The Rest Is Football: Daly Brightness - The Biggest Misconceptions About Footballers

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

Why is the life of a player not always as rosy and perfect as fans think? What are some of the biggest struggles they go through off the pitch? Why is the lifestyle a lot lonelier than a lot of people imagine? Millie and Rach also debate which position their own dogs would be best suited to if they were on the football pitch. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It won't take long to tell you neutral's ingredients. Vodka, soda, natural flavors. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Welcome to the rest is football daily brightness. We're back with all the hard-hitting questions for this week's Q&A. Millie, show I jump straight in.

Let's go for it. I've missed these. First question, do teams keep their players up to date about transfers and who they might be looking to get in? How do players find out about new signings at their club? Well, I think this is like one of those ones where people probably assume that we know a lot more than we actually know. I see a lot of my information on Instagram, Twitter. Soca Donner. Soccer Donner. Shout out to you. Whoever you are.

Wherever you are, I don't think you've got a transfer wrong yet, so I'm yet to see. But, yeah, pretty similar. I'm actually, I'd be really intrigued to hear, for all the fans out there, please send in how you think we feel. find out about transfers because I'm intrigued to see what the fans think but like rach says you could come in one day and there'd be a new sign in and you're like oh hello nice to meet you or you've seen it on instagram or you might get whiff of it in the environment they might have been someone slipped up on a conversation or yeah it's not it's not anything where we're just like we know long before you know like I'll make little comments so if I've seen no soccer down I'll be like hey are we going in for her then and then I'll wait for the reaction on their faces

If I get a little, I'm like, okay. And then you get a text. It's like, oh, strictly embargoed. And you're like, well, it's already been out of mead for the last two weeks. Literally. It's so funny, though, because I think sometimes that managers think they've done, like, really well to, like, keep it a secret. I've, like, seen it on Socadona two months ago. Yeah, but you know what?

I was such a secret. Like, when I sent the villa, like, I was literally, like... There was nothing out there, to be fair. There was no room of you. I was completely undercover. Like, I remember getting to the training ground, I had to rent a car to get to the training ground. So I was literally pulled. up in his little mini that I rented.

And then the general manager, Lee, at the time, he was like, quick, get in my car. So I literally was just like, what the hell? Just I got whisked away from one car to another, like, shibied into his car. Drove around the back of the training ground while all the girls had gone in the gym, so they couldn't see me.

Drove around the back of the training ground in his car and then I had to go do all my media and stuff with my signing. I was just like, what the hell is that undercover? It was mad, but no one knew I was signing. I think the only people that knew I was sign him was Maz Pacheco and Ken Zadarley because they saw me pull out of the training ground

and I was like, oh, hi, guys. That's like when we signed Naomi German and then we were like, surprise! Known it three months ago! They put so much effort into keeping it a secret and half the time we've actually... There's no secrets in football, is there? Women's football, everyone knows everything, FYI.

That isn't it? Anyway, there's, yeah, let us know how we actually, what you think actually goes down because I'm really intrigued now. Good question, though. This next question I think is really, really interesting because I wonder if your take on it is the same as mine. So what is the biggest misconception

fans have about footballers? You go first and I'll go into mine. I'd say, I don't really know how to explain it, but that life is just like perfect. Life's perfect. I don't have any other responsibilities. I don't have a normal life to live outside of football. like and almost a sense of like ownership over something you don't you won't ever own do you know

what I mean I feel like because we we like play for fans like you play to impress the fans like every time I go out and I represent Chelsea like I'm playing for the fans as much as I'm playing for my teammates and representing the club I'm playing to impress the fans I'm playing to make sure that they've had a great day out and that they keep coming back and supporting us but sometimes you feel a bit guilty for saying that you play for yourself as well so it's like that sense of like ownership over something that you could never own because we're humans. Yeah.

And that life is not perfect. Like we struggle a hell of a lot. Like we have mortgages to pay. We have water bills. We have all the normal things in life. Like life is not perfect by no means. Yeah, I agree. And you know what I think?

