|
|
|
|
|
This week women's football has been popping off with big news. Chelsea have lined up Emma Hayes' successor, while Manchester United have reportedly offered a fresh contract to manager Marc Skinner (hahahahahahahahahaha) but we're going to have press pause on all of that for now because of an announcement which dropped, suddenly, on Tuesday morning to the sounds of gasps and sobs nationwide.
|
Today, I'm thinking about:
|
- why Rachel Daly was so important for England
- whether Lucy Bronze will follow her lead
- what has motivated Big Rach's Big Decision
- the power of 'no'
I hope you enjoy it! I miss her already!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rachel Daly has retired from international football at the age of 32. Though she has years of scoring goals, belting Tina Turner and gun finger knee slides ahead of her, she’ll never do any of those things in an England shirt again after quietly slipping out of the back door with a nine minute substitute appearance against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday.
|
|
Her legacy? Eight years of playing several different roles on the pitch, of being a spirited character and role model to younger players on camp, and, of course, a place in the history books as one of the eleven players who started every game in the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 championship campaign.
|
The tournament’s largely unsung hero, Daly didn’t get it right 100% of the time, and was at fault for England’s hairiest moment, when Athenea del Castillo gave Spain the lead in the quarter-final. But she did the job at a time when England didn’t have an abundance of people who could. The Times’ former women’s football journalist Molly Hudson put it well: “She filled in, in the position that was stopping England winning. Then they won.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daly’s retirement comes during a week in which fans were calling for Lucy Bronze to hang up her boots after the also-32-year-old let Fridolina Rolfö out of her sight, allowing Sweden to equalise on Friday.
|
As someone whose sentimentality prevents her from making the ruthless decisions demanded of a football manager, I am horribly offended by the suggestion that Lucy Bronze, after everything she has done for her country and her sport, should be dropped. However, the criticism is not unfounded; though she remains a threat on the attack, her defensive work leaves a lot to be desired these days due, in part, to the devastating reality that she’s not the spring chicken she once was and bombing up and down the flanks requires a lot of strength and puff.
|
|
You wouldn’t catch Bronze pulling a stunt like Daly’s. Still trailing Fara Williams’ appearance record by more than 50 caps, you’ll have to prise Bronze's England shirt from her cold, hyper-ambitious hands. For the time being, Bronze's path to the bitter end is clear. After the Rolfö incident, Bronze kept her starting place for the Republic of Ireland game, since Wiegman isn’t overwhelmed with suitable replacements.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Once upon a time, a suitable replacement might have been Daly. Since her international debut in June 2016, she has played as a left-back, a right-back, a left wing-back, a winger and a striker. And has she grumbled once? Nope. Her answer to probes regarding her preferred position was always that she loved playing football so much that she will play wherever she is put.
|
Since her Golden Boot winning 2022/23 season with Aston Villa, though, Daly has rightfully felt entitled to ask that she be considered by Wiegman for the number 9 shirt. But having taken every one of the few opportunities she has been given to prove herself as the right striker for England, it is increasingly clear to Daly that Wiegman considers that person to be Alessia Russo.
|
|
The BBC reported that Daly’s decision to bow out followed a conversation that she had with Wiegman during this most recent camp. It’s not clear how long Daly has been considering her position, but you might imagine that Russo’s start against Sweden, and her own failure even to be an option from the bench, was enough for her to question the point of giving up weeks out of her year only to get no chance to contribute in the way she wants to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Soak up every moment with your family, friends and loved ones,” were Rachel Daly’s instructions for 2024 as she shared photos from her Christmas break with her Instagram followers. She’d spent it with her girlfriend and Aston Villa teammate Sarah Mayling. A Sutton Coldfield girl who came through the Villa academy, Mayling was treated to the finest cultural experiences God’s Own County can offer — eating Yorkshire pudding wraps and visiting Elland Road with Rachel’s Leeds United loving brother Andy.
|
|
|
Daly is a family-orientated person, as shown by the tour of her tattoos she recently gave to BBC Sport. She has a blue heart inked on her ring finger so that her late dad can be with her on the football pitch or training ground, where she’s not allowed to wear the ring with the same design which contains his ashes. Her right arm is also home to some of his handwriting, a drawing of some lilies (her mum’s favourite flower), the lyrics to Marching on Together (the anthem of her family’s football club, Leeds) and the date of birth of her nephew Orson.
