“The risk paid off,” Beth England says, sounding like a gambler who has just cleaned up on the Strip rather than a footballer standing in the rain on a dreary day in east Staffordshire. The setting may be somewhat incongruous for such a bold statement but, ultimately, that does not make it any less justified, for this is very much someone who rolled the dice and won big.
England is part of England’s squad for the Women’s World Cup and reflecting on how that came about the 29-year-old is in no doubt of the moment that changed everything, the moment the doors slid in her favour: her move from Chelsea to Tottenham in January.
It was not an easy decision, especially for someone who, by her own admission, “has never dealt well with change”, and there was immediate pressure given the £250,000 fee, a domestic record for a British player in the women’s game. But it simply had to be done given the striker’s lack of game time allied to her desperate desire to travel to Australia and New Zealand with the Lionesses. England needed to be playing and scoring again, and Spurs offered her that opportunity. She well and truly took it.
There were 12 goals in 12 Women’s Super League appearances alongside an all-round excellence in leading the line, and the fact England was performing so well in a side struggling so badly spoke to her mental strength as well as technical ability. In the end Sarina Wiegman had little choice but to recall a member of the squad that had triumphed at last year’s European Championship as the national team’s focus shifted to global glory.
“The situation I was in, I wasn’t being used, I was on the bench, and as Sarina rightly said, I wasn’t getting picked [for the national team] because I wasn’t getting the minutes,” says England of her situation at Chelsea. “It was up to me to make sure I was not only getting the minutes but making the minutes count and I did that at Spurs. I can’t thank them enough for giving me the chance to go out and be happy again.”
When England received the call from Wiegman confirming her place in the 23-strong squad for the World Cup, that happiness turned into wild joy. “I tried to play it nice and cool but I hung up the phone and screamed my house down,” she says. “The first thing I did was ring my mum, ring my partner. Obviously I was elated.”
That much can be taken from England’s sunny mood in less‑than‑sunny conditions at St George’s Park at the start of the Lionesses’ buildup for a tournament that kicks off with a match between New Zealand and Norway at Eden Park in Auckland on 20 July. She talks about being “excited” four times during a six‑minute conversation. There is, however, also clear frustration and sadness in regards to losing her place in Wiegman’s squad after Euro 2022 given it meant missing out on further triumphs at international level.
“It’s been hard seeing the team win the Finalissima and the Arnold Clark Cup – those are moments I wanted to be part of,” says England. “But equally that’s the decision that was made, that’s life, not everything goes your way, and you can only control what you can control. All I could do was go to Spurs, work hard, train hard and put the performances in. I very much did that.
“It was a big risk, I’d been at Chelsea for seven years, that was a big part of my professional career, and I didn’t like the thought of change. I could’ve stayed in my comfort zone but ultimately I didn’t want to be in a position where I didn’t give everything to going [to the World Cup]. I would’ve regretted that looking back on my career.”
Barring any setbacks, England will be on the flight from London to the Lionesses’ training camp on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on 5 July with her sights firmly set on being in the starting lineup for the opening game against Haiti in Brisbane 17 days later. There is no guarantee of that, however, given the options in attack, with England battling for a place with Lauren James, Alessia Russo and the WSL’s player of the season, Rachel Daly.
But having fought her way back into contention, the girl from Barnsley is relishing the challenge and everything that lies ahead. “There’s an exceptional amount of competition in the striking force, as well as the whole squad really, and we’re all very excited to get out there and show the world what we can do,” she says. “It’s a different group of players [compared with the Euros] but we want to win.”
