Latest news with #EsmeMorgan
BBC News
16 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Esme Morgan says Sheffield football friendships are 'enduring'
England defender Esme Morgan has said that the friendships she formed while playing junior football in Sheffield have "carried her through" her international now 24, played on a boys' team for Ecclesall Rangers in the Sheffield & District Sunday League until she was said the Lionesses' celebrations in London on Tuesday after winning Euro 2025 on Sunday were "surreal".The team are "so proud" of the older women who have made it possible for the current squad to represent their country and play professionally, she added. The former High Storrs School pupil thanked her childhood coach Martin Windle "so much" for everything he taught her when she played for Ecclesall Rangers."I love Martin to bits," she said."He did such incredible things for me and all the young kids he coached because he just had this infectious enthusiasm, passion, love for football, and he spread that to all of us."She said "as the only girl on the team" it would have been easy for the club to dismiss her or treat her differently but "Martin just welcomed me with open arms"."He always encouraged me and just spread his love for the game to me and that has really carried me through." Many of the boys she played with at Ecclesall Rangers have been in touch to say how proud they were and her advice to girls wanting to play football was to "just enjoy it"."That's all I ever did. Ecclesall Rangers were my team and they were my mates."Everyone's journey is different but as long as you're enjoying playing, that's going to take you such a long way."Keep listening to your coaches and following your love for the game and eventually opportunities will come along and you just have to take them where you can."But for the most part, follow your love for football and enjoy playing."Because if nothing else, it brings you incredible friendships."Morgan joined Manchester City's academy as a teenager and now plays her club football in the added: "I made friendships that are going to endure a lifetime and that's the most special part of it." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Lionesses captain Leah Williamson sends emotional nine-word statement to fans as she laps up Euro 2025 victory parade
After an emotional, erratic 10 minutes for Lionesses captain Leah Williamson, which saw her bawling her eyes out down the Mall, she uttered the words every English football fan wanted to hear: 'Stay with us — this story is not done yet.' England celebrated their second European crown in style on Tuesday afternoon with an open-top bus parade that delivered them to the gates of Buckingham Palace, drawing a 65,000-strong crowd. It was a marked upgrade on the Trafalgar Square celebrations following their 2022 triumph, which was hastily assembled and capped at 7,000. This time, the event was planned in advance and emphatically dispelled defender Esme Morgan's concerns that there would not be enough people to fill the space. A choked-up Williamson told the crowd: 'I'm in the trenches, I am holding back tears. I have been crying all the way down the Mall, this is unbelievable.' Then the 28-year-old Arsenal defender added, with a nod to the upcoming World Cup in Brazil in 2027: 'Stay with us — this story is not done yet.' Lucy Bronze, who defied logic by playing the tournament with a fractured tibia, was asked by former England international Alex Scott whether she planned to hang up her boots. The defender replied simply: 'Not yet!'
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Kelly is more than the next Beckham' - the Lioness shifting the culture
With a hop, skip and a thwack, Chloe Kelly scored the winning penalty in the Euro 2025 final - and shifted the culture of English that this is anything new for Kelly, who over the past three years has been at the centre of the Lionesses' explosion into the public the Euro 2022 final, she scored the winning goal before celebrating by twirling her shirt aloft with sports bra on display. Kelly was praised for empowering women, and embodying how the Lionesses are inspirations for current and future generations of 2025 final was different. While Kelly was praised for spending time with the mascot at the medal ceremony, chatting with and hugging the young girl, she then turned to the camera after getting her award and mouthed a sweary media outlet AS meanwhile was annoyed with Kelly for supposedly mocking keeper Cata Coll after scoring the winning spot-kick. "This is unnecessary, my friend," ran the headline., externalThat is the Lionesses of 2025, spearheaded by Kelly - inspirational yes, but also arrogant in the way of all champions, icons not only for their gender, but also for their immense sporting is well-known among team-mates for being the personification of the modern Lionesses."She seems to thrive on those moments when the team needs her to pull a performance out of the bag," said England defender Esme that could mark a tonal shift in how the Lionesses are perceived culturally, according Nicola Kemp, editorial director of marketing company Creativebrief."This is a real watershed moment for football marketing," Kemp told BBC Sport. "Kelly has passion and audacity on the pitch, that can be matched with commercial cut through - I expect more investment."Brands want to play in culture, and Kelly is at the centre of this incredible cultural shift in women's football." Shinpads and