotseat after a successful six-year stint at Manchester United.

During her spell in Manchester she worked as academy head coach and more recently assistant head coach of the first team.

Healy was quoted when joining as saying “I’m high challenge, I want us to win, I want us to be successful but if you came into my environment, I hope you’d see it is really high support as well.”

New Signings: Camila Sáez (Loaned from West Ham), Jessica Ziu (Loaned from West Ham), Sophie Ingle, Vicky Losada, Vera Jones (Loaned from Chelsea), Olivia Johnson (Loaned from Brighton), Naomi Williams (Loaned from Arsenal), Esther Morgan, Rio Hardy, Gemma Lawley.

Outlook: With the signing of experienced midfielders Vicky Losada and Sophie Ingle, Bristol City are looking for a route back to the WSL after failing to bounce back on their first attempt last season. Both players bring in much needed leadership into what otherwise is quite a young squad.

Naomi Williams, a young goalkeeper who was named on the bench in last season’s Champions League final comes into the side from Arsenal, looking for some first team minutes as well as Camila Sáez and JessIca Ziu who both need to build on limited opportunities at West Ham last season.

Ffion Morgan’s departure to West Ham will be a big miss to the side, but I think the technically gifted Lexi Lloyd-Smith is more than capable of carrying the burden of burying the ball in the back of the net and firing them up the table.

I hope this Bristol City squad will be fighting for the top two places to get promoted this year; they have incredible support and a head coach hungry to prove herself. I just have a niggling feeling that they might fall short. I could see them however in that special play-off spot though, in what could be one of the most exciting games of the season.

Will Finish: 3rd