Chelsea get back to their best, abandoning FA Cup format changes, and a chat with Oxford United’s Maddison Millington-Stanbury!

0:03Rachel: Welcome to Upfront, I'm Chloe Morgan.

0:05Chloe: And I'm Rachel O'Sullivan.

0:06Rachel: A cup weekend full of stories. Chelsea got a confidence-boosting win against a tough Man United side. How important will this prove ahead of a very intense march for them? Then excitingly, we've got an interview with Oxford United goalkeeper Maddison Millington-Stanbury. We'll be finding out about her journey in the game, life at Oxford, and receiving an autism diagnosis as a professional footballer. Finally, the controversial FA Cup revamp has been put on hold. This is the kind of drama that we want to get stuck into, and we will. So we're going to dissect what's not changing and why. Rach, a lot of things to get through this weekend, but I'm feeling rather smug with myself.

0:50Rachel: I'm currently sat in a cabin in the arse end of nowhere, taking some time away from football, but obviously... Yeah, I'm in the fucking studio. Yeah, not a load of time away from football, because obviously I'm still showing up, being present for you, like the third person in my relationship, you know, producer Charlie somewhere in and around there. It's quite intense in the studio. Yeah, we're all in the studio. Yeah, it's really, really nice to kind of just, yeah, just take a break from everything, you know. So, yeah, it's been lovely. Thanks for asking. Lots of fresh air. I've managed to get a word in, yes.

1:18Rachel: Wholesome walks, lots of, you know, the fire, there's a bathtub outside. It's been lovely. Yeah, really just a people weekend. and I appreciate your interest in that. Delighted. So yeah. How's life in the studio, mate?

1:33Chloe: Empty. Yeah. Yeah. Boring without me. I sat here at a table on my own.

1:40Rachel: Yeah. Nice.

1:42Chloe: Tell you what my sound quality is. Perfect.

1:46Rachel: Yeah, you do sound good. You do sound really, really good. You're only positive. There we go. There's a silver lining to every crowd. But I will be back next weekend. I will be back and we can reunite and sort of enjoy each other's brothers again?

1:59Chloe: I'll be in Ireland, so you enjoy the studio, Gal.

2:03Rachel: Right, great. All right, well, we'll see each other soon. Right, what is your moment of the weekend?

2:09Chloe: I'm going to, a bit like a carbon copy of last weekend when I think I picked getting that LJ photo. I got a really great Sam Kerr photo this weekend. She had just received a commemorative, like 150th shirt just before the game. She came on in the 72nd minute and scored in the 78th. And there were some lovely celebrations. And then LJ like pushed her towards the crowd and was basically like, go have your moment. And she came and did like the love heart and eyes looking through the love heart. And I got the perfect shot. And that was game five of six. I'm doing six games in six days. And that was game five of six.

2:45Chloe: And I tell you what, I was so tired and I was not as sharp as I normally am. So when you get something like that, you're like, okay, this is worthwhile. This is why I do it. So that's my moment of the weekend. What about you? Yours is quite wholesome.

2:57Rachel: Yeah, obviously there's been so much drama across the FA Cup and I have been aware a little bit. But I want to share a little bit of like a personal moment because I had this, so basically our current social media person left us last week to go and have an amazing job at the FA covering the Lionesses socials and it's just like the biggest achievement for her. She really deserves it. She's been amazing in sort of growing subs channels, etc, etc. But the person that we've got in is someone that I've had loads of contact with over like the last year or so. she came to the kick it out raise your game which is like a bit of a speed dating like speed networking type situation when you've got like loads of people in the industry who meet up with these youngsters who are looking to get a foothold and you know they're asking for advice you know how they can kind of make their mark in the industry and she was one of these people I kept bumping into was so enthusiastic it was at all of these events kept sending me her cv kept messaging and saying you know are there any opportunities and lo and behold we offered her the full-time position as being our social media person at sab sort of in a permanent position and I cannot tell you the reaction that she had was so wholesome it was like she'd won the world cup and kind of scored the winning goal it was like everything that she'd ever wanted and manifested had kind of come true for her and um yeah so this lovely moment she went outside to kind of call her parents and tell her what happened but it was just such a wholesome moment to kind of um to share in someone's journey like that and to kind of have a situation that you know someone given an opportunity because um yeah I've had countless moments like that in my own career where people have just said oh like fuck it we'll give it a go she's a bit of a liability I've known to always be a bit of a risk, but yeah, we'll take a punt on her and you sort of end up sort of in the current situation.

4:28Rachel: So yeah, really, really super, super lovely moment for me. So yeah, it's been nice. It's been very wholesome. Not so wholesome. Man United being kicked out of the FA Cup. Chelsea winning the game 2-1. They have obviously advanced now to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup. A very, very tight game that needed to go into extra time. This felt like old Chelsea. It felt like the Blues were back in business. The mentality monsters that we go on about, they had the majority possession at Kings Meadows, 63.2%. Had more shots, 23 to United's 14. But then the goal, obviously the game remained completely goal-less for 78 minutes until Sam Kerr scored an absolute frigging wildy that we'll get stuck into.

