Why I started Arsenal Women: Trailblazers

Welcome back to Arsenal Women Trailblazers. I’m Roberto Revilla and if you’re here reading this, there’s a good chance you do something I’ve spent far too much of my life doing as an Arsenal fan.

Constantly Googling Arsenal transfer news. Arsenal Women transfer news. Arsenal transfer rumours.

For both the men’s and the women’s side, I’ll sit there refreshing websites, checking social feeds, trying to piece together what’s real and what’s nonsense, and I know from the messages and DMs that a lot of you do exactly the same thing. It’s a habit, it’s part of being a football fan, but it can get exhausting.

So that’s one of the reasons I started this podcast and now this site.

What I want to do is save you from having to do as much of that yourself. If you subscribe to the show and follow along here, when there’s any breaking news that’s confirmed, I’ll jump on, even if it’s just a quick five or ten minutes, and tell you what’s going on. You’ll know what’s happened, you’ll have a bit of context, and you’ll be able to get on with the rest of your day without feeling like you have to sit there stressing and refreshing your browser.

Now, let’s be honest, that probably won’t actually stop you Googling completely. I’m realistic about that. But if I can be of service in some way, take a bit of that pressure off and give you a place where you know you’ll get regular updates, then this whole thing is already doing its job.

If you joined me for episode one, the intro, and episode two where I reviewed last season, thank you. I listened back to those – I do that with my Tailoring Talk Magazine podcast as well – and I could hear that I was a bit stilted on that second episode. I was reading from a script, which I don’t normally do with Tailoring Talk, and I think that showed. The personality didn’t come through as much as I would have liked, and that’s on me.

Normally, as a podcaster, I’ll just have loose notes, a bit of a wireframe, and then I’ll ramble on and let the conversation flow, and that’s when I’m at my best. For this new show I tried too hard not to mess up, went against what I’d usually do, and you could hear it. So I’m not going to sit here apologising forever, but I will promise to keep getting better and better as each episode goes by so that what you hear – and now what you read here – sounds like me rather than like someone reading at you.

The basic commitment is simple.

Arsenal Women Trailblazers is here so that Arsenal fans have a consistent, regular place to come and get their news on the women’s side, to save you from breaking your brains trying to keep up with everything yourself, and to give you a space where we can actually talk about it together. The WSL transfer window opens, a player leaves, a new signing is announced, something important happens around the squad – I’ll scan, I’ll keep an eye out, and as soon as there’s anything to talk about I’ll put it on Instagram first and then record, wherever I am, even if it’s just into an iPhone while I’m walking the dogs.

We’re at a very early stage with this project and I’d love as much help as I can get from you to help it grow. If you’re listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please leave a rating and a review because it helps the algorithm and helps other Arsenal fans find us. And if you want to get involved more directly, come and find me on Instagram and drop me a DM. If you’d like to be a guest on the show in future, get in touch. This is meant to be a community space, not just me talking into a microphone!

You’re all trailblazers in my eyes and that’s why this podcast and this site have the name they do.