So, how does a young girl go from kicking a ball around the streets of Bootle to a Champions League and European Championship winner?
“That’s a good question, I don’t know,” Alex Greenwood, who has done just that, tells the ECHO when asked.
Having progressed through the youth ranks at Everton, the defender has gone on to represent Notts County, Liverpool, Manchester United, Lyon and currently plays for Manchester City. It has been quite the rise for the former Savio Salesian pupil.
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One of Liverpool's finest-ever female footballers, Greenwood even has murals of herself across Merseyside. Her status as one of the city’s top sporting talents was further elevated during the summer when England became European champions.
Greenwood is a champion of Europe and a champion of the women’s game itself, and even though she grew up - and still is - a Liverpool supporter, the other club across Stanley Park holds a special place in her heart.
“It was crucial. It was the most important part of where I am today. I came up from the age of five or six at Everton,” Greenwood replies when asked about the Blues.
“For me, it was just the core values of having respect for people and learning my trade that way. Mo Marley was a massive influence in my life and so was Keith [Marley] as well at the same time, and Andy Spence as well.
“I was brought up around really good people, who invested a lot of their time in me. But Everton for me was really massive and it was like a family.
“Obviously, it wasn’t the club I supported growing up, but I have so much respect for that club and everything they have done for me.”
When the retirement of Mo Marley from coaching was announced by the Football Association back in 2020, those involved in the game queued up to pay tribute to the outgoing Queen of women’s football. Greenwood was one of those to pay tribute to the former Everton boss, and, as she explains, Marley, and her husband Keith, turned out to be much more than football coaches to her.
“Her and Keith went above and beyond for me. If I couldn’t get to training they would be outside my house picking me up,” she recalls.
“Sometimes it was difficult for my mum and dad to get me there if they had work or I wasn’t able to get to a game on a Saturday or a Sunday, they were as close as family for me.
“I could go to them with anything and rely on them for so many things. If I needed a shoulder to lean on, they were there.”
When the 2014 season culminated in Everton's relegation, Greenwood requested to leave in order to protect her national team place ahead of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. And although she acknowledges it was a decision she was left with very little choice to make, that didn’t stop Greenwood from feeling like she was letting people down by leaving a club that had did so much for her.
“I felt like I was letting people down. I think at the time I left, Everton had just been relegated to the Championship and selfishly at some point in my career you kind of have to be selfish a little bit,” she recalls.
“It was only at that point that I realised I had to be. I knew I had to move on. It wasn’t the ideal situation. I kind of got myself where to go at Everton and I didn’t really see myself continuing to propel forward staying there purely because we had been relegated.
“Mo had just left and it was a really difficult job for Andy to take on. It was a really tough time at the club and we were probably going through a transition.
“I just felt like I needed a challenge and something new. I needed to grow up a little bit and move away from home. It was difficult and wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made.”
But if leaving Everton was one of the hardest decisions she has had to make, then joining Liverpool was one of the easiest calls of her career. But after 44 appearances and six goals, Greenwood was released by the Reds at the end of the 2017/18 season.
“When I knew the interest was there from Liverpool, it was a no brainer, I knew I was going,” she tells the ECHO. “First and foremost it was going home. To me, Liverpool will always be home. The club I have grown up supporting and still support to this day.
“Like now if you ask me who my heroes are I refer back to Liverpool players. Going there was the easiest decision ever but what it turned out to be wasn’t what I kind of anticipated it or wanted it to be.
“I have no regrets about going there because it was the best decision I could have made at that moment.”
Straddling the Merseyside divide is one thing, but Greenwood went a step further in the summer of 2018 when she joined Manchester United. The full-back, as captain, helped United win the Championship and gain promotion to the FA WSL in their debut season.
But for someone, who by her own admission was brought up to hate everything about the Old Trafford club, wearing a United shirt often not only left her, but also her family, with mixed feelings.
“I was brought up to dislike Manchester United. It is true and it is part of the culture. I grew up on the streets of Liverpool,” she tells the ECHO.
“I used to go to the Liverpool vs United games and copy my dad and mate and shout things and then next minute I look down and I am wearing a Manchester United shirt.