5:10Rachel: But Rach, up until this point, it kind of felt like the win was coming for Chelsea. There was dominance, there was a passion and excitement in Chelsea that I think we've kind of seen them be a bit lacklustre in the last few weeks' performances. But for me, this kind of felt like United were on the back foot for a fair bit of this one.

5:29Chloe: Yeah, I mean, it wasn't the most amazing game of football, but I do think Chelsea deserved to win it. I think United looked a bit leggy, they looked a bit tired. I think they maybe made one change from their game midweek, which had been that kind of Atletico game was actually quite a fun game because obviously United were 3-0 up. Atletico had to come out fighting from the get-go, which I think United predicted. So they kind of came out in the front foot as well, and it was quite like a high intensity, particularly in the first half. So it kind of felt they looked a little bit tired, a little bit flat, and Chelsea were maybe able to capitalise on that a little bit.

6:06Chloe: I think Fallon Tullis-Joyce you know kept United in it in that first half she made some some amazing saves and yeah there was that kind of feeling of inevitability where you kind of knew Chelsea were going to get it over the line I think as the game went on I expect them to maybe clinch it a bit sooner I expect them to maybe win it in in normal time I did think you know and Sophie said this to me pre-match she was like I think it's going to be tight for 60-70 minutes she called it Chelsea, yeah, that Chelsea did win it. It's almost like she knows what she's talking about. So yeah, I maybe didn't expect it to take so long, but it was fascinating how United didn't create loads, but scored three minutes after Chelsea scored, which is like, what a reaction to be fair in that respect.

6:53Chloe: But it did just feel like Chelsea were going to get it at some point. So yeah, from that respect, I understand the kind of feeling like the old Chelsea.

7:00Rachel: Yeah, definitely. I think, I mean, they definitely had the better chances. I mean, you look at like in the eight minutes, You've got, you know, Thompson, who else? Early effort on that right-hand side. Again, amazing save from Fallon Tullis-Joyce, just pushing it outside the post. And then you've got that, I think it was the 31st, 32nd minute. You've got Canerid finding that space on the right-hand side, driving to the byline, cheeky little cutback for Cuthbert, and then amazing strike. God knows how Fallon Tullis-Joyce has got down. The reactions, because the ball went straight through. It was about four or five bodies.

7:28Rachel: She didn't see it until right at the very last minute. And then she's got the athleticism kind of dive and like pull off again. And worldy saves kind of tip it past the post. And then you've got, I think it's just before half time or so, you've got Lauren James then picking up the ball from that amazing Walsh pass. And then you've got another great save from Phallus Talas-Joyce. That kind of, it looked like it kind of ricocheted off her shin and kind of went over the bar. And then I absolutely rate the kind of, she's just so proactive. Like she kept United in the game. I mean, it could have easily been 3-0 up, 4-0 up by that time.

7:58Rachel: But it just felt like the better chances were with Chelsea. I didn't feel that United were massively flat. I mean, they still had a couple of opportunities, you know, Jess Park hitting the post, but for me, it kind of felt like Chelsea just looked too strong and maybe this has hit Man United at a point where they are a little bit weakened by the fact that they've had these additional games at this point in the season. But yeah, I thought it was, it wasn't the best game football I've ever seen, but it was just very conclusive that it felt like Chelsea were going to walk away from it. And then you've got 99th minute, Naomi Girma scoring the winner this is her first goal for Chelsea since joining the club in January last year for that record breaking 1.1 million dollar transfer fee yeah but I don't think it was a bit of a scrappy one it was kind of one of those balls in the box, it's kind of bouncing around a little bit and it's just about to get a toe punt on it and obviously the crowd have gone wild, it kind of looks like it's going to be the winner it doesn't feel like United are going to really get themselves back into it did you feel like there was any kind of resurgence from United because it felt like there was a resurgence after the first goal but not necessarily after the second goal it felt like the game was done in a way not really up until the death where I think

9:08Chloe: they got a couple of corners and Fallon Tullis Joyce took off took off up the pitch I've never seen her move so fast and I do love when a goalkeeper goes up so that was probably at the end point where you thought okay is it going to happen but it just felt like when the ball would recycle back out and it would it just what you could just tell by the way the ball was landing and where it was coming out to and you'd have Mela Tizzy with a free kick and it was just a bit like, oh, this is not going our way. So it did feel like there wasn't a huge kind of huge opportunities where I thought, oh my God, this is going to go to penalties.

9:38Chloe: So yeah, it was a deserved win for Chelsea, I think. An important win for them.

9:42Rachel: Yeah, definitely. And then you've also got Katisha Buchanan playing her first game after 469 days out injured. She injured her ACL in November 2024. Let's talk a little bit about United because I think you felt like they're a bit flat. They've obviously had the context of having these additional games that they've not had to counter this into their schedules in previous seasons. This was their first loss since Lyon beat them 3-0 in the Champions League on the 10th of December. Of the 17 times Man United have faced Chelsea, they have won only once and Chelsea have won 14 times. I feel like we've talked a little bit about Chelsea kind of being the, I don't know, the bogey team for a lot of teams, but it kind of feels like they're the final boss, like the final frontier.

