The Rest Is Football: Daly Brightness - Ellie Roebuck Exclusive Interview

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

This week, Millie and Rachel chat with England goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck. They cover their shared Yorkshire roots, Ellie's career journey from Manchester City to Barcelona, and how she's now settling in at Aston Villa. She also opens up about her incredible recovery from a stroke. Oh, and there’s special guest appearances by two of Ellie's dogs! British Gas is proud partner of the Barclays Women’s Super League and The Rest Is Football Daily Brightness. Powering the perfect Sunday with half price electricity every Sunday from 11am-4pm. Over a million people already use it to save money. Search ‘British Gas PeakSave’ to start saving. T&Cs apply - Up to 60 kilowatts per session. Eligible tariff and smart meter required. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is powered by British Gas, with peak save helping you get more out of Sundays. With peak save, electricity is half-priced every Sunday from 11am to 4pm. Perfect for putting the kettle on, watching the football and running bigger energy appliance, like your washing machine or dishwasher while you relax. Same Sunday routine, same plans, you are just making the most of half-price electricity for the things that use the most energy. And with five hours of cheaper electricity every Sunday, the savings start to add up. Plus, British Gas now have a new exclusive BWSL,

fixed tariff for fans, players or anyone who's part of a club, guaranteed to be cheaper than the January price cap. So peak save looks after your Sundays and the BWSL tariff looks after the rest of the year. British gas backing the BWSL on the pitch and supporting fans off it as well. Search British gas, peak save to find out more. Terms and eligibility apply. Peak save requires a smart meter and normal standing charges apply. So everyone, welcome to Daily Brightness. As you can see, we have got a very special guest today. She is our official first guest. We know we had bestie, bestie on. Sarah, but she's basically part of the podcast. So Ellie, Roebuck, everybody. Warm welcome.

Hi guys. Roebuck! You're on the podcast? I'm really nervous for this. Why? Because I know what you do alike. I really know. Oh, we're going to dig it all out here. Where should we actually even start with Ellie, to be fair? She's one of our, both of our, really, really good friends. She's a fellow Yorkshire girl, so we love that. I feel like with Ellie, it was one of those things like when I first met Ellie, I'm probably the same for you, Mill. You just naturally gravitate towards people that are like you. And as soon as I heard a speak, I was like, yeah, she's going to be mine. She's one of us. Protecting bubble, isn't it, Yorkshire? It is. As soon as I hear of your Yorkshire accent,

I'm like, yeah, I'm like, do you want a cup of tea? Should we have a chat? Let me get to know you, we can become friends. It didn't take long for us, to be fair. Before we start picking your brain and, you know, our fans and us, we want to read it all about you, your life, football. Me and Rachel both feel the same, and we just want to say we think you're an amazing human. You are one of our good friends and we really appreciate you coming on. But, yeah, I just wanted to say how proud I am of you for the last couple years. And honestly, it's so, so nice to see good people, having good things come to them. And it's so nice to see you doing what you do best, shot stopping.

just being an unbelievable person and player and yeah I think we feel really lucky that you wanted to come on the pod and share all the goss thanks girls I really appreciate it you're just amazing friends to me and I'm super grateful for your friendship and I get spent every day with Rach now

which is lovely something that I love like honestly when Ellie said when Ellie texts me and was like what's villa like I'm like amazing everything is amazing every day you know you're going to trading you got your mate there and you just feel comfortable and I thought get in.

As soon as she's sad, I just felt like, oh, it's like a bit of home coming back to you and having such a good mate there. But everyone knows how good

Ellie is at football. But it's the fact that she's the most unbelievable person. And to get her into the team for me was huge. Like having someone like her in the team

and being around her every day and honestly, just seeing her get back to her best and playing with a smile on her face because it's obviously something that you love doing and you are insanely good at. You're just literally gassing me up now

on even his podcast. It's what we do. It's what the podcast is all about, but we're only speaking the truth. Let's let Ellie talk. Obviously, you've had a pretty decorated career so far and you're only 26. Talk us through it.