|
|
For someone who prizes time with loved ones — especially after time with her dad was cut short — the appeal of spending her short, infrequent breaks from domestic football fighting for her place down at St George’s Park in Staffordshire is limited, especially when those sacrifices are not paying off.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nobody wants to work any more
|
|
|
This week I was listening to a Jeremy Vine debate inspired by a Telegraph article which argued that ‘Gen Z are an employer’s nightmare’ because their enhanced mental health awareness means they set work-life boundaries which are a hindrance to their colleagues. The article’s author, Sophia Money-Coutts, argued that you have to stay past 5pm in order to get ahead in your chosen career.
|
|
As someone who is on the cusp of Gen Z, I don’t really get why some older people are this obsessed not only with preserving the rat race, but insisting on participation, so I’m chuffed that Rachel Daly (a millennial, btw) has offered a positive example of stepping out of it.
|
|
|
Daly already has plenty to be proud of, so why would she 'stay past 5pm' and persist, at personal cost, in an environment that no longer serves her?
|
Aside from the physical demands of playing football year-round, it is surely mentally exhausting to be essentially competing constantly for your job, sitting by the phone several times a year, waiting to hear whether you’re wanted or not, then training as hard as you can to try and stop a friend from taking your spot in the team.
|
Recently, Daly has watched bestie Millie Bright, Beth Mead and Leah Williamson all play a role in England’s successes from the sidelines, albeit without choosing to. This way, Daly gets to relax, reflect on her success, leave them wanting more, focus on being brilliant for Aston Villa, having finished her career on her own terms — a luxury which is not afforded to all footballers as Stuart Dallas, former utility hero of Daly’s faves Leeds United, learned this week, announcing his retirement after two years of trying to fix a leg which he now accepts is irretrievably broken.
|
|
I say take the memories and run, Rach!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ms Sophia Money-Coutts may deem it selfish that the flag of St George could suffer as a consequence, but Daly's example shows that just as employees owe their managers, so do managers owe their employees. The Athletic’s Michael Cox has argued that Daly’s retirement signifies a major mis-step by Sarina Wiegman, who may rue having “perhaps taken Daly for granted.”
|
When Daly’s announcement landed so suddenly, instinct told me that there’d been a major fallout, which Wiegman’s touching Instagram tribute seems to discount: “Rachel has been an incredible part of our story and the history we’ve made together. It has been a privilege to work with her. I have never worked with a player so versatile, always with a smile on her face, always bringing energy and trying to do her best for the tem. She’ll be missed not just by me but all the other staff members, players and of course the fans”.
|
A touch of guilt, there, or regret?
|
|
Daly could walk into a number of national sides and, just like that, claim the number 9 shirt — but not Wiegman’s. If Russo breaks, Hempo can have a go at 9, or there’s Nikita Parris and Bethany England, or even Aggie Beever-Jones waiting in the wings. But when next will England have a player on their books who can score this many goals and do just about anything else asked of her?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Sunday — the FA Cup
- Either Tottenham Hotspur or Leicester City will reach the FA Cup final for the first time on Sunday afternoon, with kick off set for 12noon.
- Chelsea's triple hunt could turn into hopes for a double at 2pm, when they'll play Marc Skinner's Manchester United for the chance to fight for silverware at Wembley.
- Sunday — the FAWNL Northern Premier
- A win against struggling Huddersfield Town could hand the title to division newcomers Newcastle United on Sunday.
- Meanwhile, Hashtag United play Ipswich Town with the slimmest chances of knocking Portsmouth off their promotion perch. The Tags need to win their last three games, hope Pompey lose both of theirs, AND catch up a goal difference deficit of 43 to finish first. Good luck to 'em.
- For the first time since a change to the league rules, winning their leagues would automatically promote Newcastle AND Portsmouth to the Championship. Previously, the winners of the FAWNL Northern and Southern Premier Divisions would play a promotion final, with the loser left to start again in the league they began the season in.
|
|
- Sunday — West Riding County First Division
- My team Leeds Hyde Park are a-hopin' and a-prayin' that we don't suffer our five-hundredth postponement this season, but our pitch was deemed unfit for us to train on Tuesday night so I'm not holding my breath!!! We're due to face Republica, one of only two teams to have taken points off us this season.
- Sunday — Division One North
- Leeds United take on Chorley at Garforth Town. With four games left to play, the Whites could finish as high as third place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Making friends in Division One North
|
|
When you just want to make friends, but the referee keeps giving free-kicks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