10:26Rachel: And this kind of like the mismatching stats just becomes quite a thing that kind of sits on your shoulders a little bit, that it is such an advantage mentally that I think Chelsea go into a lot of these games with. But would you, you're shaking your head, go on.

10:41Chloe: Not really. No, no, I'm not shaking my head. I get what you mean. I do like these stats are great and all, but I think more relative context is useful. You know, they drew with each other in their earlier game this season in the league. You know, they've drawn with each other before. Obviously, United beat them in the semi-final of the FA Cup a while back. However, they have then been beaten comfortably by Chelsea. Last season, I think Chelsea beat them twice, 1-0 in the league. So I feel them getting the win over Chelsea in the FA Cup a couple of years ago and getting draws more recently. they don't maybe seem as much like the bogey team anymore if you know what I mean um and I don't think United would maybe feel like that anymore I think they feel that they're fully capable of beating Chelsea um so maybe I get what you mean I get I did say they used to be the bogey team for a while but I just wonder if that's maybe less of a a thing now despite them losing because they'll look at that and say you know we pushed them to extra time and it could have gone either way that's how they'll look at it um but you know when we think of the the performances since that Lyon loss there's been games that haven't been pretty but they've gotten the win you know we think back to that London City Lionesses game where London City deservedly could have been more comfortably in front in the first half and I think for United they are experiencing for the first time what it's like to be going further in the Champions League and managing these big fixtures and these fixtures that matter and that have a lot of weight behind them and you know They'll have the Subway League Cup final coming up.

12:14Chloe: So it's all experiences that they will get under their belt. And next time, should they face it, they'll potentially come out better. Or they'll say, we need more depth. So that if we're in this situation again, we're able to handle it better. So it's all those moments that, like, I think Mark Skinner has often said it. They need to experience them then to know how to learn from them. So they'll be frustrated. But for me, it's kind of understandable given the midweek games they have to play.

12:39Rachel: Yeah, for sure. and I think it's always an interesting time for teams to match up against each other in a tournament where in a few weeks time, obviously, like you said, they're going to be facing each other again in the Subway League Cup final. And I don't know whether it's like necessarily a good thing that you kind of have that win under your belt that kind of builds confidence. It's like, OK, we're going to go and do this. We know how Man United are going to set up X, Y and Z. Or actually there's a kind of like Man United are going to come out full force. They've been knocked out of one competition and then they're not going to want to let the other one go.

13:05Rachel: So it's not that any of them go easily. But I feel like there's an interesting kind of dynamic, I think, when two teams face each other very close together in similar fixtures that essentially mean silverware.

13:18Chloe: Yeah, I think the fact that this is the final and it's the first time in that final also will be coming back from a three week international break. So for some of those players that they have that maybe have niggled, haven't been fully 90 minutes fit or like fully fit, if you like, you know, the likes of Rolfo, for example. I think they'll hope to be coming into that game with more depth and won't have been juggling that really big fixture right beforehand. So I feel like both teams are becoming a little bit fresher, you know, so it kind of gives the game a little bit more of an edge.

13:50Rachel: Do you reckon? Who do you reckon? All right. OK, so who do you think on balance then? Who do you think is going to be winning? We're going to do this.

13:57Chloe: We're going to do this pre-Subway League Cup. And I'm going to probably say the same thing that it's it's hard to I think it's hard to call this one. I think if Chelsea had kind of blown United away at the weekend maybe you'd think differently that it's essentially their first game back after the international break so that's another element I think that makes it difficult to call will Chelsea have some players back if we were injured you know or more ready to start games you know I think maybe Sam Kerr I don't know whether she was fit enough to start against United I don't know but not being able to start a natural number nine for Chelsea I think that makes it a tougher call knowing that that's their first game back and it's a huge game and it's a final and players will be coming back off the international break.

14:38Chloe: How are they going to be feeling? How are they going to be fitness-wise? It's a lot to contend with.

14:42Rachel: Yeah, definitely. But I think at the same time, I do feel that Chelsea have been kind of riding this. It's been a wave of inconsistency, I think, in 2026. Obviously, there's some really unusual, obscure things that have happened for Chelsea, getting those back-to-back losses. That was not ideal for Sonia Bonpasta. Loads of people kind of calling for whether she should be losing her job and then the sort of drama around that that we obviously feel was completely just a bit crap and unnecessary. And then Paul Green leaving. And then Paul Green leaving and people kind of wondering what's going on behind the scenes and whether there's some kind of argy-bargy that's going on between the backroom staff.