Talk us through the beginning. Like, how did you get to Aston Villa from where you started from? It's really funny, actually, you just saying that, because I never think of it like that. You just live your life for what you're in at the minute and you kind of probably forget

what's happening in the past a little bit and I'm probably guilty of that. Obviously, I had start my career at a city and had an amazing nine, ten years. there and I loved every second of it and that was kind of like what I called home. So for me like I never knew any different and I had an amazing goalkeep coach there who was like my second dad. And they just absolutely loved working for him and then I kind of feel like everything happened really quickly, played quite quickly, got in the England team really early which I was super

grateful for and you'd probably just take their moments for granted. I think you only really take a step back when things don't go well. I think my last year at six. I think my last year at it was pretty rough and I think then you realise kind of what football means. You realise who you people are. You realise maybe you should enjoy the good moments a little bit more than you do. And then obviously a lot of things happened. I had the stroke and I think that whole period, like maybe I tried to block it out, but it was quite a rough period actually, not quite.

Looking back now, obviously I'm nearly two years on actually in a few weeks. Probably like is the best and worse. Yeah, baby. That's what we want. It's probably the best and worst thing that happened to me because I learned a lot about myself. I think I was very much in that football bubble of just being like consumed with it.

I feel like my life now I take a lot more care with. I enjoy the moment. I've got an amazing family as you both know. Too right, girl. I did actually have a big bear rug off your dad yesterday, which was nice. He's the best. He is the best.

Elle's just on your, just before you move on that, just if you're comfortable talking about it because I think it's important for people to understand is the effect that, you know, having that stroke had on you, like not only mentally, but physically, like, with football and without football, because I think

something that me and Rachel speak about a lot is people still don't see players as, like, humans. We're still seen as, like, robots, and I think just because we don't share everything, that's not to say it's not happening. I remember actually speaking to you to when I was in a pretty rough place with football

and a lot of people from the outside don't really see that. Like, Maybe they see, you're on the bench, you're not in the squad, and that is life in football 100%. But I think it is really important that we are as humans. For me, I think when the stroke happened, obviously it was a shock, I think a shock to everybody. It was really hard because, you know what I was like?

I love training, I love doing all the stuff, and I really just felt like that independence was just ripped from me completely, you know, like wasn't allowed to train, wasn't allowed to carry shopping, wasn't allowed to walk, walk the dog, all the things that I'd been like capable of my whole life, scared to walk the dog, scared to be on my own. My mom and dad were doing like shifts on staying in my house, you know, and I had a one bedroom apartment. They were sleeping on the couch because I was just scared. And I think when something like that happens, you take away football, you know, it doesn't matter

anymore. You find out what matters most. And I think definitely moving forward, that's something I've taken. I'm super grateful that I'm able to play football again and it's the thing I love most. but for me more importantly, spending time with friends, spending time with my boyfriend, spending time with a family because really when that's all taken away, that's what you've got.

Yeah, where you are glowing in life, let us tell you that for free. I am. Right at the beginning, like, was it like an instant thing? Like, I think it's important for people to maybe get a bit of an understanding of like how,

not how it happened, but like how, was it signs, was it symptoms? Was it instant? Yeah, it was strange really because it wasn't like the classical things that you maybe, like, associate with a stroke,

For me, it was quite different, you know, like, I had like nausea and I just felt like off. That's only how I could describe it. Like, and it was like maybe a six-week period where it could have happened and we still don't know. Well, you said the other day, didn't you, that you thought you were pregnant? Yeah, literally because I was just like nauseous all the time and like dizzy and yeah, it was just a really strange period where I just felt like super distant really often. I was like trying to figure out what was up and I was training at this point like training through it. And there was kind of a tipping point. Like, I remember training and traveling to spurs away and just being, like, violently sick.

And I couldn't stop being sick. And I was like, no, there's definitely something wrong here. So I was the one who actually asked for the head scan. Because I don't know, you just had, I said like six cents that something was off. And then, lo and behold, I never imagined that. But, yeah, then it just kind of all spiraled. And it was like maybe a six-week period where I was just like in and out of hospital, having tests, having everything.

And it was really difficult because I couldn't tell. anyone either because I didn't know what caused it, what had happened, what the future looked like. I was still trying to get all the answers. You probably was still processing it as well. That took so long, Mills. Like, honestly, that whole period,

like, it was just a mess. And luckily, I had really good support around me and, yeah, here we are. That must have been a massive, massive shift for you to then go on and move to Barcelona. I think obviously having the faith from then that they would take that, leap of faith on someone who's had such a trauma?

