Lioness star Alex Greenwood offered words of inspiration, encouragement and candid truths to football fans young and old in an intimate Q&A in celebration of International Women’s Day.
A five-year-old girl head-to-toe in an England kit stood to receive advice from her Lioness hero as Greenwood addressed the next generation, she told the ECHO: “It’s so nice and not just to see my name but seeing any of the girls' names on the back of kid’s shirts it's a really nice sight to see.
“And when we turn up to England games up and down the country and there’s little girls and boys running down the street and chasing the bus with our names on their backs is great.”
But for her, role models were closer to home in Liverpool, as she said: “There are two people who have shaped me, my mum who is an inspirational woman in her own right.
“The way she brought me and my sister up to be who we wanted to be as people. To be a confident woman and to do what you want to do in life and she supported every decision we both ever made.
“And then in football, it was Mo Marley. For me, she is definitely the reason why I am where I am today. Actually we had our [legacy] cap presentation for England a couple of weeks ago and she presented me with mine. That for me was just a moment I’ll never forget because she is definitely the reason why I am in the position I am.
“When I couldn't get to training for whatever reason, she was the first there to pick me up and put me back in my place when I needed to and she was scary when she needed to be, let me tell you that!”, Greenwood added with a laugh. “But I could relate to Mo in so many ways. She's from where I'm from and she just understood me.”
Marley coached Greenwood during the early years of her career at Everton from as young as six years old through to senior football, Greenwood said: “She was definitely a leadership figure herself but probably a little bit different [from me] Mo’s very, very vocal and very loud and says what she thinks and I think elements of that, I’ve got, elements maybe not, but she's definitely a massive influence for the person I am and more importantly, the footballer I am.”
The defender, now a leader in her own right for both club and country, admits how she approaches the responsibility of being a role model: “From young children to the team, it looks very different.
"So, for the team, I want to be a teammate who is approachable, who they can lean on, I'll be honest with them and I'm not going to scream and shout I’m going to have a conversation with them and get to know them and try to get the best out of them because if I can get the best out of my team then we’re going to be successful.
“Whereas for the younger generation, it’s being a role model and a female in football who they can look up to and want to inspire to be.”
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