15:18Rachel: But then also at the same time, you've got a Chelsea that seems to be emerging a little bit kind of, there's an air of spring around the Blues at the moment. Third win in a row. Lovely. After their recent wobble. Obviously a nice boost in confidence to be beating a team that currently sits above them in the WSL. That wasn't the kind of given that we would have seen a couple of years ago. We were going like Chelsea will win Man United. This was a tough game and they knew that. But it does feel like there's a Chelsea resurgence happening in a way. I mean, do you kind of feel that? It feels like it's kind of nice to have that League Cup final in less than three weeks' time or so and be riding this current wave of positivity.

15:57Chloe: Perhaps a case of kind of getting through that difficult moment. these last few weeks. Everyone had January blues. Yeah, exactly. Getting through to the international break, I think with this win in the FA Cup as well, knowing you've got a final coming up, you can probably just kind of refresh things a little bit. And I'm sure the staff will be doing this in the background while the players are away is like looking at ways of just kind of reframing this run-in now from March and how important it is for them. And they'll have Champions League to think about the Arsenal game and all of that kind of stuff.

16:28Chloe: So you can really kind of reframe the rest of the season, if you like, and think we've ridden through a wave. We've gone through the dark times or difficult times. We've come out the other side. You know, let's focus on what we've got. And look, this is going to be a lot riding on it because the league is essentially arguably gone for Chelsea. You know, it's about getting trophies now for them. And if they can start by winning the Subway League Cup, that will give them such confidence then running into the rest of the season. Definitely.

16:57Rachel: Well, thoughts and well wishes for Chelsea. to have a successful... I don't think I'd ever hear you say that. Mate, I'm trying, all right? I'm really trying. Are you going to start supporting them now

17:06Chloe: and add them to your list of teams?

17:08Rachel: It's really hard. I am in the business of looking for a fifth team to support, so you never know where this is going. But they obviously face some really big fixtures. They've got the League Cup final and that Champions League showdown with Arsenal on the horizon very, very soon. Speaking of Arsenal rage, you've been on another pod today. You absolute pod cheater. What the fresh... I go away for one weekend and you jump ship. Yep. Going off with another woman.

17:37Chloe: I did it in this studio as well, not to make it worse, but it happened right here.

17:45Rachel: That is, that's actually quite harrowing. That's actually, that brings a tear to my eye, you know? Good. You leave me in the studio on my own.

17:57Chloe: Shit's going to happen, Chloe. I'm sorry.

17:59Rachel: I turned my back for one week and you're joined by Laura Kirk-Francis over the thing about Arsenal to talk about all things Arsenal women, which is also one of my favourite teams. But can you give us a flavour?

18:10Chloe: We planned it when you weren't here.

18:11Rachel: Yeah, I can only imagine. I can only imagine. And I will have words with Laura. I will be telling her to back off and enjoy her own podcast. And yes, I'd love to also be on it at some point. But in the meantime, give us a brief summary of what you guys discussed behind my back.

18:26Chloe: we talked about the fashion and the clothes no I'm joking we were kind of looking at Arsenal's resurgence in 2026 and trying to pinpoint what exactly has changed what have they touched on to make their form better what success might look like for them this season that kind of thing trying to dig down into what's going so right for them at the moment

18:46Rachel: well I definitely will be listening in despite the betrayal that I feel that does sound absolutely awesome Arsenal fans definitely go and subscribe to The Thing About Arsenal for a new episode on Arsenal Women every single Tuesday it's a fantastic listen after the break we chat with another hero of this season's FA Cup

19:20Rachel: so we are super super excited that we've got an amazing goalkeeper thank god we don't get enough goalkeepers on this show uh with oxford united goalkeeper madison millington stanbury Madison thank you so much for joining us it's been quite a hectic week for you before we get stuck into the drama of the season and how that's been going yeah I mean obviously Sunday talk us through it you narrowly lost to Charlton in the FA Cup obviously the result is super disappointing but given Charlton a WSL promotion favourites nine points clear at the top of the WSL too how many positives were you taken away from this performance and talk us through a bit about the game because it was so dramatic and so close.

20:03Rachel: Yeah, I know.

20:04Maddison Millington-Stanbury: So obviously it was a positive outcome for the end of the game. We were expecting to lose that game, but we were kind of wanting to hold them out as long as possible. But coming back off from the win against Bournemouth on the Wednesday night, obviously they've been unbeaten for nearly two and a half years. We were very positive going into the Charlton game, but holding them out for about 75 minutes at 0-0, and it was very much 50-50 possession. and then we gave away a penalty. One of our players handballed it, became a goalkeeper for about 30 seconds and handballed it off the line. So she got sent off and then the penalty was an insane penalty, like no goalkeeper's going to save that.