It was wild because like I'm speaking about like, I say the date is the fourth of February because that's when I got diagnosed, like I got the diagnosis. But it was a six week period before that. And in that whole six week that it could have happened and I was feeling rough, I was training every day. I did my full medical at Barcelona.

So I was still like performing and, you know, being all right, but just with this cloud of knowing something wasn't right. So I would say like if you do have a six sense about anything, then it's always better to get checked than not. I think that's a really important message, but I'm really grateful for Barcelona because I signed the pre-contracts in the January, and they stuck by me for that whole period of rehabbing, not really knowing what was happening. And then, yeah, as soon as I got there, that probably one of the most special, like,

parts of my life, because I took that leap of being somewhere for 10 years and not, like, leaving home, being closed to home, you know. And then in this whole mist of chaos, I just think, like, oh, I'll just move to another country and go and play for the best team. It was a bit wild as you do. As you do. But like it was something you can't turn down. You can't say no.

And I just thought for that six months. I didn't know if I was like, would be able to get back to a level or get back playing. I just thought, I've got to give it everything because even if not, like I've heard if I go for a week and I'm just absolutely abysmal, at least I've said I've done it. And that was like my approach to it really.

What was your aim else like returning? Obviously from something that can be so traumatic. Like what was your, was your mindset like returning to playing? Were you like, no, I'm definitely coming back or were you like, you know what, I'm just going to be grateful for every day and I want to just see if I can get back? Yeah, it was a weird process really because I couldn't do anything for 12 weeks. That was like the restriction, you know, like that drove me insane. Yeah. But actually, I didn't even want to do anything because I was just so scared. How did you cope with that in itself? Because for anyone that

doesn't know Ellie Robo, if we were on camp, Ellie would be the first one away before sunrise, she would have done a 10 mile walk, should have gone up and down the beaches if we were somewhere sunny, should have explored and found a new coffee shop, yeah. Probably experienced three or four of them and come back. Like, obviously that was the way you kind of like started your day, kind of coped with everything and that was your little thing. So having that removed, then how did you, how did you cope with like that 12 week of having everything that you wanted to do?

A lot of the stuff I used to do, like looking back now is just all distraction. Like it was all like just a mental thing where like, you know, you're just so in your head that you try and distract and you know you do stuff and like I just always struggle to be present with where I was and that's something now that I'm, I definitely don't walk 10 miles in the morning now, you know, like. That's, mate, you should honestly be so proud of yourself because like realizing things like that are not, they're not easy

and also sometimes people are scared to admit that things are distractions. I honestly think you should be so proud of the journey you've been on and what you've learned about yourself and openly saying these things because I think other people could, take so much from this conversation, sit back and be like, shit,

I do things like that. Like, and then it starts, you actually start sitting in yourself and sitting in your own presence and peace and thinking, you know what, if I take a little bit more time for myself, I can realise where I may be distracting myself.

So honestly, I think it's so powerful what you're doing. Yeah, I just think don't, don't ever take it for granted, like what you've gone through. Yeah, for sure. You should be really proud.

You're such an inspiration though at just 26. Like you've actually been literally. No, you are. You've actually been through. I don't think you realize like what you've been through and done. When I think about like what you've actually gone through, right?

The stroke is how you've handled that and come through. And honestly, I just, I think when it happened for me, it was like, I don't give a shit. Sorry, if you ever play football again. I want you to be healthy. Yeah. That was, as a friend, I was like, when I saw the news, I was like, no. Like, what?

Like, I just wanted to like protect you and like wrap you up in a ball, of court of war. But I think, One, coming back from that, I think if you talk about your journey as a whole, like you came into the England squad at a young age, what people don't understand is that goalkeepers go through a lot. Like, to get to be number one at club or country, especially country, is probably one of the hardest things to do.

Being the England's number one at such a young age, and then getting injured and then having to sort of work your way back into that, insanely difficult. Like, again, you probably used all those things as a distraction for that reason. But again, alongside doing that, you were the best teammate. and that's all I ever heard from the goalkeepers that Ellie is the best, like, teammate possible, like she's unbelievable, hard thing to do.

City, you had a rough ride at the back of near career. Getting up and getting out of that while dealing with having a stroke, moving it to another country, leaving all your family behind, leaving your home behind, leaving the club that you've grown up with behind, to then deal with rehab of all of that.

