I wonder how many times and privately thought ‘**** this’.
As they stood drenched at the side of a busy road waiting to be picked up in a rickety minibus.
As they scrambled for hand-me-down equipment when they were actually playing for a ‘professional’ club. As they were treated to another ignorant comment or unfair comparison.
Both retire from their playing careers on the crest of a wave, in a place that would have been seen as pure fantasy when they both first pulled on the Three Lions jersey in 2006 and 2010 respectively. European champions. Sold-out Wembley. More than 17million in the UK alone watching live.
As the eulogies are written on their careers, that afternoon on July 31, 2022 will shout louder than the rest, when Chloe Kelly poked home from close range and the a little as I watched from 100 miles away.
However, it’s the thousands upon thousands of other days that ensures their place as immortals of English women’s football.
Leaving everything out on the pitch, for club or country, only to grab a quick shower and a sneaky nap before heading straight out to their ‘day’ jobs.
Writing for the Players Tribune this week, Scott remarked: ‘If you don’t love it, you don’t last. You can’t. The dream is what sustains you.’
It’s a great quote, but talking to myself on BBC5 Live, their former team-mate for club and country, Izzy Christiansen, pointed out that, actually, they were, in their earlier days, ‘chasing a dream that didn’t exist.’
She’s right, and it makes the trail Scott and White played such an important role in blazing all the more inspiring.
The amount of times they made the same metaphorical run only to yet again be denied the delivery they deserved, even though they were in the perfect position long before the sporting world caught up.
To say Scott and White have gone out on a high is the understatement of the year. The Grateful Dead went out on less of a high than these two.
However, the lowest of lows must, undoubtedly, have gone toe-to-toe with the highest of highs, only the cameras weren’t there to film them.
I don’t want to clog this column up with stats but Scott has more caps than a JD Sports – second highest in English football history – and White is the all-time top female England goalscorer, with more successful strikes than the RMT. Fifty-two goals from 113 caps.
It goes without saying they leave an enormous legacy and big shoes to fill but it does feel like the right time. All those cliches about going out on on top, for sure, but it’s more the natural transition of this England squad.
Experience remains, but the younger players already cement an undoubtedly exciting road ahead, without the need for reset or rebuild. Alessia Russo, Lauren Hemp, Ella Toone… and the list goes on.
At the Euros, we saw that balance. Those who had been there before, like Jill and Ellen, who carried the demons square on their shoulders, and those younger players, still all wrapped up in fate and fearlessness.
As captain , still only 25, said, side of the pitch at Wembley just minutes after the final whistle: ‘We talk and we talk and we talk and we’ve finally done it.
‘It’s about being on the pitch and I tell you what: the kids are alright.’
The future is bright – not just on the pitch but off it too – because the likes of Scott and White will never be lost to football.
Are you kidding me? It’s in their blood. I don’t care what they say. Whether they end up settling on our TV screens or maybe even wearing the Three Lions again from the technical area, they are far from done.
, .
,  and .
