Secrets From Preseason & Barcelona’s Big Worry

0:09Hello everyone, welcome to the Rest is Football Daily Brightness. Let's talk, how are you? Good, I am good. I have obviously been on pre-season tour, but we're going to speak about that in a little bit. How are you? You've been up to some exciting stuff. yeah I'm really good actually best day it's been a really busy busy like period I think after obviously after a busy summer and us doing the Euros I feel like everything was just flowing and like there's one thing after another each week like all good stuff but just things outside of football as well as pre-season and you know how tough that is and you had your launch with Mary in London tell us how that went like what is talk to us about it what is the connection to the brand how was it who was there tell me everything well you know better than anyone to be fair like the amount i've struggled with sports bras and like trying to feel supported but not in pain like the amount of games i've been through and me wearing two you you literally saw it more than anyone yeah i like to take them off when you had your shoulders strapped in world court yeah this is a story for you all world court did my shoulder thanks a lot erin cuffbert tripped me up in the game smashed my head concourse completely did my shoulder like the worst pain i've ever been in bestie to the rescue she had to do my hair she had to change my pants she had to literally dress me help me in the bath like i remember taking one of your sports bras off and i was like there's another one yeah what i've never seen that before so rage discovered that you know she was like holy crap mill you have to wear that and i had to add them so tight to be supported but anyway those days are long gone in the coffin see you later never going back um connected with Mary and yeah it's obviously been a life changer for me like that's obviously an area that I've really struggled with I it gave me so much pain in my in my shoulders and my back and like getting through games and just lifting my sports bras off so I could just go take a deep breath keep playing um so I've been working with them for quite a while now and built up a really good relationship like I love like what they stand for their values what they're trying to do in women's sport and then yeah we both kind of had this idea of creating a millie bright bra wouldn't fit me we'll get you measured don't worry bestie but i think for ages i was super embarrassed by it all for ages i changed in the toilets i used to go in the toilets put my bras on put my warm-up t-shirt on and come back like i was so embarrassed for ages and then it kind of became like a little bit of a laughing joke in the in the changing rooms and i just like joked on it i think for me that's the best way to deal with it and then obviously doing the bra and doing my bra launch it was a way for me to kind of explain that it is a problem in in women's sport and as a woman you shouldn't be ashamed of it or embarrassed or you know it's not something you should have to deal with you know what i think i i like the most about that and like the campaign that you've done and the work you've done with them it's like it's so connected to like personal to you and working with brands that want to support struggles that you've had is so uplifting like it's so good i was so happy when i saw it all come out because i was like i know i've been there i've seen you struggle and there are a lot of women that struggle with that some of the girls on my team have said oh my god like what millie's done with that brand is like is amazing like can she get me a bra like how do i get a bra and like you know it's common touch tell them to get in touch honestly it was and you know what i've over the years i've been sick to death of people saying this is the best bra like this one and honestly before i connected with marie i was like i kind of stubbed it a little bit i was like no i've heard all this before like i've been fooled so many times that my trust had completely gone i was like i'm not going to be fooled again and then i was like oh don't be stubborn mill like put that stubbornness away and then when i tried it thank god i did not be stubborn i was like holy shit this is incredible and then i started thinking of all these people that i knew were struggling anyway even like my sister like she works long hours as a nurse she's got a big chest and to be honest i've also been educated so much by marie like she's educated me so much and I was like Jesus I turned 32 on Thursday and I've learned things about female health that I've never known and I should know from a young age did you not think that I I would have wanted one yeah bestie you don't know what's coming in the post darling you just wait there sunshine it's an area that I've obviously not struggled with but I've seen you go through your struggles and also a lot of teammates that have come and gone in my life like the same sort of situation and I think it's so nice to see like it's inspiring and that someone's taken that sort of leap of faith and gone with a company like that because it's you know it's female health is so important and like i think now we're getting taught a lot more about it but these are the things that obviously don't happen in men's football and like no it's almost for men it's like it's almost like one size fits all isn't it so yeah you know it's so personal i learned that it doesn't matter what bust size you are whether you're you've got a bigger chest or a smaller chest like boob health is so important regardless you still need to be supported even if you have a smaller chest because i used to be like oh like it didn't really matter but then i was like and then maria's like no it really does matter it can affect your performance it can affect your actual like boob health as well and i was like oh my god and then she actually was the one that taught me it doesn't matter so many women neglect if they've got a smaller chest they they neglect it and they're like oh i'll be fine like i don't need it but actually you do for your own health like you you do it's so important regardless what size you are that's me that's you told to get on it now get a fitting get your damn bra well i've got all my tattoos in there the launch was sick shout out to mary yeah shout out if you've not got your bras go get them and i highly would recommend anyone out there you don't have to be a footballer by the way there's so many different models for every day i i have a bra when