20:47Maddison Millington-Stanbury: And then we were still dominating after we conceded the goal, but we just couldn't find our goal near the end of the game. So losing 1-0 to, like I said, a WSL promotion team team we can't we can't ask for anything better like that just shows that we should be playing at that level and what we're capable of as a team so yeah it was a it was a very good game especially with the crowd that we got as well I think we had a record attendance of 1 ,185 so that was really good very positive so we were all buzzing after the game even though we lost

21:24Rachel: what's it like to kind of play in front of a crowd like so I remember when I was with Spurs we were getting probably about 100, 150 people turned up to our games. And then for the bigger games, we'd face like a Man City or something like that. We'd get maybe 1 ,500, 2 ,000 fans. And it kind of takes it up to a next level. It feels like the pressure's higher. It feels like there's more eyes on you. There's more kind of, I don't know, I felt like I was going to make more mistakes because the demand and the intensity of the fans being so close around you kind of felt quite a lot. But yeah, how was it kind of playing with that kind of audience and coming so close to doing that?

21:54Maddison Millington-Stanbury: Yeah, I think it thrived all of us as players. like having so many fans that are there to back us and support us made us want to win and like we just we just thrived off that um and obviously being at the m group stadium obviously it's very small it's very sort of like you can feel everything you can hear everything so for us as players it was it was so surreal and the loudness that the fans were given everything that like we did everything for the fans that day um and i'm pretty sure all the fans enjoyed it as well

22:23Chloe: overall how has this FA Cup run been like is this one that you'll look back on during your career

22:29Maddison Millington-Stanbury: and as a really fond memory 100 % like the games that we played so I think the standout for me was our Plymouth game we played them twice in like one weekend and then we played them again the next weekend and we lost both of those times and then we had to play them again obviously in the FA Cup and going down 1-0 in like the first 20 minutes for our penalty again we were very been very nervous but pulling back to make it 2-1 in the last 90 plus five minutes I think that's something you can never you know like it's a magic of the FA Cup anything can happen and same with obviously Middlesbrough as well we were losing 1-0 and then we came back to 3-1 in the space of 10 minutes so it's a it's a crazy run it's not been easy for us and I think all the girls should be really proud of how they've done yeah 100 % and how do you recover from um sort of

23:18Rachel: moments like that does it feel like it galvanized you that you've kind of you know you've done so well in the competition it doesn't feel like a a sad moment in a way it kind of feels like a real credit to all of you for like the heart and dedication and passion and kind of how you showed up to all of those games I mean yeah I'm assuming there was sort of um almost like a celebratory atmosphere after the game because of how well you guys are kind of you know yeah

23:38Maddison Millington-Stanbury: presented yourself yeah I think I think some of the girls were disappointed with obviously the result and how the goal came across but then our manager he kept on saying how proud we should be because again, we're fifth in the league and they're top of the WSL too and we've only lost 1-0 because of a penalty. So there was a lot of positive vibes going around in the changing room after. We're all very happy and obviously we just can't wait to get back into the league next week.

24:01Chloe: Yeah, rightly so. You should be proud. We wanted to touch on your career and your story a bit more broadly because it's been quite a journey. Grew up in Bournemouth, played at Southampton as a teenager until you were released at 15. Then Arsenal came along your childhood club, how would you describe the Madison that arrived at Arsenal?

24:21Maddison Millington-Stanbury: I'd say brave. I was very brave, obviously, being 16, moving away from home. It was very nerve-wracking and daunting, but I wouldn't change anything. I always saw my life as being at Southampton because I was there from such a young age. I didn't really think anything different. I didn't expect to get released. but going to Arsenal it was very much you know it was more the the pressure of moving away I think that's what sticks with me and it's made me the person I am now more confident more brave and I feel like I can do anything now like I've been able to live away from home so yeah

25:01Rachel: and what kind of support was around you when you were moving away from home because obviously to do that so young it must have been quite a nerve-wracking experience maybe some anxieties there but yeah you said like it kind of it really it boosted your confidence but um yeah who did

25:13Maddison Millington-Stanbury: you kind of lean on around around that time I lean on my mum I lean on my mum for everything um I remember for the first few weeks when I was first moved away to London my mum would come up every weekend and bring me back home to Bournemouth so she'll be up all the time she comes every game she try and come to training sessions when she can so if I had like a really bad day at college or bad training session, I'd always lean on my mum with that.

25:38Chloe: I love that.

25:39Rachel: They're just the absolute OGs, aren't they? My mum used to come to all of my games, good and bad. And even if I played utter crap, she'd still tell me I was the best cold keeper in the world. And it was pure lies, but I really rated it at the time. See, my mum's the opposite. If I've done bad, she'll tell me I've done bad.

25:54Chloe: And I like that. Always know where you stand. Exactly. During your time at Arsenal, you received your autism diagnosis diagnosis and do you mind telling us how that came about yeah so when I was in school I was

26:10Maddison Millington-Stanbury: getting tested for dyslexia and then in one of the what they called like the consultant kind of thing like whether you know they're testing and they kind of said oh maybe you should get tested for ADHD so we went to the first person to do the consultant like you know to get the approval to go through that process and they went no we think you should get tested for autism so we were kind of like there's no harm in doing it you might as well go through that process went through it and then I think about a week before my 18th they were like yeah you have autism you'll have autism um and it was kind of like a relief like the way it was like a massive weight off my shoulders after getting that diagnosis and I can kind of understand myself a lot better yeah so I'm kind of happy that I went through that process and I didn't get like I didn't shy away from it

26:59Rachel: and and how was the um the autism kind of manifesting itself up until that diagnosis what was it that sort of um made you feel kind of a little bit of relief about having the diagnosis to to to be there well I mean I always knew that there was something different about me through

27:13Maddison Millington-Stanbury: like mainly it was school that I stood out in because when I'm when I'm at football I don't really I don't feel different but at school I definitely the signs were there um so but obviously having such a late diagnosis I didn't get the help that I needed in school but now obviously with football which is my career it's something that I'm now going into thinking okay well I'm autistic these are things that I need help with and also make me shape as a better player and also a better footballer.