I think people will think that our lives are glamorous and that we live in luxury and they see, they think that we're on a massive, contracts, big salaries, but in the harsh reality is that's not true for the majority of women's footballers. They perceive us as having this huge glamorous lifestyle, but what they don't see is that struggles that we have and we have such a short career span and how discipline we have to be. Like, we can't do the same things that a normal person could do, like, couldn't just nip

to the pub and have a few pints after work and the mental pressure. And sometimes torture that we put ourselves through that you don't just come home from work very, it's very difficult for us to come home from work and I'm not saying it's not like this in any other walk of life but to just switch off like if you've had a bad day at training or a good day at training

like it's on your mind you have to think about the next one you've got to think about the game you've got to have short term memory physically it takes so much out of us like pre-season as I were just talking about you like I'm like we're knackered like but so your physical

stress is like up here so you go home to try and relax but then your mental is there and you're just like the combination of it or it's not as glamorous as people make out and do you know what else I think is something that I think that people probably don't realise

it's lonely. So isolated so isolated which sounds crazy because everyone's like oh you would be friends every day and I'm like yeah and let me tell you out of all the hours that you spend at training every single day I probably sit and have a conversation for about 10 minutes at a push and that would be at lunch. Yeah. Other than that, sometimes at lunch, I sit on my own. Sometimes I'm like,

oh my God, I just need, I just need like 10 minutes of like silence. So it's like as much as, yeah, I'm at training with my pals and like, but I'm working hard. I'm focused like there's no like, we're not laughing and joking and like having fun. Like we're training, we're working. We're, we're focused on the start of the season on performing on, like, it's hard it's not like all shits in gigs like

we're just like I'm gonna mess around I think like you'll probably feel the same as me as a captain as well like you do have a big responsibility you're sort of like the leader of the pack right you've got to sort so much stuff out that like

people wouldn't see on a day to day basis like even your teammates won't see the stuff that you like have to deal with so yeah I do think it's it's lonely in a lot of respects. Like, don't get me wrong. It's my dream job.

I'm so grateful. Beyond grateful every single day. I love it. I wouldn't change any of the things that I've just said. But I do think, like, the loneliness is something that I don't think people say. Like, it is hard. Days off. Especially when you think, like, we live away from family.

A lot of players aren't in their hometown. Like, if you're playing for, like, your dream club, like, and it's your hometown, like, you're lucky. You're probably the odd one. out most of us are like living away from home i can't just pop back to sheffield it's a three hour drive then a three hour drive back i'll be absolutely knackered i've gone to see my mum today and i was like i don't have it in me to drive all the way home it's three hours yeah and i'm too tired to like do that obviously you know she's offered to come to me but even that it's like it's hard like it's hard to engage in a lot of conversation sometimes because you you are just like so

wrapped up in your own sort of bubble with it all i know you're also knackered i know So a day off, you want to chill. So I drove an hour and a half, halfway to meet my mum today. It went for a walk and I was just like, it was lovely. I had a really nice time. It was great to catch up my mum. But I get home and I'm like, right now. You're so knackered.

Just help me explain this ownership because I don't also want people thinking it's not like a negative comment. But it's like that one experience I had with that one fan, which is probably the only bad experience I've ever had when it was actually against Villa. like I think as the game's evolving I think people like sometimes forget that

when we take time to go and sign things after games it's not because we have to it's because we want to so I think for me the misconception there is that sometimes in that moment I felt especially from that fan that I had to sign it I had to take the picture

I don't have to it's a choice so it's like you don't own players you don't own their time you don't own the right to say you have to sign. Just because you buy a ticket in the stadium doesn't guarantee you God's given right to receive an autograph or receive a photo. It's a luxury.

