‘Would you say it to someone’s face?’ Ellen White on going from player to pundit

For a generation of England fans she was the talismanic striker the nation could always rely on to find the net at a major tournament, scoring a record 52 goals for the Lionesses across her 113 caps. But now that it is her turn to live through the stress and tension of watching games, Ellen White personifies what she has always been deep down: an England fan.

“I’m a nail-biter, I’m horrible [to watch a match with], I’m grabbing people, shoving people, I’m really kind of fully invested because I want the best for the team, I’m always rooting for them,” White says, as she reflects on her successful transition to working as a TV pundit and, particularly, covering the Euro 2025 triumph of Sarina Wiegman’s team, trying to use her own understanding of what the players are enduring to bring a fairness to her analysis.

“When you’ve lived it and breathed it and you know what that feels like, hearing that [potential criticism] from maybe a player or someone that you know, it’s about having that fine balance of ‘would you feel comfortable saying it to someone’s face?’, whatever you’re saying in front of the camera or punditry. And if you would, then you feel maybe OK in saying that out loud on live TV.”

The 37-year-old, speaking exclusively to the Guardian last month, on a special night for her and her family upon being inducted into hall of fame at the National Football Museum in Manchester, recalled getting “goosebumps, complete joy and feeling very lucky” every time she represented her country.

Her broadcasting work also drew praise from the museum’s chief executive, Tim Desmond, who said White has been “representing football with warmth, intelligence and integrity”. He hailed her as “one of the defining figures in the modern era of English football” when commenting on her inclusion into the hall of fame, which was first established in 2002 and relaunched in 2019 with a commitment to achieve 50% representation of women in the game.

White described her induction as a “real honour and privilege”, saying: “When you’re playing it’s hard to reflect but, since I’ve retired, it’s been so nice to look back. I feel like you don’t really comprehend it when you’re in the moment [but] to have seen two parts of the women’s game’s growth, at the start and now the trajectory, it’s really special.”

White’s career overlapped the professionalisation of the women’s game in England and straddled the commercial breakthroughs made in modern times, progressing from Arsenal’s academy to spells at Chelsea, Leeds Carnegie, a return to Arsenal and then stints at Notts County, Birmingham City and Manchester City. As a Birmingham player she won the Women’s Super League Golden Boot in the 2017-18 campaign, a year after helping the club to reach the FA Cup final, in a spell she looks back on with particular pride, with it coming before the more recent rises in viewing figures for the women’s game.

“I really developed there under Marc Skinner and his coaching and the assistants as well. I was scoring quite freely, we had a great team behind us, a real connection.”

Reflecting on the 2019 World Cup, where she was the joint top scorer with six goals to help propel England to the semi-finals, she says: “That was where I felt probably at the peak of my powers. It was an amazing tournament.

“Phil Neville came into the England job and he really believed in me. I feel like for a number of years, maybe previously to him coming in, I was moved around a little bit. So I was maybe the seven, the 11, maybe, in the No 9 role, but he came in and he was like: ‘You’re my No 9.’

“It seems really simple, but having that belief and being like, ‘you are my No 9’, similar to what Sarina Wiegman [said to me], for someone to believe in you like that, you want to play well for them. And we had a great team. And the delivery, the passes, the connections we had. Everything just was simple. I wasn’t overthinking anything and it was just happening.”

White, who also pointed to the former Notts County manager Rick Passmoor as well as the former England coaches Hope Powell and Mo Marley for helping to develop her game, enjoyed her greatest success under Wiegman, starting all six matches as England won the 2022 European Championship on home soil, in her last matches before retirement. Now she is hoping to watch England’s record scorer across both men’s and women’s football, Harry Kane, lift a trophy this summer.

Hailing Kane as “one of the best finishers in the game”, she says: “His technical ability, of being able to come a little bit deeper, and his passing range, just his quality and calmness in finishing, and playing that high level for so long and still be able to perform, well, he’s an unbelievable finisher.

“[I admire] his leadership because he’s got the whole nation on his shoulders as well. And he’s having to really lead that team. And that takes a lot mentality-wise and it can be really draining. So for him to still be able to perform while having everything else to deal with as well is so impressive.”

White is also confident that England – who will face Greece in the first round of the playoffs in October – can shine at the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next summer, saying: “I’m really hopeful because we’ve got a great group and Sarina knows the right recipe.

“[They’ll have] had a summer off [this summer] so I feel like they’ll be rested and ready for a big season ahead. They’ve got more than enough to go all the way, but they’ve got some very, very good countries that they’re going to come up against. Sarina knows what it takes so we’ve got someone at the helm that just is so well established and knows the right ingredients for what works.”

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