27:42Chloe: I know that other footballers have spoken about being autistic has that been inspiring for you like to see other players like you Lucy Bronze is coming out um Safiya Middleton Patel speaking about it another goalkeeper does it give you kind of more confidence does it inspire you does it make you want to speak out more about it

28:02Maddison Millington-Stanbury: yeah so seeing like two massive um influences in football like they're huge and they've come out and saying that they're autistic just shows that just because I'm young and I'm in the lower end of it and they're so high up it means I can also reach that level even though I'm autistic so it gives me that bit of hope and like a bit more confidence to stand out say it loud and proud and not you know don't really care what other people think because if they're at that level then nothing's going to stop me and nothing's going to get in my way to get to that point either and also for me to say my story I can also give more information and clarity for younger girls in my situation as well so who want to be inspired to be the next Lucy Bronze or whoever that they can also be there and be that person as well.

28:55Rachel: Absolutely love that and I think in terms of what you were saying there about you know you sort of felt the impact of the autism diagnosis when you're at school but less so on the football pitch and football being maybe felt like a bit of an equaliser for you in some ways but is there any ways that you found that your diagnosis has kind of impacted you know training schedules are any adaptations that you feel have been really helpful to have made um because of the diagnosis at all um I feel like I like the fact that at the

29:20Maddison Millington-Stanbury: start of the week Oxford hand out what the schedules are going to be the timings and everything from on the Monday for the whole week and that really helps because I can plan my day like from the start um so like I can plan when I'm going to wake up in the morning what time I need to leave to get to training or what time I'm going to finish football so it's that kind of stuff helps me massively so I can plan I'm a massive planner I can't just wing it and I can't just be like oh it's whatever it's going to happen on the day so that is probably the biggest thing that stands out for me that has helped me massively this season.

29:54Chloe: Speaking of Oxford United that move came last summer what's it been like moving there?

30:00Maddison Millington-Stanbury: It's been it's been surreal all the players all the staff I came in at the start of the season I made it very clear about my diagnosis and they've all stood stood with me they've made me very well they may feel very welcomed um they've had conversations with me they've taken time out of their day to support me um and I it's like a place where I feel like it's like a second home for me there um yeah it's I mean the girls they're amazing and obviously by our journey as well like with the league it's not where we wanted to be but these things happen but now we're obviously we've got to the fifth round in the FA Cup I don't think we can really complain about anything else at the moment no definitely and I think I

30:45Rachel: mean that's the biggest part I think of playing the club is that you get on well with the people around you and you feel like proper teammates and everyone gels and there's a lovely cohesion I mean what do you guys do in your your downtime you sort of going out to we've had footballers who go into coffee shops and just chilling out we've had footballers do sort of like team building workshops throwing each other off of like cliff edges with ropes attached and stuff i mean that was who was it that came on it was like i think it was last season there was a team building exercise where was it west ham what like abseiling and they had the the harnesses they were like throwing each other off of stuff and just like but i don't know trying to help whatever anyway we digress um any kind of unusual team bonding or things that you guys do in your your downtime to kind of take the pressure off i remember at the start of the season we went to

31:26Maddison Millington-Stanbury: the lake district and oh nice did a massive hike up a mountain there you go there's a mountain and then i mean that sounds like training so if that well i luckily i well i'm not luckily i couldn't do it because i was injured at the start so they had to arrest me for that part um but then we had to do you know canyoning that sounds scary what is this it sounds yeah it sounds awful and dangerous basically a massive like a mountain but with water and you have to climb along the mountain and jump off massive like cliff jumping and stuff like that oh bloody hell okay that is common for all people off mountains it was horrible i was standing at the top of a mountain for at least five minutes crying and not wanting to jump what are these team building exercises guys got big darts or something I would much rather go bowling yes

32:19Rachel: so yeah that's what it's got too intense

32:21Maddison Millington-Stanbury: so that's what we did at the start of the season now it's kind of we went to a driving range a couple of months ago nice and then we haven't really done much since because it's very much loads of people all over the place so it's quite difficult to get the players in because we finish at six and people are normally very tired and you can't really do much at that time but no we haven't got much planning planned for the next week or well next few months but we've got our awards night in April so all

32:51Chloe: looking forward to that oh that'll be fun oh that'll be lovely I guess then now that you've you know had your really good FA Cup run what is what is next this season for you guys what is the

33:02Maddison Millington-Stanbury: focus I think the focus is get as far like get as high on the table that we possibly can um I feel like fourth is where we want to sit. I mean, we're fifth at the moment. Real Bedford are above us with, on the same points, but they've got a game in hand. But we play them on the 8th of March. So we're hoping if we beat them, then we'll sit in fourth. But I think our main, our main goal is, yeah, just sit wherever we can in the league as high as possible.

