Lionesses striker Beth England has opened up on the culture shock felt upon swapping Chelsea for relegation-threatened Tottenham and admitted feeling "wasted" by the reigning champions.
England’s selection to Sarina Wiegman’s 23-player squad for next month’s Women’s World Cup put a thrilling end to a saga surrounding the 28-year-old striker’s ostensible exile from the Lionesses after missing out on four successive international camps.
Following the summer’s 2022 European Championships triumph, at which England watched from the vantage of the bench, the former WSL Player of the Year fell further down Emma Hayes’ pecking order at Chelsea and saw her place in Wiegman’s squad slipping further away.
A shock move to relegation-threatened Tottenham in January seemed to represent England’s final roll of the dice, and the gamble transpired to be a success as England’s 11 goals in 13 Spurs appearances not only secured her new club top-flight safety but a place for herself on the plane to Australia and New Zealand.
England admitted the move from serial champions Chelsea to struggling Spurs proved a more difficult transition emotionally and tactically than she initially anticipated.
“They [Spurs] were in a position where they were struggling,” England said while at a media day with the Lionesses ahead of the World Cup. “I’d never been in a relegation battle before so that was a first for me. And I can honestly say… when you’ve got something to lose from it, it’s difficult not to let the emotional side affect you.
“For us, we were fighting day by day but at Chelsea, you’re so used to being in a position where you’re winning that I’d not been in a position like that in a long time.”
Spurs had registered a meagre 11 league goals across the season's first half, eight of which arrived in one match against Brighton. With the looming threat of relegation, England says she took on the mantle of leader but the experience also developed a profitable dimension to her game.
“I led from the front and I was trying to make things happen a lot more and not having the ball as much as I used to,” she said. “In a way it also changed part of my game that has also strengthened other parts of my game.
"So I’d say the move paid off for me, and as you would say, vindicated, but ultimately if I’d have stayed where I was, sat on the bench, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Despite a sensational start in north London, a recall into the Lionesses’ squad continued to evade England, and the striker admitted to feeling particularly aggrieved following her snub for the Lionesses' Arnold Clark Cup camp in February.
“I went and scored that goal against Manchester United from the halfway line and I think that was my 'have-some-of-that' moment, which doesn’t sound great but it was more like, I know that I’m good enough.
“Equally though, I had to balance a little bit more on not focusing too much on what was going on here because ultimately if I didn’t do the job at club level, I wouldn’t be here. So no matter what happened it was either meant to be or it wasn’t and thankfully it was.”
The sense of feeling overlooked was not a new phenomenon for England. After claiming the WSL Player of the Year award and leading Chelsea to the title in 2019-20 alongside new arrival Sam Kerr, England’s star seemed to take a tumble as Hayes opted for a single striker strategy with the Australian.
And England admits that the period of playing second fiddle was not an easy one and that her tenure at Chelsea should’ve been ended earlier than it was.
“It was a tough time in the sense that I was playing well, I was scoring. They brought Sam Kerr in halfway through the season and I built up a great relationship with Sam, and then obviously it didn’t transpire to the next season,” England said.
“[Hayes] opted for a singular No. 9 which made my chances much more difficult based on who Sam is. She’s a prolific goalscorer so it was hard to fight my way back.
“I probably overstayed a year and a half too long where I felt like I was just wasted there. It was a very difficult time, but I think I built up a lot of resilience from that and I’ve been able to take that to other scenarios in football. “
England’s resilience was namechecked by Wiegman when explaining her World Cup selection. The forward line is stacked with high-quality players and the competition for a starting place is fierce.
But England is confident that her recent exploits at Tottenham will have placed her in better stead for selection after failing to clock any minutes during Euro 2022.
“The biggest thing I would say is leading into the World Cup is that Sarina has been in a position to see me playing regularly, scoring goals,” England said. “Going into the Euros, she’d only seen snippets of it."
She added: “Hopefully I’m in a position where I showed that I can shoot right or left footed, I’m good in the air and I’m good at holding the ball up so it’s a tough decision because we’ve all got our different qualities but whomever she chooses [to play] it’s her preference.”
England face Portugal on 1 July in a friendly at MK Stadium as a final send-off before flying off to Australia and New Zealand to face Haiti on 22 July in their first group stage match.
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