i'm just stretching or whatever or i've got a down day go get your fit in and also please please please take care of your boob health because it's not taboo all women have boobs taboo it's not taboo like that bestie catchy right moving on where talk about your pre-season tour where did you go we went to holland oh my god it was absolutely roasting bestie i was dying i was dying in that heat i could not go i can just imagine you every then so hot our our herding sheep did you see me no in sheep i've seen some alpacas they were spitting at us though they were spitting me and becky spencer went for a little bike ride and they were spitting we were like what are they doing but um it was really really nice like we've obviously got a lot of new players a lot of change we were still missing quite a few players as well so it was a really good tour to get some minutes in and and kind of push on as a group but also just have that when you go on tour like everyone's you're together all day every day so you really like sometimes it forces you to come together a little bit when you're home you go to training you train you're tired you come home you do your own thing you escape everyone whereas on tour it kind of pushes you together yeah like we had this ping pong game where you you put this song on i don't even know what the song is the girls were playing it one night and i was like bloody hell what's all that racket next night i were playing it you all move around but you have to hit it over drop that yeah and then but they have this certain song and i don't know what it is but we get so competitive like we're proper rowdy so then they're the moments that pull you together i love that yeah start learning about each other and people like let the walls down and characters start showing and personalities come out so tour is like massively important but it was hard hot and hard like my god i was dead but where did you go yours look really nice by the way you're in some like castle so we went to a chateau in france i agree with you i think they're so important like we've obviously got a few new players in and this is the first one i've been on where everyone's together because obviously people usually come in at different times and i missed a couple with villa for like not being you know being away on camps and stuff in tournaments but i found that it was so important to have everyone there because like you said like if you come in at training right you can come in at any time in a window for breakfast or whatever so you you kind of almost sit with the same people but like there it's just you wake up you go to breakfast you sit with whoever's there yeah you're sitting with different people like you learn so much more about people that you've already known and you get to really know the personalities and and stuff of the the new players and our new players have come in and fit in seamlessly so that's it's really nice to have them with us but we're the same as you like one day we just set up randomly like literally after dinner we're like right anyone want to play rounders like football rounders and we had this massive field so we just literally got like staff players involved barefoot playing like football rounders me sarah ellie roebuck and one of our new players lucia patsy like all them played we all played spike ball like we're absolutely obsessed with spike ball now so we played that for hours and it was so hot i literally was drenched you can imagine me like goalkeeper yeah but yeah it was good we had a good game against psg yeah i've seen that really yeah yeah so it was really nice to be with everyone um spend some good quality time with them and the weather was nice and yeah it was good overall we really really enjoyed it nice anything happening outside of football how's the family everyone good how's my lulu yeah she's good i haven't been able to get back we literally got back on like late saturday had sunday after we're back in again monday so i've not had time i'll see her next week i think so that'll be nice lulu just if you're listening this is for you you will be coming on the podcast at some point darling you'll have to pin her down alright what about you how's your family everyone good yeah Albie's so funny he's literally I'm just going to show you a picture actually he's at that age now where he's just so chatting do you know what bestie he's got the cutest little northern accent ever like proper little northern accent now yeah he did have fun before when I remember last time I saw him I was like oh he's proper Yorkshire oh my god look at him he had my mum's glasses on earlier look at him and he's always he's yeah he's just so he's at like such a fun like fun age like the boys are like getting so big now sisters are really good dad's busy as ever mum and dad have finally moved into their dream house yeah honestly it's so sick I don't know how my dad does it I honestly do not the man is like Hercules he literally is Hercules oh I actually have to tell you a funny story that we did on our pre-season tour right so when shit was hitting the fan last year when we were just losing all the time and then we turned like those last five games when we were winning the night before the first game that we won against liverpool lucy stan and patsy did a quiz and it was like not a normal quiz like it was a funny quiz like yeah they'd like dive into your instagram from like 2010 and like whose caption was this just absolutely stitched you up and they did like challenges in it and stuff it was so good so they did one again but this time like staff were involved and everything but before we went they did like a you know you do a secret center you like draw someone out the hat and yeah you've got them and you had to pick them an outfit yeah i've seen you dressing up yours looks so good did you see sarah's allergy outfit so she got an allergy outfit and so did natalia our manager and they both rocked up with this allergy i was absolutely crying but it was fun because it was just like everyone took part you're wearing literally like one of our male staff was in like a bodycon leopard dress like like you could stitch as much as you want or like dress them up as what you think they'd like so that was stuff like that sorry i had to jump back because i just thought it was stuff like that that like that's what makes the trip so and that's what makes you look back that's what we used to say about the auras like it makes everything like we did loads of challenges like on the golf course on the volleyball