“For a lot of my family it was tough. Obviously making that decision, I did that all into consideration. Every decision I have ever made in my career has always been about that moment. It felt right and a lot of factors lead into that.
“The manager at the time, Casey Stoney, was perfect for me to take that next stage of development. To be captain and have that sense of responsibility was something I hadn’t before and needed at that stage of my career.
“I don’t regret playing for Manchester United. It was a brilliant experience and we did so many wonderful things.
“But I am not going to lie, I did have to have a moment sometimes when I looked down and realised that I was pulling on a Manchester United shirt.”
A move to Lyon then followed for Greenwood, who, during her time with the French club, won a quadruple of trophies including the Champions league. She then returned to England and joined what she describes as the 'perfect' club for her in the shape of City.
Greenwood firmly cemented herself as a national treasure during the summer. The Lionesses star helped Sarina Wiegman's team to Euro 2022 glory, replacing Rachel Daly with two minutes of normal time remaining in the 2-1 extra-time final win over Germany at Wembley.
“Still now it feels so weird because it feels like it was such a long time ago, it feels like so much has happened,” she recalls to the ECHO.
“I probably still haven’t had a moment to sit there and go, this is what we did. Off the pitch it has changed, in life I have noticed a massive difference that way.
“In terms of taking in all the moments and we spoke about it on camp in our meet up and all the memories come flooding back. Without a doubt winning a trophy with the country is one of the best moments you can have in football.
“It was a really, really special 12 weeks of my life and to be surrounded by that group of girls was just a pleasure, and it was well deserved that we went on to win it.
“I think the way we coped with situations and the way we handled certain situations, I don’t think I have ever been around a group of players or staff that have been willing to win that much.”
But if you wondered how the England team were feeling ahead of the biggest game of their lives, then what Greenwood discloses next might surprise supporters across the country.
“Do you want me to be dead honest with you? I couldn’t even sense one nerve in the camp, and it is generally the truth,” she reveals to the ECHO.
“If you sat every single player down and asked how camp was the night before, I’ve never been around a more relaxed group of players in my life.
“Even the morning of the game. We were at breakfast and I had a moment where I just thought we were playing at Wembley tonight in the Euros final.
“If you took a moment to look around the group, nothing changed. We did every single bit of preparation the same. But of course you know yourself about the magnitude of the game you are about to play and what could come of it if you win or you lose.
“I think we were so well prepared, we went into that game knowing if we go in with the same mindset we had the last five previous games, we will win. I don’t think there was any doubt we weren’t good enough to win that game.”
The people of Liverpool love getting behind their own. No matter what the sport, Scousers love seeing others from the city excel. And it was no different in the summer as Greenwood chased European glory.
“As a Scouser yourself, you know what it is like. If a fellow Scouser does well in whatever sport it is we take pride in that,” she tells the ECHO.
“Like if I watch the boxing or the footy and Scouser is in the team, I always want the Scouser to do well. That is just where we are from and what we are like as people.
“We believe in each other and we want each other to do well. But for a woman from Liverpool and from Bootle I took so much pride in being a Scouser and putting my name on the map.
“The upbringing that I have had, I haven’t had a hard upbringing, but we know what it is like, it is not easy, you have got to be tough and work hard. Like I say, the support from home is always the best.”
And when asked what might come after football, Greenwood, not content with having spent her whole life in the game, is keen to remain involved in the sport.
“I have some ideas of what I want to do, but I wouldn’t say it is certain at the moment. I think I definitely want to stay in the game as I think I have a lot to offer to football,” she reveals.
“In terms of coaching and stuff, I’d love to coach at a club and I would love to give opportunities to girls who want to look up to me and ask me questions.
“There are other sides of it where I am really interested in the media. I watch Carra [Jamie Carragher] on Monday Night Football and I love the way he expresses himself and the way he speaks.
“I watch a lot of football and I’m really interested in the technical and tactical side of things and figuring things out.
“At the moment there is no definite thing of what I want to do, but I know I definitely want to stay in the game and try and give something back to the game that has provided me with so many opportunities.”
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