For most football fans, the name Jack Marshall would be of no significance. But for the Tottenham forward Lenna Gunning-Williams the name is synonymous with the start of a compelling – and unorthodox – journey into the world of professional football.
Unlike most professional players in the modern game, the 20-year-old did not get her first taste of academy football until her mid-teens. Instead, she spent the earliest stages of her career juggling grassroots football with an acting job. Between the ages of 11 and 16 Gunning-Williams played a leading role in the hit CBBC football drama Jamie Johnson. Her character, Jack Marshall, was a young girl vying with the boys while dreaming of going pro – something that resonated with the actor herself. “I feel like we actually kind of relate, being young, growing up in football with boys. Our journeys are similar,” the England Under-23s international says as we sit down at Spurs’ training ground.