If you get a signature or a picture, it's like a luxury, like, oh my God, you've got the golden ticket. And as the game evolves, there will be less and less chance of like getting a signature because we've gone from like 200 fans in a stadium to 40,000 fans in a stadium or 10,000 or 50, whatever it is. We have like signing days and like you do meet and greet. And like, I don't remember when I was growing up, obviously, being a Leeds fan.

I went to games thinking, oh my God, if I would, it was my dream to get Mark Voduca's autograph. Like, you never went to a game expecting to receive anything. And I think that women's football, it has kind of... But we've come from a place where players had time to do all the signatures, and now we don't. Well, I think also we're very accessible. Like, I've drove away from games with one.

People are, like, hitting my car, trying to stop me. And, like, that's something that I know. a lady today out the training ground I was literally, I've been that busy come out of the training I'm on like a work call she literally ran across the road from the training ground rage

I literally nearly hit her as I pulled out and I was like I can't I'm on the phone I was like I'm on the phone she was like start like I'm on the phone but I've nearly hit her yeah I think that's because we have been so accessible like you and me are the same

like we'll always take time for the fans but like we've really I've received abuse on Twitter and stuff before. I've been like, oh, I've come all this way to watch you play and you couldn't even stop until I'm my shirt. And I'm like, yeah, but, okay, but I've signed how many other people's shirts? Like, I really apologise that you weren't one of them, but I didn't go, 100% not signing your shirt, like.

Yeah, that's the misconception for me. We've got things to do, like, straight after a game, like, you've got to go in, you've got a shower, you've got to do your recovery, you've got to, you'd be lucky to get some family time afterwards because by the time you're all ready to go, they need to get off and go home. Ten minutes, max. And then depending on the resort and stuff, like, again, we're not robots. Emotionally.

Emotionally, I am not in a position to give all of my time in that moment. Like, when I'm pulling out of a game or something, honestly, people have, like, absolutely smacked my car and stuff and, like, screaming at a window. And I'm like, okay, first of all, don't do that. Like, that whines me off. So that's the thing that don't make me rage.

Don't touch my car. Don't touch me. That's the other thing is you wouldn't do that. Like just because we're footballers and this is again like I think a misconception is because we're footballers and we do what we do

I do think sometimes people feel obliged that it's okay. It's okay to run up and grab us in the street but you wouldn't do that. You're brought up. You're not brought up to do that to any other person. So there's no different to being a sports person.

And like, you're not obliged to do that. I get it. Like, you're a fan. Do you know what? We do that to be, like, represented in the community and, like, people can recognise you. And I love that. And, like, that's why we do what we do.

Like, we're very much similar in that sense. Like, we do a lot of it to inspire people. But, yeah, and I think the one thing I struggle with a lot is when I'm with my family. Like, the off chance that I get with my family, if it's taken away, it frustrates me because I'm like, okay, I've got five minutes with my family now,

which I might not see them again now for another month. Yeah. Can you just wait until afterwards? Do you know what I mean? If you're, this is my only rule and I've always stood by it and I also don't think this is like wrong.

I personally don't think this is wrong for me to have this standard. But my one rule is if I'm out at a family meal, that is the only time I will say no. that's the only time I've ever said no because I'm like also again if I weren't a footballer I wouldn't expect anyone to interrupt

my meal like that's the sacred time and that's like a special time like I wouldn't go up to someone and interrupt the meal time regardless of your status regardless of your occupation I wouldn't interrupt because for me

that's deemed as rude like that's how I've been brought up you don't interrupt meal time I have a rule at home no phones at the table when we're eating that's family I've been brought up like that is You sit at the table, you have your meal, that's family time. You communicate, you check in.

So that is the only time I say no to fans. Yeah, me too. And then I do, like, I think, but we are very, like, I love the fans support. Like, I love it when people want to want to come up to me in the street and stuff like that. And, like, I will go above and beyond most of the time to sign, to give my time back to fans. Like, without you, we're nothing. We've always done that. Like, we've always done that.