Yeah. And then come back, like, you've, honestly, it's not just one thing. Like, I feel like you've gone through a hell of a lot, Yeah, it's not being that smooth sailing. I understand me. But she's Yorkshire and guess what we do? We just get on with it, don't we?

Just get on with it. Also achieved so much. Yeah. Yeah, it's mad. It is weird to think about it, but I don't know, like, it is funny because I look back and you win things, lose things, and that is football.

But, like, for me, the things I remember are, like, the stupid things, like, like I was saying to you, the other day at the Olympics, when you bought a generator to make coffee. I did. I did, didn't I?

Tell the story for our listeners. I was laughing when she said it to me the day. I was like, oh my God, I forgot. I got that. That bloody thing weighed about 30 kilograms in my damn case. Kevata put it in Kitvan because it was like, we were in Tokyo at the Olympics and it was COVID, so it was like pretty rough time to be fair.

We weren't allowed out of our rooms, whatever. It were awful, weren't it? These two were sharing a room. I was shown with Tune and we had curfews and all sorts, guards on the door, and we couldn't get coffee. So these two bought a generator and this pod machine. I downloaded Amazon Japan. I still got the account. I don't have to shut it down.

And these bought this generator and obviously everyone needs coffee. So I remember sneaking to their room to get this coffee. I go in their room. It's like, honestly, Bob the builder in there, they're rearranging furniture. because we look like that car rooms and these two are just rearranging their room every five minutes it's like literally what you do with your house now

just change it. Now it makes sense now I know why she said Mill let's turn the beds let's face and towards each of us so we can chat you had banners hanging down and everything

Yorkshire I had a Yorkshire banner what my mum got me I can picture it now I can literally picture that room now right at the end of the corridor honestly sneaking out and then just sitting in the corridor with our brewers,

that they're the memory. I don't really care about the football. Like, they were the core memories of the trips. I think that's something that we all share in common, though. Like, whenever we talk about our careers, it's never about football. It's always about the trophies. It's like, oh, remember when you did that?

You nearly broke you back. Yeah. Oh, we've had some good times, aren't we? Really good times, Ron. Honestly. Right, guys, time for us to take a quick break, but we'll be back very soon with more things from Ellie Roebuck. Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health,

from the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body check-up that provides a clear picture of your health today, and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer. The healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan, live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started.

This segment is powered by British Gas, the official energy partner of the Barclays Women's Super League. The women's game has come a long way. Crowds, coverage and standards rise in every season. But none of that exists without grassroots football, the places and the people that get you started long before anybody's watching. British Gas supports grassroots football too, back in 312 local clubs and schools with kit and equipment. So today we want to talk about what grassroots football really gives you and why it still matters, even as the game grows at the top. So, Rach, come on, tell us some memories. Your first memories of grassroots football.

How did it start? So I played for my local team called Killing All Nomads, which at the time my dad played for, and my brother played for. And the pitches, the pitches and everything was just at the back of my house. So it was really handy for me to go up. I went up there every day and trained on my own anyway.

Well, trained, kicking them all around. But it was amazing. The club was amazing. I have such fond memories of playing there. And actually, it's where I've just opened. You know where you do the opening of the pit? Yeah. The foundation.

That's really cool. Yeah, so mine's up there now. But it took an army of people to make it happen. You know what I mean? Like you've got so many people that are volunteering. You've got people like my stepdad was groundsmen. It was like lining the pitches out, you know, coaching and stuff like that. And it took ages for us to get a girls team.

So I was always just playing with a lads team, killing all nomads lads. And then we made a girls team and it literally was just anyone and everyone that wanted to kick a ball, really. and that was a bit of a hard job trying to get girls wanting to play football back then but yeah, amazing memories of grassroots football what about you? Kill a harsh dinosaurs! Kill them arched animals!

