Millie Bright Quotes

My grandad gives me an honest opinion on the games and my performance. I really respect him for that. He’s really helped me develop as a person and a player, and he’s always been honest with me, whether I’ve had a good or bad game, where I need to improve.

At the start, you don’t earn a great deal, so you have to work other jobs if you want to play football. When I was at Doncaster, I couldn’t solely do football. I had to work; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to live.

In the past, I tried to put on a brave face and smile after a defeat, but then it would backfire in training, and I’d get frustrated. Now I just embrace it, let it out, and then, two days later, I’m back in training and ready for the next game.

You’re so emotionally connected to the game that it’s hard to switch off afterwards. It’s a good time to have open and honest conversations about your performance and what you can improve on next time.

Pressure is always in the back of your mind, but that’s the pressure that drives you on and makes you perform to the best you can be.

The fans have been amazing at Kingsmeadow, and we’ve really settled in. It’s our new home, and we want to embrace that and perform for the fans.

When I was at Doncaster Rovers Belles, I used to play up front or as a number 10, but when I joined Chelsea in 2015, I was more a midfielder, and over the last few years, I’ve moved into the back four.

I think I’ve always been regarded as a mentally strong person and a tough character, but it took me a while to reach a point where I realised that internalising your emotions wasn’t doing me any good.

What makes me so strong in the tackle? My grandad has always said if you’re going in for a ball, you go 100% and you never go in half-hearted.

It’s so busy in London, and I’m used to the countryside, fields, family, the horses and stuff.

I’ve always looked up to John Terry; he’s a massive defender and a rock. His one-v-one defending and reading of the game have really educated me. I watch a lot of clips of him.

My grandad used to work in the mines, he’s retired now, but he’s been a big part of my career.

If you’re a footballer, your club should be able to help you with medical needs, and that’s where the women‘s game gets a lack of respect. It doesn’t reflect well on women’s football at all.

I don’t think I started kicking a ball until I was six or seven. Horses were my first love, so I was occupied with that.

You win the physical battle first, and then you win the football. If you try to do the football first and not the physical stuff, that doesn’t work.

People just need to be open-minded enough to accept the game for what it is. If you don’t want to see it, then you’re never going to appreciate it, which is fine; it’s your choice. But we appreciate not being slated in the meantime.

I try not to overthink things. If you think too much, that’s when the mistakes come in. Keep it basic is what I’ve been doing well – winning my headers and making sure I win my one-v-one battles. Often, your natural instinct tells you whether to hold or go.

In tournament football, you cannot dwell on things for too long.

I definitely want to be successful in the Champions League, having never been involved in it before. It’s where the best players prove themselves.

Top players now will get bonuses for winning competitions or reaching various stages of them, scoring goals, or keeping clean sheets, but most don’t play football for the money, because it’s not been in the game that long. They do it for the love of playing.

My mentality has always been focused around the mindset that you have to earn everything. So even if you get told that you’re going to play, I take that with a pinch of salt and respect all the comments, but for me, I have to earn my place.

You can go back into equestrianism any time – we’ve got a yard back home in Sheffield, and the horses are still there. They’re just on hold for the moment. I can’t ride and play football; it’s too much of a risk.

You have to get one above your opponent; being on the front foot allows you to do that. It allows you to dominate them.

Spending time with the horses was also a good place to escape to if you were having a bad day, so it was good from a mental point of view.

I’m so proud to represent my country at a World Cup because lots of players don’t ever get that opportunity, including our manager, Phil Neville. He’s reminded us of all the hard work he put in to try and get there, only for him to never make it past the last hurdle.

You win physically, you get momentum, and you get a foot in the game by winning your tackles and being dominant in that area. Then you can start to make your passes.

The game is not just about the top four or five teams; it’s the whole league that needs to be stable and developing. Without the other teams, we are nothing.

You get to a stage where you replay every scenario in your head, but you have to stop; otherwise, you drive yourself insane.

Football is my priority. It’s a short career, and you have to make the most of it, which is why making the World Cup squad is such a big deal and something I will never take for granted.

Obviously, everyone‘s journey is different, and we all have different ambitions and beliefs as kids as to whether we’re actually going to be able to play in a World Cup and whether it can be a dream that can come true. For me and for my family, it’s very surreal.

I got to a point where I was doing county-level shows, but it was dressage that I really loved where, effectively, the horses are dancing. At one point, I was a groom for Hannah Esberger, who has competed for Great Britain and has seven national championship titles.

You have to make the strikers fear you. Make it difficult for them to get on the ball and go into different areas. That makes my job easier.

People that know me realise what kind of player I am. I’m a front-foot defender; I like a tackle, but I’m not malicious, and I don’t go in to hurt.

Women’s football will always be different from men’s football, but that doesn’t mean you cannot still appreciate it. OK, so it might be a bit slower than the men’s game, but then League Two football is slower than the Champions League, and it doesn’t stop people turning out to see their local teams.

It was a village where I come from, obviously a lot smaller than London, so the support was unreal and close by. To come away to a new challenge, a new level, knowing that I was going to have to step up massively – not having those people around me was a test.