“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.