power penalties: Kelly is a branding dream Kelly is a marketer's dream in so many ways. On the pitch, she provided game deciding contributions in all of England's Euro 2025 knock-out matches - her crosses led to both goals against Sweden, she bagged the winner versus Italy, and she assisted Russo's equaliser in the final. And that's before you get to the winning the pitch, she is popular with fans - topping the BBC Sport audience ratings against Sweden and Spain - while she went viral during the quarter-final after TV cameras showed her taping up her featured her kissing her husband Scott Moore on their wedding day. The other had an image of their pet dogs."Otis and Rolo at the wedding in their little tuxes are on one shinpad and me and Scotty at the wedding are on the other which is really nice - bringing my life off the pitch with me on the pitch," Kelly said before the final."They are my dogs but they are people to me, they are my little boys with me along the journey, and of course Scott who is with me in the ups and downs."It was their wedding anniversary during the Euros. She said roses were provided in her room at the England camp, while they were able to spend a few hours by the Swiss lakes according to Kemp, is just as important to brands as the penalty Kelly smashed home at 68mph in Basel."It is wonderful to see her on the front of every newspaper, but it is almost bigger than that," she said."It is tempting to say Chloe Kelly is the next David Beckham, but this is more than that - this is an entire new playbook, a new movement." 'We create an impossible stereotype for female footballers' Kelly is a proud, cocky footballer unafraid to celebrate her tournament-winning penalty with a self-assured shrug to the fans."She has been doing it week in, week out and she's just got this attitude and this confidence that I don't think you can buy," England team mate Lucy Bronze said before the celebrates her London roots, her close family in which she is the youngest of seven siblings, and her love of to Romesh Ranganathan on Radio 2,, external Kelly said: "I just love listening to music. My mum always had the radio on, then being from west London, I support people from my area like AJ Tracey, I enjoy listening to his music. He's a friend of mine. It's really nice to see west London doing great in the music industry now."Kelly is also unafraid to speak her mind. In February, Sarina Wiegman left Kelly out of her squad for Nations League games against Portugal and Spain. At the time, she had not played any football since mid-December, having fallen out of favour at former club Manchester secured a loan to childhood team Arsenal, having posted emotional messages to social media saying she "wanted to be happy again" while accusing City of planting negative stories about her in the media. The club never commented publicly about Kelly's has not been shy about revealing she nearly quit football altogether."I'm really proud looking back on the journey," she said. "It was a tough one to start with. Thinking about giving up the game that we all love is really difficult but sometimes you need to look after your mental health and that was really important to me."After Euro 2022, the Lionesses were held up as the perfect ideal of female sporting achievement. Kemp says the next step, led by Kelly, will be allowing our women's football icons to be imperfect."We create a stereotype that is impossible for women footballers to live up to, that can be quite oppressive from a marketing perspective," she said."They can be both things, be an incredible athlete and incredible personality. Kelly is full of flair, you would not want her in just one area."With a hop, skip and a thwack, the age of the Chloe Kelly is upon us.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
England star Esme Morgan 'had it all' from a young age
The first football coach of Lionesses star Esme Morgan has said the defender "had it all" from a young was part of the England side who came from behind to beat Italy 2-1 on Tuesday to book a place in Sunday's Euro 2025 final against 24-year-old plays her club football for US side Washington Spirit, but began her footballing journey under the tutelage of Martin Windle in her home city of Windle described his former protégé as a "really, really nice human being" and remembered her footballing ability as "absolutely brilliant". Morgan joined Ecclesall Rangers, where Mr Windle is still chairman, aged seven and represented the club's boys teams in the Sheffield & District Sunday League until she left to sign for Manchester City aged 15."She had it all - she was brilliant," recalled Mr Windle, who paid tribute to his son Jon, another coach at Ecclesall Rangers, for his role in Morgan's early development."I couldn't have said to you 'She's going to be a professional footballer', because the likes of that didn't exist 20 years ago."My job was introducing her to football and she's carried on from there." Morgan has made two appearances for Sarina Wiegman's side during the tournament in Switzerland, one as a substitute against Sweden before starting against Italy. She was also part of the Lionesses squad which reached the Women's World Cup final in 2023, when they lost out to former High Storrs pupil, who attended the same school as Kyle Walker, impressed in Tuesday's semi-final, meaning she could be in line to feature again in the final. Morgan's former school said they "couldn't be prouder" after more late drama sent England into their second successive European final and third in as many major tournaments."Her contribution was immense and I think they should stick with her," said Mr Windle, who has been involved in grassroots football for 36 years and counting."Forwards and strikers win you games, defenders win you the cups and tournaments." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Independent
