Aston Villa currently sit ninth in the Women's Super League table
A club's true identity always shows in a local derby and Aston Villa hope to impose theirs when they face rivals Birmingham City on Sunday.
Villa have not had a smooth ride of it this season after a winless start led to the sacking of former manager Natalia Arroyo at the end of September.
The Spaniard helped stabilise Villa during her two years in charge but they lacked consistency, and it left some wondering what their identity really was.
Brian Sorensen is the man in charge of changing that on the pitch now, while there are others off it who are transforming Villa behind the scenes.
"Aston Villa is a club of heart. We put a lot into everything we do," managing director Maggie Murphy told BBC Sport.
"I think a lot of people know we try to do everything the right way, the proper way. We're a club that is the heart of 'proper football' in many ways."
So what are Villa doing this season to get in touch with their values?
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Diving into their history
Former Everton boss Brian Sorensen is now managing Aston Villa
Sunday's Women's Super League match with Birmingham (14:00 GMT) marks 30 years since the team officially took the Aston Villa name.
Sorensen hoes it will be the perfect opportunity to showcase who Villa are on the pitch.
"There's a lot of history in this club which maybe not many people know. We need to showcase that," said interim manager Sorensen.
"We want to be really hard-working and humble - like the area we are from - and have a clear identity of how we attack and defend.
"It's trying to align all of that, making sure that we are a team that is recognised, that is one the other teams will fear playing against."
They will celebrate this crucial point in their history in the second city derby at Villa Park, and inform fans of a research project they are undertaking this season.
The project is called 'Roots, Rise and Reach' and hopes to uncover periods of the women's team's history that have never been documented before.
They have already found a newspaper report from 1957 detailing a game between an unofficial Aston Villa Ladies team and Birmingham City.
"It's huge piece of work that we're doing just to understand our own heritage and where we've come from," said Murphy.
"We're very aware that our roots go much further [than 1996]. We're going back decades at the moment trying to uncover some of that history.
"I think it's really important to know where we've come from, because that gives us a sense of identity that maybe we don't always have."
Increasing fan engagement
Diving into the club's history is one way Villa are hoping to engage fans this season.
They are trying to grow attendances as part of the club's five-year strategy and last season set up fan forums for the first time.
In response to feedback, they have changed age categories on their ticketing, introduced hospitality season tickets and hosted podcasts with former players and comedians to improve matchday experiences.
They have also been advertising upcoming games on 'digi-vans' throughout the country in the hope of attracting neutral women's football fans.
The remit is to simply be creative.
"There are plenty of floating fans in women's football so we are trying to grab as many as we can and make sure they have the best possible day," added Murphy.
"They might not support Villa the first time they come, but they might after three, four games and buy themselves a claret and blue scarf.
"That's our drive. We want to build this club sustainably and generate the funds that can then go into the football side of the business."
Villa players are happy stop to sign autographs and take photos after games
Linking the business and football teams
All of these efforts are part of a wider club ambition to be sustainable and ultimately deliver success on the pitch.
Murphy's task is to make the women's team financially stable, drive revenue and improve atmosphere at games.
She works in tandem with Marisa Ewers, director of women's football, who oversees recruitment, contract renewals and football staff management.
"We want it to be super coherent across both sides. In a really crude way, my job is to make money and Marissa's job is to spend it," said Murphy.
"Our teams work really closely together. Last year, we only had two people in the club that were 100% dedicated to the women's business side. Today, we have nine.
"We are investing in revenue-generating areas. I definitely want us to be competing at the highest possible level consistently, but with heart.
"We want to feel like we have contributed to the story of women's football in this country."
Villa's season is starting to look up. They currently sit ninth with two wins and four draws from their opening nine matches.
They drew with Arsenal at the start of this month after beating Birmingham City in a penalty shootout in their Women's League Cup tie.
With successive matches against newly promoted sides Birmingham and Charlton coming up, can Villa take a step closer to where they want to be?
"Where we are today is born of the hard work of lots of people that have come before us. We need to recognise that and start to steady the ship," said Murphy.
"Villa has not been in the WSL for that long. People forget that. We're still in a very transitional phase - as is the wider women's football ecosystem."