because when you talk about that you'll go oh my god remember you did that like remember that happened so we had some initiations to be fair we smashed it like out the park to be fair was so good we had like a big barbecue and then initiations came um so yeah it was was pretty sick to be fair but i'm i'm always happy to come home you know i'm like same i miss my dogs i miss my love you all love you all but like get me back nobody speeds me for 24 hours yeah and do you know what i really miss my car when i'm away i miss driving i got in the car at the training ground i was like oh god i feel like i'm not driving months yeah then i just go for like little drives and I'm like I go the longest route to training the longest route home because I'm just like I just I miss driving driving is like my escape it sets me up for the day I get my music on I completely agree we were just a bit weird aren't we yeah just a bit weird on that note let's head for a break we're just on the same page bestie we'll be back soon guys see you soon

12:52welcome back to the rest is football daily brightness with the new season fast approaching we thought we'd chat about some general news from the world of women's football. Millie, what do you think about the Ballon d 'Or as an award? Is it something you think people think about? I think it's personal preference. I've definitely seen a mixture in this and I've experienced a mixture in terms of some people are like, I don't chase that. Speaking from my experience and my opinion, I would never chase individual awards. I just believe that if you do well for your team and of course individual performance is important but I've never, yeah, it's never been like at the top of my list like I would much rather like win the team trophies and if that comes off the back of it then fantastic and I think it naturally would if you're successful especially at Ballon d 'Or if you're successful for club and country because that's what the Ballon d 'Or is, you know, you've got to be the best in all domains and you're literally crowned the best like club, country, everything that you participate in, you're the best and I think if you do that naturally you know the Ballon d 'Or is a standout player for both and if you do that and you succeed and you're winning and you're like someone that the team relies on then naturally for me you'd you'd be on that list and you'd be in with a shot of winning but then I also meet people that are like I want to win the Ballon d 'Or some people strive for it some people don't some people think oh it'll come with the team stuff some people like I want to win the Ballon d 'Or and that will be their motivation to then do well with the team so it really is like individual to be honest like I don't know what your your it really is there's no right or wrong I think the same to be honest I think obviously when I was nominated for it I was like oh my god that is sick it is really special isn't it yeah because it is probably the best individual award you can get yeah and if you want to be successful like you want to win everything don't you so I get that but yeah I'm the same like I was just like well if I got it sick if I don't whatever on to the next one yeah I'm excited to say I don't think I could like falter from what you've just said I'm very much like I wouldn't ever retire and be like oh I feel like I've failed my career and my legacy because I've not won the Ballon d 'Or like I wouldn't if I've won all the team stuff I'm like tick I've done like I've ticked it off do you know what I mean yeah I think the one thing that is like really cool out of this is that Michelle Adjouman nominated for the obviously the best under 21 player which I think is massive because that is huge at that age to come up and do what she did obviously was massive and the season that she's had hardly any like not even a debut like no camps yeah exactly and I think that's that's an important one for me I'd absolutely love to see her win that because I think she's had such a good year and I'm actually glad for her that she's gone back on loan to Brighton again because I think that game experience is is going to be massive for her this year I was a little bit concerned that she was going to stay and then not play.

15:41Yeah. There's so much hype around her that, you know, I'm sure she's absolutely massively valued by Arsenal, but... You need to be playing as a youngster. Yeah, exactly. Like, the amount of players that they've got now, like, top quality players that the rotation's obviously going to be a lot more. I think for her, the biggest thing coming off the back of this tournament and the season she's had is minutes, regular minutes. Yeah. Getting in the league. Definitely. Getting your name about there again and, like, just keep working on it. Just gaining experience as well. Like, she'll be playing against top top players like week in week out and also make yourself a known player exactly the key is to not just like get your name in the euros and then sort of fizzle out like you want to be playing regularly you want to push yourself you want to experience the league at different levels as well as just at the top so yeah i think that's important for her to be honest you want your team to be begging you to come back you want to go out have the season of your life and be like i'm ready like after the season i'm ready and then they say come on back and then you get in the team that that is the aim like I think that's probably the hard thing with loans as well is not everybody uses them to maybe the best of their abilities or it doesn't quite go the way that they want it to go but you make it what you want it to be do you know what I mean so you look at somebody like Aggie going on loan to Everton like you make it what you do is the best example Grace Clinton like there's players that go out on loan and they don't see it as a negative it's like right here's my opportunity I'm going to take it with both hands this is my team and that's another thing that's quite hard I think for loan players is making the team that you've signed for your team because obviously you've still got that connection to your parent club but I think you get out of it what you put in I think and I think these types of players have done really well with that so wish her the best of luck any youngsters out there if you're going out on loan use it wish her the best of luck but not in the first game of the season because it's against me no up the villa up the villa that's so weird That's in there.