33:31Rachel: And what about your, your personal ambitions? Obviously, it feels like, I mean, you're so young. I mean, everyone we speak to on the pod is a lot younger than me and Rachel. but yeah I mean you've got so much so many years ahead of you in your career what what does the sort of the next five years look like for for you for like personally I would love to I feel me any

33:49Maddison Millington-Stanbury: player would say this I want to be at the highest level possible I want to be playing um and I want to be in a full-time schedule um that is that's my goal players highest level make sure I'm playing um yeah that is I think that's that's probably the simplest thing I could probably say

34:09Rachel: getting that FA Cup final next time yes 100 % oh amazing um thank you so much for for being with us I appreciate your schedule is super super busy um yeah really appreciate you kind of talking us through your FA Cup experience and um yeah whilst I suppose a little bit gutting not to have progressed what an amazing feat that you guys have achieved and you should be all super proud of yourselves and um yeah we'll definitely have you back on on the pod and um yeah we'll have you back on a couple years time to see where you've got to and um we'll talk about your fa cup experiences at that point yeah 100 thank you so much amazing thank you so much madison thank you all right rachel it's been a it's been a very dilly dallying time for the fa cup and the format and what it might be and then it's kind of like no it's not going to be that we're going to have a think we've heard some really uh quite negative comments about our plans for it and therefore we're going to maybe reconsider whether we do that in the first place um there were plans to change the format of the women's fa cup that will now not be introduced next season as previously planned so the proposals were first reported earlier this month and would have seen four teams being seeded and routes to the final mapped out after the last 32 so you can kind of think of it as a bit of a world cup style bracket um it would then mean that the top four sides from the previous season's WSL, so those that obviously placed first or fourth, would not be able to meet until the semi-finals and draws would cease to exist from the fourth round onwards.

35:41Rachel: There was a lot of controversy around this view in the first place, before we get on to the row back. A lot of fan groups in particular saying that, obviously widely criticising it. We had the She-Girls from the Brighton Women's Supporter Club on X-Stash Twitter saying, the sporting merit in our game is slowly being eroded in favour of super matches between elite level teams. There was loads of kind of uproar from a lot of other fan bases there that it kind of deletes the magic of the FA Cup. You know, the whole thing about the FA Cup is that you have those teams that, you know, don't get that exposure to the big name games.

36:15Rachel: They, you know, it's all that kind of, you never know who's going to win it. Everyone's in it. It's kind of, it's everyone's game. You never know if the underdogs are going to take away the victory. It could be, you know, it could cause all these kinds of upsets. And it's just like one of those competitions that You really, you don't know what's going to happen. And that's a really lovely thing, especially for those lower league teams to get that exposure. And then you've got this kind of the road back happening. But before we get into that, Rach, I mean, what was your initial thoughts on the proposal in the first place?

36:41Rachel: Because I have some thoughts and I will share them with you. But I'd love to get your take on it first.

36:47Chloe: My initial reaction was disgust. I just thought, do not mess with the FA Cup. I thought it would go down like a bucket of cold sick, which it did. and it felt it felt like a a play from the WSL football playbook where I mean have you ever heard a survey monkey just ask people that way it's like they keep kind of having these ideas and rather than kind of just like surveying people and seeing is there any interest they do the same it's like oh it's been leaked uh-oh and then they get everyone's opinion on that situation and then they roll it back and that's happened multiple times now at WSL football and I just think there is some strategic leaks happening for sure but that manner of doing it that way erodes trust in the organization because then people end up just being really angry at you instead of like some sort of like fan-based discussion would you be opposed to changes of the fa cup if you were what kind of poses what kind of changes would you like to see in the fa cup stuff like this rather than just going oh no something's leaked oh shit everyone hates it we won't do it and it's just a really clunky way of exploring new ideas and you know i do think innovation's great in the game and we don't always have to do everything like they do in the men's game but the fa cup is one of the most prestigious and well-respected competitions here in this country everyone loves to play in it everyone loves an underdog story and this idea of like generating more interesting stories and you know that an enhanced narrative to the competition is just doesn't make any sense to me like I was down in Chatham last week shooting for the Guardian and the excitement around that club and the idea that they were in the fifth round and you know they were going to be playing Birmingham, a WSL 2 side, it was a big deal for local reporters and for the local town and just this idea that that story doesn't matter because they're not a big you know interesting in inverted commas club that people know and want to we all know the stories of the teams of the WSL respectfully you know there's not some new kind of narrative that you can generate from Arsenal really is there we kind of you know a lot of the stories we know a lot of the narratives you're not really getting that magical FA Cup story and I found it really disappointing that the idea that you would just make it even easier for the top teams to get to the latter stages

38:59Rachel: they don't need help that's happening anyway definitely and I think a lot of the the higher up WSL teams actually draw people's interest in storytelling to the lower lead teams when they face them in the competition. I know that should they have their own stories in their own right, but sometimes you do see, you know, when a Chelsea face an Oxford or something like that, that kind of fixture that it kind of naturally draws attention to Oxford United and trying to see, you know, what position the club is in and like what these girls are doing off the field and, you know, the development of Oxford United.