The one and only! No, I just think on that point as well I think it's not until you get older that you reflect and you realise how many people it took to make what we had and how many people volunteered and kind of did things out of goodwill. My fondest memory is my dad, after training

he always used to, like we're right on the bottom so it is like a bottom of a killer marsh again where my pitch is from the Euros and people can walk the dogs around the edges and I remember after training my dad had his steel toe caps on with him being a builder and he just boot the ball in the air it's probably why I've got no brain cells today

and I'd just be there like it's like waiting for it to come down and he'd be like head it head it and mum be like Stephen stop kicking it so high but yeah I just remember having fun but I always remember everyone wanting to help

and I think that's one of the things that stands out for me being a kid is, I think that's one of my biggest learnings is everyone wanted to help. Everyone wanted to be there. Everyone wanted to help. Everyone wanted to take part. It's like an all day. It's an all day thing on a weekend as well in it. There's about games, like people that are helping out and stuff. Like where I played and stuff, where the fields I was talking about,

it was just like a changing rooms, you know, like you open up the facility. There was no girls change rooms. It was just like a free fall. Everyone's get changed wherever. I went back not long ago because they have a cafe there now and it's called The Daily Brew. So they named after me. There's like pictures of me in there and stuff. Can you, you, your big time? Got me a little coffee shop.

Not a line that's legend or anything. It's even people that work in there, you know, volunteering and like, it's just, it's amazing to go back and see what they do now for the kids and how much it's developed and how, I think the FA are really helping with that. But when we started, I mean, there was nothing was there? You literally show up. Nothing. We'd have dogs coming around chasing a ball, and then before you know it, ball would be popped.

But I'm so grateful for grassroots football. Right, Mills, we talked about what meaningful support looks like, but British Gas supports grassroots football in practical ways. In 2025, British Gas supported 312 local sports clubs and schools with things like kit, equipment and facilities. That's more than 900 clubs supported over the last four years. Well, that is pretty amazing, but did you also know that they run a scheme called Coach the Future, recognising colleagues who support grassroots football,

and we want to give a special, special mention to Rob Campbell, Whitehaven Lionesses, AFC who stepped in after seeing the lack of opportunities for girls locally. And he actually rebuilt the women's section after nearly 20 years. It's fully inclusive so anyone can join and play, which I think is pretty spectacular. And honestly, a massive round of applause for Rob. I think, like I said, people going out of their way to make change, to improve things, massive shout out. And then now have two teams of 40 plus players age 16 to early 30s.

Big up, Rob. Yeah, Rob. But behind you. Congratulations. Well done. Keep up the hard work. Grassroots football isn't just where players come from. It's where confidence, belonging and a love for the game are built. That's why British Gas partners with the Barclays Women's Super League and supports the grassroots communities that underpin it. British Gas is proud to be powering positive change through sport. Search British Gas partnerships to learn more. Was it going to Barcelona where that was your turning point where you were like, right, I'm going to maybe appreciate the good times, life and a little bit more and put myself as a priority in not just football.

100%. I would say that my year on the pitch with Barcelona was obviously really difficult. I wasn't at the level I needed to be out and that for me was really hard because I'd kind of earned that right to be there. And when it came, I didn't feel like I could fulfil it to my full potential, which was difficult and, you know, I'm grateful for everything that came with that, the friendships I made and stuff. It was just one of the most unbelievable things I've ever done.

living in that city with the people, the culture. Like, I loved it. It sounds really strange now, but that still feels like home and I'm just living in Birmingham. Yeah. It's so weird because I formed such a bond with it. And me and Alex, we always say, like,

that's something we want to end up kind of living, just like for the lifestyle. And just because I felt so at peace there. Not so you don't want to live in Birmingham for the rest of your life. I'm really shocked at that. What? Newsflats. Newsflash.

Well, for anyone that knows me, I do like the sun. But I must say, I do really like being at Villa. Yeah, talk to us a little bit by your time at Villa so far. You've been here, what, now six, seven months? I'm enjoying it. The girls are great. Being back in the WSL for me, it's obviously one of the best leagues in the world. Super competitive.

Even still my time's being up and now. You know, it's not all, like, sunshine and rainbows. But I feel like now I'm getting to a level where I'm quite consistent. and feeling back to myself, if not better. You know, I feel stronger. I feel, yeah, just I'm really happy on the pitch. And that's the main thing. I'm able to play with a bit of freedom

and I'm really enjoying that side of things. And like I say, the girl's great. Training's really fun. Yeah, it's a nice environment to be in and like it brings other positives. You know, I'm close to my family and that really helps. For you, having your parents come down as much as they do, like your dad's always up and down.

Like, I think it's just such legends, by the way. Maybe sometimes you're like, can you lot piss off? Because you never give me a minute. But I say that. My mum used my house in Barcelona like an all-inclusive holiday. She was there all the time. Honestly, I saw my mum more in Spain than actually I do now. Like, she's not interested in Birmingham at all.