Without them, we don't exist. So, yeah, that's where the family thing is like. We've totally gone off topic here, by the way. Yeah, we have really, really off topic. But these are just, I think it's a good insight for fans to understand how we think and just put yourself in our shoes sometimes. Or just think as a human, like, would you appreciate someone running up to you and grabbing your arm when you don't know them?

Probably not. It would probably startle you and make you feel a little bit insecure and a little bit uncomfortable. But realize we've always. you and appreciate you more than you can ever imagine. Use the reason why the game is where it is. You're the reason why we are where we are, yeah. Right, guys, that is enough waffling from me and Rachel.

We're going to head for a little break. We will be back very soon for more questions. We are back from our break. Welcome back. We're coming to bring you some more. Great questions. We absolutely attacked those first two. questions. So hopefully there'll be a little bit less waffle this time. But the first one I'm

doing with, Mill, is a good question. I think suits me and you. Apart from travel, what is the thing you're most excited to do together when you retire? There is so many things. Do you know what? Just popped my head, sleep over. Because I really miss, like, when we were on camp, that's one thing I really miss. I really miss like we used to just sit in bed with our cup of teas, debrief on life. Like I miss doing that and they were just like four walls. Everything would just enclose like no one no one were like bothering us or like I do miss that and I can't wait till we have sleep over. I'm bringing all the dogs. Yeah. I don't think we get much peace though. Yeah we don't need peace. We like it to be chaotic but I'm looking forward to that and just

do you know what it is just doing normal life like we want to go for a coffee or you fancy going to the pub? Oh, let's go and do a pub quiz. We love a pub nailed out with it. We do, we want to pint of Guinness with our Sunday roast and we want to do a pub quiz. But I'm really want to sleep over.

Do you know what? I always think, like, our kids. Yeah, like little meetup days. Imagine that. God knows when that'll be. But imagine that, like, I think that would be so cute just to spend time together in like a different walk of life.

Telling stories. Well, it's like the next chapter, isn't it, really? Yeah, good question. Very good question, but yeah, there's so much. Don't worry, you'll see it all on the pod. We'll be vlogging. We'll take you through it. Vlogging.

Right, next up. If your dogs played football, which position would they be best in? This is a very good question. I know my answers straight away. Dexie, 100% winger, out and out, fastest thing I've ever seen. Put a ball out in front of her. She takes, she's like a whip it, honestly. so fast.

I could see that. Funny thing, right? Louis started doing this thing. I literally, he defends Dexie. Like, he's a defender. 100% defender, right? So, imagine I've got the ball in my hand. Dexie's face of me, like,

as soon as I move this way, she's this way. If I faked us right that way, she's that way. Right. Louis stands behind her, a shadowing her. If she moves, he moves. Oh, that's so cute. But, like, he'll never, ever, ever go in front of her. Like, he literally is like, goal side of her.

Good lad Whenever she moves He moves But always for hide It's the funniest thing But then she's like gone She's off the side trap In behind every time

That is so cute So Dexie's a winger I think Louis's centre back All right I'm going Zeus in goal Because he ain't running nowhere Let me tell you that for free But he's big stocky

I reckon he could Be a good shot stopper Yeah Herra I'm going as a winger because she's sassy and she's, I don't really see her tackling much and doing any of that sort of stuff. Getting all the glory. Elsa, Elsa's a tricky one, you know.

She's quite feisty. I'd see her in centre mid, you know, breaking up play, putting a few crunching tackles in, keeping it simple. Why is this so funny? I don't know. Can you just imagine Harry doing that though? Yeah. She'd be like a fancy wingo, that's what she'd be.

We've actually got a five-side team. Yeah, sick five-side team as well. Nothing's getting past Zeus, is it? I think we're winning. Right, next question. If you could earn any car, what would you pick? I bet you're going to say your own car, aren't you? Right, I do love my BMWs.

They're the only car that I swear by. I love my BMX6. Oh, she's a tank. She moves nice as well. But what I would say in my dream car, look at me talking like that about cars. What I would say is, I really want a Mustang. Really?

