Lauren Smith | The First Interview.

Smith returned to the club she calls ‘home’ just under two weeks ago and hailed it a special moment after previously spending seven years in the West Country, beginning her coaching journey with the club’s Under-13 age group back in 2010.

“I’m really happy to be back,” said Smith. “I think the club is in a great place, although relegation happened last year. There has been some great investment in the stadium and the Robins High Performance Centre and the vision is really exciting, which was discussed in the talks in me coming back here. I’m really excited for the challenge and getting back to home soil."

The 33-year-old has come full circle to be at the helm as City Women embark on the 2021/22 season in the FA Championship and despite relegation, she insists the club are in a good position to rebuild with a fresh vision, and a new state-of-the-art home venue at the Robins High Performance Centre.

She said: “If we can have some youth players and really rebuild from the South West - I think that’s a real opportunity because it’s changed over the years.

“We can hopefully bring it back to some of the really good times with being an exciting club that culminates the area and the values that we have in the South West. It’s a really good opportunity to rebuild and go from there.

“Another great ambition for the club is to have us all under one roof and by making this move (to the Robins High Performance Centre) it’s going to help bring in players and play attractive football at this lovely venue – who wouldn’t be excited to play here, it’s an excellent facility.”

Bristol City Women’s FA Championship campaign is set to commence on the weekend of the 28th/29th August and information on Season Cards will be released in the coming weeks.