23-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
The secret to Chloe Kelly's unbreakable confidence
England were seconds away from going home. Losing 1-0 to Italy in the Euro 2025 semi-finals, the Lionesses needed a hero. Up stepped Chloe Kelly, raising her arms as she prepared to deliver an inswinging corner from the left. But as the England fans behind the goal prayed for a moment of inspiration, it was immediately clear that something was wrong: Kelly dragged her cross straight out of play. It landed, horribly, into the side-netting. 'Obviously it wasn't the plan,' Kelly grimaced. Neither was it the plan to miss a penalty with the chance to send England through to the Euro 2025 final, but Kelly's response to both the failed corner and saved spot-kick remained the same. 'The reaction is as important as the action,' Kelly explained. 'For me, it was important to not dwell on the moment.' Instead, she followed up her penalty miss by scoring the rebound, telling everyone to 'chill' as they lost their minds. For Kelly, the 119th-minute winner in Geneva is the latest in a long line of iconic moments in an England shirt, to go alongside Wembley, Brisbane and Zurich. When the pressure is at its highest, Kelly has been able to rise above it and deliver, time and time again. 'She thrives in those moments where all eyes are on her and she knows she needs to produce, and she's just got this belief in herself,' said England defender Esme Morgan. 'She has always been like that. Chloe just doesn't care what other people think. She's her own person and she works hard. She knows what she's brilliant at. So when there's a moment to execute what she's brilliant at, she just feels 10 feet tall and ready to take it.' Right now, if you could bottle and sell what Kelly has, you would earn yourself a fortune. 'Chloe's just attitude, sass, confidence,' said Lucy Bronze. As if to illustrate this, when asked after England's win where her confidence and self-belief came from, Kelly simply replied: 'Myself.' No one in world football is taking on the game in the way Kelly is, from her high-stepping penalty run-up to her viral wedding photo shinpads and her grin before taking the penalty to keep England at the Euros during the quarter-finals. Yet it was only a few months ago that the 27-year-old was questioning her love for the sport and future in it. She was, she said, in a 'dark place'. Frozen out at Manchester City, Kelly was at risk of dropping out of Sarina Wiegman 's England squad. Her place at the Euros hinged on the success of her loan to Arsenal but it was on her move back to north London that Kelly's smile returned. Working alongside Renee Slegers at Arsenal, Kelly was told to be herself. She began to play with joy again and finished the season as a Champions League winner. That version of Kelly has shone through in Switzerland. Three years ago, Kelly was only just recovering from an ACL injury when she seized her opportunity to score England's winning goal in the Euro 2022 final. Three years later, Kelly is playing with the same determination to take nothing for granted, but with her self-belief at an all-time high. 'When she's on the pitch, no matter what, she's going to push her shoulders back, big up her chest and she's going to go for it,' Bronze said. At Euro 2025, Kelly's instructions from Wiegman are the same as they were in Euro 2022: to go on and change the game for England. She has now made 11 consecutive appearances as a substitute between both tournaments but her approach has remained consistent. 'Take the opportunity when it comes,' Kelly explained. 'We've got 23 amazing players in the squad and we're all ready.' England's super-sub has made yet another devastating impact off the bench at a major tournament. But above all, missing a penalty only to go again and convert the rebound was a way of encapsulating an entire career, illustrating that the biggest successes often come from bouncing back. 'The moments in January when I felt like giving up football, makes you grateful for these moments here today,' Kelly reflected. 'Confidence comes from within but from around you as well. The players I stand side by side with on the pitch, [we] breed confidence in each other. The people you surround yourself with, my family is really important to me and will breed a lot of confidence within me.' Bronze may have briefly stood over the penalty spot when England were awarded their last-minute penalty against Italy but there was no question who was going to take; no doubt, either, that Kelly would slow herself down, spin the ball on its mark, take a deep breath, and lift up her left leg to begin her run-up. The surprise was the save but the response was never in doubt. The initial celebration amid the chaos, as Kelly pushed her hands towards the ground, told its own story: 'It was more like, 'Chill out, I was going to score! Chill out, it was OK!'' Kelly laughed. Then came the second celebration, one that will go down well in north London, with her arm on the corner flag waiting and admiring the view like Thierry Henry. The message? Don't worry, England, I've got this.