Listen to the roar on it. Oh, yeah, and I'd have it. I love that noise and stuff. Yeah, and I'd have it in jet black, everything black. Oh my God, it'd be insane. Rolls Royce as well, love those, dream car. So if they fancy sponsoring, that'd be great, you know what I mean? Yeah, it'd be nice, wouldn't it?

What was yours be? Defender, Land Rover Defender. Yeah, nice. Love them, absolutely love them. But way out of my price range. As you can see. Yeah, and I think, I don't know, I think it'd be quite hard for me to, like, adjust from. having, like, obviously my Tesla, electric to go back to that.

I just, I'm never, ever, ever get an electric car. I hate it. I know, you don't like her, do you? The horrid, no, I get motion sickness for one. Two, I like to be able to. No, but you wouldn't if you were driving? No, I don't like it. I don't, do you know what it is?

I've always had diesel cars. That's one thing my dad always wanted me to have diesel cars. Diesel cars best on the road. Yeah, I know. I went round to your dad's. I bet you told you off, didn't he? What are you doing with that electric car? Like, well, the crap.

Shut up, Stephen. And then I showed him and he was like, it's all right that, actually. Yeah, it's fancy, but I like to hear my car. I like to hear it raw. I like to hear the engine. I don't care. Mine sounds like a spaceship. Yeah, I don't like that.

I want to hear it raw. That's the beauty of the vehicle. All right, each to their own. Not sure why we're arguing about our preferences, but here we are. Moving on. Chips with gravy or curry sauce. Right.

I am absolutely, it's a. or mood dependent because I'm obsessed with both. And I do think it depends on what you're having it with. Because if I'm having a chip butty, I'm having it with curry sauce. Yeah. If I'm having a tray of chips and mushy peas, I'm having gravy. I think it's mood dependent because I love chips and gravy. They just make me feel so happy.

Chips and gravy, I could literally eat a bowl of roast potatoes and gravy every day for the rest of my life and I'd be, it makes me feel warm. Yeah, but you're going to have roasties with gravy. But like chips and gravy are baking. They are, they are but I just love Chip shop curry sauce I love it

I like it when it's a bit lumpy honestly they answer it gun to my head don't know just shoot me Go then Just give me both

Speak What is wrong with us I don't have lost The plot today Right Let's have a look All right Would you rather be forced

To sing along or dance along to every song you hear. Dance, right laugh. Imagine you just started dancing all the time. The songs come on. Right, what are you going to do if it's a sad song? Are you dancing? You think of that.

Just be a slow one, won't it? Sobbing your eyes out. Well, what would you pick? I don't know. I do like having a little sing song. Yeah, but I think even if it was sad, you could just do a funny dance and it makes everyone happy. Yeah, maybe dancing.

We do like to have a boogie, don't we? I do miss doing our TikTok trends as well I don't I do I miss teaching you one two three four and a one two three four elbow elbow swivel down it was such hard work that for me

guys you will never understand the pain of teaching Rachel a TikTok dance it was the hardest thing I've ever encountered I used to stand behind you and be like is that right left right on we do a simple dance and I'd be like elbow

elbow I can't remember some of the moves but I'd have to go and one two three four step left step right we'd have to break it down into like six parts of like yeah but at least I did it but then it was so satisfying when we nailed it and we were like buzzing we were absolutely buzzing we made up loads of dancers though on camp and I remember when it was me you elves and me though they were the best times what about when we're done that

what I can call that view I think we've too hard about that before I really actually My name is Chicky My name is boom boom Was that what it was? Yeah, something like that But wow, what good questions you've had today I know, so sick

Thanks for listening to another episode Of the rest is football, daily brightness Get those questions in We've really enjoyed them today via daily brightness on socials Or email daily brightness at gollanger.com Thank you again And we will see you next week.

Goodbye for me. Bye. Goodbye, my lover.