39:24Rachel: So, so I think it is, it's, I was disappointed too. I wasn't, I wasn't happy with it, but I will say that I'm trying to be balanced with it. And I'll tell you my argument in a second, but the FA said that this new look competition would ensure high chances of consistent high quality matches throughout the year they also said that it like you said race that it enables the development of storytelling and enhanced narratives it enables also clubs and fans to plot their road to Wembley Stadium building momentum and excitement whilst also supporting operational planning and that it will strengthen commercial potential so I do get the argument that I suppose there is sort of you know if you have kind of fixtures that are predetermined you know where they're going to be it also helps with the planning of how you promote these games the advertisements that you do around these games it gives them a

40:04Chloe: bigger lead up time i don't understand how it affects the schedule because you're still playing the same number of games to get to the final ultimately and arguably if you're playing tougher teams then you've got less of a chance of rotating your squad um you know and being able to play give players minutes against lower ranked sides um and you just miss out like the magic of

40:24Rachel: the fa cop is i was just like i just want to say i you disagree totally advocate yeah yeah i disagree

40:30Chloe: with it 100 % I'm just trying to find the counterbalance arguments to it 100 % yeah and I don't really understand how not having the top three teams of the teams of the Champions League doesn't commercially affect the Subway League Cup but in order to improve the commerciality of the FA Cup we need to have these bigger teams in the latter stages like how can those two arguments coexist but no like one of my favourite games of the FA Cup so far this season was Bournemouth versus Manchester City I loved it I loved going to a smaller ground. I know it wasn't Bournemouth's regular ground, but Manchester City coming down there, how excited Bournemouth were, you know, swapping shirts, like stuff like that.

41:07Chloe: That is what those stories are about. They're the games that these players will talk about in years to come. And, you know, if people are trying to tell me that going, oh, it's going to be Tottenham-Jelsea again, you're like, okay, I see that like week in, week out. You know, I've seen that fixture. I don't know how many times and how many different competitions. so I don't think in women's football I don't think the top teams who are investing the most need extra help the extra help needs to go elsewhere the funding is a massive part of the FA Cup the increase in funding these teams are getting now is huge and you know the money Chatham Town are going to get from getting to the fifth round is huge if they're suddenly making it more difficult for those teams to get further in this competition what is the benefit I just no didn't like it don't do it and also stop doing these silly leaks to gauge people's opinions just do it survey monkey I don't know find a platform to discuss with people rather than this you're just pissing everyone off

42:02Rachel: I think also just get the heads of these fan supporter groups in a room and say guys we've got this idea we're trying something different which everyone rates everyone rates the innovation we get that there is going to have to be I don't know some way of readdressing the balance with some of the top WSL clubs and the bottom WSL clubs but essentially it does come down to investment but we have had a couple of people from the Fulham Women Supporter Club saying it is obviously a ridiculous idea it goes against all the principles of the FA Cup I'd actually like to see the WSL teams come in in earlier rounds which is super super interesting yeah because I do think you know earlier team involvement does increase the kind of the attractiveness of kind of the you know trying to get people to those games if you've got like a you know a six tier side playing a Man City you better believe that those will be one of the most watched or well attended fixtures that those clubs play I'm always watched

42:49Chloe: because it's so hard to bloody watch these games at the moment also we're going to talk about loading we can't argue for improving and loading and then suggest that they come in earlier like then that's more loading that's more problems look there's lots of ways that's a that's a conversation topic do the teams come in earlier changing it and making it easier for the top teams is just no well

43:11Rachel: you'll be glad to hear the initial proposal it's not happening the initial proposal was going to be made to the FA's board in April but now that's been delayed with the FACA we understand how much the competition means to clubs, players and fans across the pyramid. Shame that could have been done a little bit earlier. But it is important that all parties have enough time to share their views. This means that the changes will definitely not be implemented for next season. So well done because the power of the people has won on this occasion or at least for now. But we'll wait to see whether that doesn't mean that some other kind of variation or some other kind of proposed format may start to come in at a later point.

43:49Rachel: Thank you for listening to Upfront. We'll be back next Tuesday to discuss all things international football and the Lionesses who make their long-awaited return. In the meantime, you can find us on Instagram and x slash Twitter. I'm at morgy underscore 89. Rach is at girls in the ball and we are at upfront underscore pod. You can also find us on YouTube at upfront pod. See you next week.

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