17:31That is so weird because literally I'm just like doodling on this paper. I won't show you my doodles because they're just wild. But it literally says, wait. Up the villa. Moving on. What do you think about this situation with Barcelona? Because I think it's wild. Because if you don't know what's happening, it's a deteriorating situation at Barcelona. one of Europe's elite women's teams. The club across men's and women's teams has$1 billion debt and has spent more than they're allowed to by La Liga on wages. So to reduce the wage bill and save money, the women's team has lost six players so far this summer with more expected to leave.

18:15Such an established club. They have signed some of the best players in the world over the last few years and now they've just got to get rid of them all for the sake of the men. and I think that is where women's football is nowhere near it needs to be for that reason alone because it doesn't make sense to me this team wins the Champions League they win La Liga because of that they signed some of the best players in the world and now it's just like off you pop because we can't afford you they lead with the crowds in things that are really important in women's football not only attraction of players and quality and winning but they lead with the crowds you've seen the Barca fans in crowds and games and like they've I feel like they were the first to do everything so it's like you've now taken that away and you're potentially affecting what effect that has on the wider game anything that any team does in the women's game yeah you're not just doing it for yourself you're representing the whole of the women's community like that's what people don't understand like this is like when we speak about how good like Arsenal get their crowds in the WSL like they're representing the WSL of women's football because it's out there they've beaten another start they've broken another record then someone else edges back up and it's like a domino effect that's why it's so important so like this could be like really detrimental not only to them which it's going to be like what they got 17 signed players they can't register anymore they have been such a dominant like powerhouse in the world of women's football like they're so consistently good but at the same time it's like as well like think about the players like they're just getting shipped off left and right because they can't afford to keep them like they've built their lives there some of them are born and raised there you're talking Barcelona like you're not talking a random small club that can't afford you anymore it's like I'm one of the biggest in the game even players going on on a free it's mad look at Rolfo going Man United on a free like imagine the calibre of player like you'd be expecting a big transfer fee for that you'd be expecting cash like it's a shame it makes me sad to see it yeah i don't i don't understand it and again these are these are things that shouldn't be front news like they shouldn't be making like articles like this shouldn't even be a topic of conversation like it shouldn't be but it is so that's a problem so we have to analyze it and look into it and figure out what the hell has gone wrong because like this can't be happening like it it just can't it's ridiculous i don't understand i don't get it i don't get it I don't get it.

20:46Someone please explain. So let's raise that with some positive. Gratitude time. Are we going to do one? All right, let's do one. My thing I'm the most grateful for this week is my bed. Right? Where are we sitting in France? I knew you were going to say that. I knew it. The beds are so soft, which, fine. Some people love soft beds, but you know me and my back. I can't have that. Honestly, Millie, I've been waking up every morning like, oh god i can't get one i'm like it's killing me and i got in my bed the other night when i got back and i thought oh my heaven god i will never take you for granted ever again i went out but just because i went out bought new bedding washed it ironed it oh can't beat fresh bed i knew you were gonna say that so my bed i'm so grateful for you i love you my gratitude is my journal nice i've been very consistent i've been yeah just really zoning in every morning doing my journal and also when i journal like before we've spoke about it before but it's like it's positive things to work on things that affected me things that are troubling me like it's a real mixture of everything and i've been really conscious to um to make sure that it's not just heavily focused on things that are going wrong or like emotions that like are quite overwhelming or taking over me see gratitude you're showing things what you're grateful for yes i know this would be a good addition to the pod something you'll be proud of me for i am staying very consistent with my counseling i'm not ashamed to put it out there so that is yeah really really helping and i would suggest anyone that is struggling or has struggled or if you even if you don't feel like you're struggling but things are just getting a little bit overwhelming and don't let it get bad like counseling has been like such a blessing and it's really really hard though i'm not gonna lie i don't think people speak about that enough and how actually hard it is but that's my other gratitude my counseling session love that proud of you for that i've been i've been putting it off for far too long um i'm proud of you for doing that stepped into the world of that so yeah really good gratitude this week guys but that is it for the rest of this football daily brightness we hope you enjoyed we are back in flow we will also be back on thursday with a q a episode so get in your questions as always thank you for listening in thank you for those that have already subscribed if you haven't get it done what you're waiting around for we know you love us goodbye from me have a wonderful week and goodbye from me thanks for listening we're back