Impetus‘ Ben Gilby spoke to D-M Withers (D-M), Shahan Miah (SM) and Nat Brown (NB) from Bristol City Vixencast – the weekly podcast featuring all things Bristol City Women.
How did the podcast get started?
D-M: Last season (2019/20) I decided I wanted to try and make a podcast about Bristol City Women. This was back in the day when we could go to matches. Initially the podcast was called Oxtoby Revolution. For many years the atmosphere at Stoke Gifford Stadium was a bit unfriendly. I went to matches but never spoke to anyone. I thought if I had an audio recorder with me, I’d have an excuse to talk to people (in my professional life I am a life historian, and love listening to people’s stories). I was also curious about who the fans of Bristol City Women were—on some level I thought it might be helpful for the club to have a better understanding of who their audience was. So the first iteration of the podcast was composed of pitch side interviews with fans and documents our singing, and things like that. I made my partner Nat [Brown] join in and talk about football because she sounds authoritative and clever when talking about tactics (I also think she likes doing it). I am actually really pleased I captured the material, for obvious reasons: it turned out to be our last season at SGS; it also records that moment just before the pandemic disrupted life as we had known it. Football historians of the future – I accept your advance thanks (assuming these podcasts find themselves into an archive!) Through doing the podcast and general Bristol City fandom I met Shahan [Miah], who has become a dear friend and excellent collaborator. So when I decided to rebrand the podcast for the new season, he became more involved—indeed, he suggested the new name! So that’s the story of the podcast so far. My friend listened to it and said that it was a bit like a fanzine—that podcasts are like the fanzines of the present. I like that idea, as it captures that sense of making your own media, especially if you feel like your interests are not being properly represented by what’s on offer.
SM: Also, it turned out that I live relatively near D-M & Nat, so for this season, I was able to go to their house & record with them there, while maintaining social distancing. However with subsequent restrictions put in place, we now record remotely over Zoom.
Tell us a bit about all of yourselves in terms of your backgrounds – how did you all get into women’s football?
D-M: I’ve been a football fan since quite a young age, initially supporting men’s teams. I actually support Norwich City FC, the same as my Grandad. I have fond memories of going to Carrow Road with him, and to away games in and around London. I grew up near Reading and regularly went to Elm Park in my teens. I loved going to Elm Park but didn’t follow Reading when they moved to the Madejski. I started to support Bristol Academy in the first season of the Women’s Super League in 2011. It was a total revelation watching women’s football live and I’ve been hooked ever since.
NB: I’d always been a football fan, but I never had any particular club allegiance. My route into women’s football was through playing. I actually played in goal for Bristol City under 15s, 16s and a brief spell in the first team! I also started watching Bristol Academy in the first season of the Women’s Super League – I was excited to have a women’s football team I could support. I am now trying to get my coaching badges, working with a youth team in the local area.
SM: I grew up in Long Ashton, right near Ashton Gate Stadium, so I couldn’t get more local than that! I’ve been an occasional attendee for the better part of the last 15 years. My first ever women’s football match was at Ashton Gate; I saw Bristol Academy’s first UEFA Women’s Champions League game there in 2011, as me & my then-housemate were curious. Club legends Anne Heatherson & Jess Fishlock played in that game, however it was not until many years later I realised the significance that I got to see them play.
My second ever women’s football match was also at Ashton Gate, when in 2015, England played Bosnia & Herzegovina in a UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 qualifier. There were so many Lionesses past & present in that squad that I did not know of at the time. I had started to get aware of the team after hearing of how well they did in that summer’s Women’s World Cup.
It was in 2017 when I started to gain casual interest. A friend & I checked out the WSL Spring Series in 2017, where Bristol City Women (as they had become) lost all their home games. I watched all of Women’s Euro 2017 & the Women’s World Cup in 2019, and it was on the last game of the 2018/2019 WSL season that I was free to attend. Bristol City lost 2-1 to West Ham, however I had such a great time with the supporters singing & a welcoming atmosphere, that I felt encouraged to attend many more games in the subsequent season.
How do you feel links are between the men’s and women’s teams?
D-M: In Bristol? Tenuous at best. Sometimes they appear in the same marketing campaigns. More could certainly be done to foster a ‘one club’ ethos. I’m thinking shared training facilities and better investment.
NB: Well, Bristol City Women is still a relatively new thing. It was Bristol Academy and maybe the connection between them is not yet as strong as could be.
SM: The team has been known as Bristol City Women for almost five years now, and owned by Bristol Sport (who run Bristol City men & Bristol Bears rugby teams), compared to Bristol Academy which for many years was independent.
I feel the links have improved, but there’s still plenty more to do. It’s great to see the women in the same media/photoshoots as the men’s team. The women have played at Ashton Gate several times, however in those games I felt the atmosphere wasn’t quite the same as it could be at Stoke Gifford, for example.
How would you sum up the podcast in terms of what an average episode is like – style, humour, regular features/catchphrases etc?
D-M: We try to keep the episodes to around thirty minutes and hopefully it’s fairly fast moving while having time for discussion. I think between us we create a nice balance between detail, humour and analysis. Occasionally there is singing, a sprinkle of surreal humour. I think the main point is we are making space to talk about Bristol City as we do get a bit overlooked in the mainstream women’s football media.
NB: Since Shahan has got on board, we’ve got a nice balance of detail and chat. He’s great at the research. D-M does an awesome job at the editing and I just say things about the football – easy!
SM: I’m inspired by other fan-based podcasts for the Bristol City men’s team, most notably One Stream in Bristol, who can combine analysis & humour. As games are still behind closed doors (at time of writing) I’m glad to have helped build the podcast, in terms of building audiences nationally (& internationally). One catchphrase we tend to use is the clip from manager Tanya Oxtoby, recorded in a training session from last season, filmed for Australia’s Optus Sport, where she yells to her team “Do you want to f*****g win on Sunday or not?”