They're such good people though. She's not interested. She only wanted to go to Barcelona. Hey, she's like, you, that's where you get it from. She don't want grey skies, darling. She wants sunny sunshine. No, she just wants the sun. So that's where we're at.

But, yeah, it's nice for my dad to, I mean, he's still traked around watching games. where I weren't even playing over the last two years. So now for him to be able to watch me play is really special. They are unbelievable. I also just think what you said about, it's not all like roses and sunshines. I also think as well, like you stop expecting perfection in life.

And I think the minute you change your mindset to that, because as athletes, I think we always strive for like, it's got to be perfect. This has to be done. This, this, this, this. Everything has to be perfect. And you can't have a bad day. Whereas I think, like, now I pretty much live in a space where

If I have a bad day, I have a bad day. Nothing's perfect. Life isn't perfect. And look, we give everything to football. Like, we literally do. Exactly. I can say that for both of you, you know. It's literally not sunshine and rainbows.

You know, you come to the weekend and that's the one day you've got to be on it and perform. Sometimes that just doesn't happen. And week to week, that can vary so much. You know, you can be man of the match or you can be the worst player on the pitch. Yeah. And sometimes, like, you can't control that. You know, it's moments. We're talking about small moments, small margins.

And, you know, you do your best to be at the level that you're, needed to be at and sometimes it's just not possible and I think that's probably something I struggled to deal with early in my career and like you say when you get older you learn and I think that also gives you a little bit of freedom and you probably play a little bit better from it as well having that mindset something a little bit light-hearted favorite moment on the pitch and favorite moment off the pitch to date I think probably my highlight in football is probably when I played my first game for Barcelona just because like it was such a long time and it was just such a relief to back on the pitch for many reasons.

So probably I would say that was a real highlight. Not a bad team to be playing for either. Yeah. I mean, we've won so much in them. Their moments are all like really special for sure. But for me that just like that sticks out for more reasons. And then in life or do you know what I'm going to say, I'm going to pick one from most recently. How good was the wedding?

Oh my goodness. That's what we won. What? It wasn't it. I wasn't expecting that. That one called me off guard. The wedding was just unbelievable. Like, I have the best time ever.

That's been like the common feedback from all my friends. And I'm like, yes, that is exactly what I wanted to happen. Rowe, I've got that video of where I propped my phone up. Bessie, I don't think I've even showed you. I propped my phone up and everyone were just jumping in. I don't know who that random guy was that we're doing that like hip thrusting towards the camera and like hopping in, bless him. But it's so funny.

And then you and Alex are dancing. Alex has got some moves. He's not sort of speaking. about it. Him and his suit. He's like buzzing about his suit. Honestly. It's time to shine.

He scrubbed up well. You both looked stunning. It's so nice to see you're both glowing. Yeah, I love that. You just do one every year. Should you just do a party with the same people every year? Same day every year. Perfect.

Oh, I love that. That's made me feel really happy. Right. This is my favourite thing to do. So every time we do an episode on the pod, I have a little part of it that's called block and delete, which you know I like to block. If you piss me off too much,

I will block you. and it will be deleted. Yeah, and I've started doing that with everything in life now and it's just the most peaceful thing ever because I'm just like, if you've got no, nothing good to bring to my life and you're just taking things away. Go, in the bin, see you. So we thought we would bring that in for you

and we want to know what your block and delete would be. It could be something... Let's give an example. So what did you say? I said this week my block and delete is changing the down bed in because why can't I just throw it on the bed and it just... I put one corner on and the other pings off. Can I tell you a story though?

actually about bedding because it was happened to me yesterday. Olive just got on the bed and peed on me on the bed. Also, let's just pause at Ellie's block and delete for a second because we need an introduction to the dogs. Do you want me to get them? Yeah. Yeah, we need an introduction. Oh, look at baby Olive.

Hello, baby. Come on. Oh, look at Olive. She's so cute. Let me put her down. And how old's Olive? Five months. And the force is gone.

What a babe. Did they get on well? Yeah, they love each other. At first, Johnny just ignored her for about two weeks. I shouldn't ignore it. Oh, she's here. Oh, Lord. Right, tell the story about Johnny, please.

So basically, we went for a walk. It was snowing. So I bought Johnny this onesie, and he doesn't really like where he coats. Like, he hates it, actually. He just rolls about everywhere. So he went for a poo, and the onesie doesn't have a hole. So he took food in the onesie, inside the onesie. So we had to obviously strip him off.

wiping one with snow and ice to get it clean and then there's just this one for the scene with poo with it and what did Alex do Rachel? He went, what we're going to do with this then? Johnny must have felt so relief because... Was the poo not like a texture where you could just tip it out? No, it were like brums. No, but then, after that, right, fast forward the walk,

we went to a coffee shop after... Ellie sits down, right? Picks up Johnny. Still got poo on his back. bum all over a jumper. It is a French inn't it? Yeah. So you have to wipe a Frenchie's bum when they go to toilet.

They can't. It doesn't just come out. It'd be like that sometimes as a pet owner. You have to get your baby wipes. I went through no end of baby wipes for Zeus. Every day people are like, you wipe his bum. He's not a baby. I were like, yeah, and I don't want shit on my sofa. They just don't function very well dear. No, they don't. The bum doesn't drop down. It has to, yeah, anyway. So you had poo on your leg.

And we're on your bedding. And we're on my bedding. So it's not been a good week for the dogs. I'm not going to lie to you. They're just testing you. They do that sometimes. And you know what? They test you're in the worst moments, I think. They do where you've already got head loss

when you're already stress. They just come and dump on you. Anyway, I love them. I love stories like that. Right, you block and delete. Do you know what? It's really annoying. You know, you have toothpaste around your sinkhole.

And everybody starts to clean it. It really annohing it dries. And the big clumps as well. Like, if it comes out and it just sticks. It dries white all the time. My sink's black as well, so it's just a nightmare. It is. That's a great one. Yeah. That is a good one.

We've not had anything like that. It's getting me thinking outside at box. It's only because I asked Alex to clean the bathroom tomorrow while it's all work. Good one. Right. To end every podcast, we like to end on a positive note. And this is my favourite thing.

So you've done Millies and this is mine. So we do gratitude. Oh yeah. I was your gratitude, wasn't I? Last week, yeah. So we say something that we've been grateful for that week. Johnny! Look at him

Johnny Oh, is he are Oh, look at him Good boy Yeah, so for example Last week Mine was you It could be a person

It could be a thing This week I chose chickpeas Could be anything small It could be a person An object Anything Do you know what I'm grateful for Rachel

Who? Alan, the physio Oh, what a legend Another Yorkshireman This guy One day I would love to be Him to be my manager because the way he sees football

is just like just kick it and lump it. Get it in there off. Play football in there off. No messing about of it, Ralph Box. Just get it long. It's like, you know what? Tuesdays, I don't know why it's active recovery days. Just have day off.

You only get injured training. You don't get injured, not traded. Can we make a little petition for Alan for manager, please? It would be funny, honey, Rich. When I was training in in the off season, I obviously come in in the summer because I'm obviously local to the training ground. I used to come in and train in the summer

and it'd say to me, I'm literally about to set off to do my runs. Obviously, our runs are solid. And he goes, hey, Rich, I'd say, yes, Al, what's up? I'm just about to go. He says, no, hang on a minute. What are you doing?

Why are you running? You don't need to run. He's like that. He's like, you know, you're 33, 34. Just give you it more and put it net. What are you running for? Yeah. I'm like, you try and tell him that.

You tell. It's so easy. It's so easy. Football is so easy, honestly. I rate that. Well, shout out to Al, because you are Ellie's great. He's made me have some real belly laugh this week actually, so.

And that is what you need to be doing in life, laughing, or crying with laughter. With laughter, yeah. Yeah, we love that. Well, Els, we hope you've enjoyed your first time on the pod. It definitely won't be your last because we love having you on. And, yeah, I feel like we've only just scratched the surface of all things, Ellie, Millie and Rachel. And I know people are going to be asking us about the generator now. So, Rach, we're definitely going to have to get some pictures out of that.

Yeah. Oh, girls, what time? I'll see you tomorrow. See you tomorrow. And Millie, I'll probably see you soon as well. I'll see you soon because I'll be heading up your way very soon. Can't wait. Right, guys, thank you.

And we hope you enjoyed our first official guest. We'll be back very soon and there's more guests coming your way. Bye. Bye.