Results wise, it’s been a tough start to the season. How have you all assessed things so far?
D-M: Oooooooooooh. There were positive signs. I am not feeling so positive now, writing after our 4-0 defeats to both Aston Villa and West Ham. Pass!
NB: I’m a positive wizard. I say something good and I see it! Gemma Evans has been doing her job fantastically. Baggers (Sophie Baggaley) is back on legendary form- I think it’s that rainbow/My Little Pony kit she now wears. We can score goals. Yana Daniels gets fouled for fun. We have a midfield this year. We get to wear the purple and lime. I could continue…
SM: Not gone according to plan! I was quite surprised when Tottenham & West Ham; teams above Bristol City in the table; have changed managers already this season, and yet the same set-up is still present at our club. I get the “We go again” & “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” comments made in media interviews, but there’s so many times they can be used as what feels like excuses before the club gets in real trouble.
What do you think about the move to Twerton Park – albeit not being able to have attended games there in person?
D-M: I felt really good about the move to Twerton Park when it was first announced. We have been to a few matches there, as we had media passes for the games against London Bees and Birmingham City. I really like it, as a stadium, and would be tempted to watch Bath City FC play too when it becomes possible to go to matches again. I look forward to the day when fans get to be there and get behind the team. Only then, I think, will we be able to assess whether the Twerton Park move is a success. SGS (the old Bristol stadium) was not a great place to watch football. It is out of the way and hard to get to. Twerton Park is nestled in a residential area; I feel very nostalgic about stadiums like that—it reminds me of Elm Park – Reading FC men’s old home ground I suppose. I hope the team will be able to pick up fans who live close by. Twerton Park is also near to the Bristol-Bath cycle path and, if you are so inclined, you could take in the Bath skyline walk before a match. Lovely.
NB: I’m really happy about it. The old stadium was our home, but it’s great to have the stands. Looking forward to filling the place and created some atmosphere when we can. As D-M said, we attended a couple of games- one of which was under the floodlights and a great win!
SM: I was surprised with the announcement, firstly because there was no obvious supporter consultation, and also because it would mean I’d have to travel to another city. Fans of other clubs may be used to that, but I always loved the fact that Bristol City actually played in a Bristol postcode! However, having attended with D-M & Nat with our media passes, Twerton Park feels like a nice ground, and I can’t wait to see it with fans! At time of writing, Bath is in Tier 2, however Bristol is in Tier 3, so this is why we couldn’t attend games.
Sophie Baggaley and Ebony Salmon get most of the headlines at the Vixens, but who else has been catching your eye and why?
D-M: Jemma Purfield had a really strong start to the season, offering the team much needed dynamism from the left wing-back. It’s been amazing to see Naomi Layzell break through into the first team, especially given that she’s only 16. Wow. I’ve enjoyed Emma Bissell’s performances and thought she took the goal at Reading superbly. Charlie Wellings seems to be enjoying her football this season. Yana Daniels always fights for the team. It’s great to have our Australian contingent too. The results have been disappointing, for sure, but the effort is there from all the players. Behind them all the way.
NB: Careful, or I might start on our Christmas anthem ‘The 12 days of Vixens’! The funny thing is, everyone’s been playing pretty well. I love Ella Mastrantonio and was really excited about her and Aimee Palmer playing in midfield together bringing a bit of class and muscle. Hopefully Palmer’s injury will get sorted and she can start playing again. Gemma Evans has been great, especially in the last few games. Bissell has been brilliant, as has Purfield.
SM: I’ve been really impressed with Emma Bissell since she joined over the summer. Not sure if it’s to prove what she could have done at her former club Manchester City, but I’m loving it! Nice to see more of Chloe Logarzo, as she only played a couple of games last season before last season abruptly ended. She seems to be the first choice penalty taker now, and she’s successful at it!
Bristol have had a really strong presence in the top tier of the women’s game for a number of years – over the short-term what are the Vixens’ aims on and off the pitch do you think?
D-M: To be honest, I really don’t know what the strategy is for the team, in the short or the long term. I’d love to know. I think we all felt encouraged by the appointment of [head of women’s football] Lee Billiard in the summer and we had hoped it could be the start of a bit more dialogue and exchange between the club and its fans—we haven’t had that for a long time. That hasn’t exactly happened, but there are reasons for that, not least a global pandemic! I am confident we can build some good relations in the future. I am weary of the refrain that “we don’t have as much as other clubs, we’re run on a developmental basis, etc etc” even if that’s true. What this means is practice is we will lose, or it’s always an uphill struggle, with the incline getting fiercer all the time. In the past few years it’s obvious that we are being left behind when compared with the business strategies pursued by most teams at the top level of the women’s game (big up to Lewes FC for doing things differently!) It would help if the Lansdown family [owners of Bristol Sport] could spread their risk a bit more in our direction. We might then be able to make a short – or even, gasp—a long term plan.
NB: Surely we need to thinking more than ‘let’s not get relegated’
SM: To invest more in the right quality of players & coaching, have all our injured players come back when ready, and to get on a winning run. Come on you Vixens!
We recommend giving Bristol City Vixencast a listen. All the links you need are below:
Podcast website: @bcvixencast | Linktree
Podcast Twitter: Bristol City Vixencast (@BCVixenCast) / Twitter
D-M Withers Twitter: D-M Withers (@DMWithers_) / Twitter
Shahan Miah Twitter: Shahan Miah (@shahanshahan) / Twitter
Shahan Miah Instagram: Shahan Miah (@shahanxshahan) • Instagram photos and videos
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