The Tooney & Russo Show - Looking Into The Future

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

After episode 2 with tarot reader Kayla, Vick Hope is left with plenty of unanswered questions about what the future holds for Ella Toone and Alessia Russo. So, she sits down with them to dive deeper into their thoughts on what’s ahead.Tooney admits that family life is a distant dream for now—but that hasn’t stopped her from stockpiling baby names in her phone. Meanwhile, Vick shares how she finally convinced her Liverpool-supporting husband that naming their soon-to-arrive baby after Mohamed Salah might not be the best call.Alessia reveals the heartwarming pride her nan feels about her friendship with Tooney, including the moment she grew concerned over unfounded falling-out rumors. And Vick uncovers how football clubs support players navigating maternity, with both Ella and Alessia reflecting on teammates who’ve stepped away from the pitch to embrace motherhood.

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cargurus.ca. BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Would you do reality TV? What, like Only Ways Essex? More like The Jungle or Strictly. Oh, yeah, I'd definitely do I'm a Celeb. Yeah.

Yeah, I think I would like to do that. I love the idea of you doing the only way is that it's all of a sudden you just turn. With the Manchester accent. You just turn up as a new character. Hello, just moved here. Hello and welcome to the Toonie and Russo show with me, Vic Cope.

I'm here with two of football's most famous friends, Alessia Russo and Ella Toon. We're in a different studio today. Listen, let's just be honest. We've been moving around a lot. We have. We've not found our home yet. We've found it difficult to find time to record. Yes.

The couch is getting smaller. We can't get a guest on anymore because of the last thing the suite does Yeah, it's been a busy few months, hasn't it? We've been trying to find time to get together and whenever we can get it, we do and then we'll just go wherever it takes us and here we are and it's nice

It is Well, this is kind of an opportunity, as always to get to know you better Nothing's off the table and we talked a lot about futures We had Kayla, the fortune teller and it made me think there's so many more questions to ask about the future like what do you do you think of the future much or are you very much like I'm in the present I've just I've got to concentrate on what I'm doing right now yeah I don't think I think about

what I'm gonna do after football I think that scares me life after football because all I've ever known is football I still think I'm quite young yet as well. I'm excited for the future but I don't like to think about it right now. I like to really live day by day

else I get a bit too stressed out. Yeah. But when you say like oh I'm not that old yet what is old? Like what do you think of as old? In the football world old is like

not old in normal world. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe like 30s you're nearly retiring older players right but in the real world 30s when when the party starts when your life begins yeah no but when you're younger remember you see like a 16 year old and think that was you know that was ancient already and it shifts it shifts as you get older and you you know you do have to there will come a time when you'll have to consider your prospects.

Like, Les, I know you've gone back to studying. Is that because you're thinking ahead and you're thinking, okay, I need something for after? Or is it just because, you know what, I'm interested? Well, maybe a bit of both. I obviously, I was going to say funny enough, but then I just decided to finish it now I've actually just finished it literally like two days ago finally now she can maze it now she can play with me on camp and stuff instead of doing uni work yeah it's all done which is nice but I think it was

two things one I did so much of it when I was already out in America so I was pretty much done I think I had five classes left and I was just like delaying it delaying it delaying it um and also we were chatting about this earlier I actually really enjoyed it like these last two classes because I'm a little bit older now and I just yeah I think I'll go into studying something else but I don't think it's necessarily for the future I just think it's nice to maybe when I'm away from football have another focus you know like what what do those prospects look like after the game do you want to stay involved in football I think maybe we could be like the new mountain deck maybe something like that would be nice present our own show you could you know yeah you could like Alex Scott has gone into TV for his incredible career

Jill Scott obviously did it so well they've both done really well yeah would you do reality TV? what like Only Ways Essex?

maybe not structured reality maybe more like more like the jungle or strictly I definitely do I'm a celeb yeah I think I would like to do that.

I love the idea of you doing the only ways. All of a sudden you just turn... With the Manchester accent. You just turn up as a new character. Hello. Just moved here for this. When we talk about the future, though, Les always says about owning a vineyard and just getting off.

Yeah. Part of me does want to just escape everything you know yeah but i don't know i don't know what the future will hold but yeah i would like to i love like italian you know like in the vineyards in the we went to the most amazing winery in la didn't we it was like in the hills and it was just so peaceful and they like were so nice yeah made their own wine it was like a family business I just think the idea of that not that I have any clue how to make wine or anything like that but just the peaceful of living like in the hills somewhere is quite nice I feel you like as you know that's that's the life that I've you know wanted for a while and you know not maybe not in the immediate future and I'm always going to want the draw I love my job I love working I love meeting people and telling stories but being able to have that peace being in nature yeah we love farming we

love growing our own sustainable like crops we've been doing olive oil and we've got grapes now so we're thinking wine as well and oh nice the chickens and the egg like it's I love nothing more than seeing something start from a seed from growing into something that can sustain you then that can nourish you like I just love it so much well when we went to yours in Ibiza it was so like peaceful yeah yeah it was lovely and it was like in the, like, I don't know what it is. Is it hills in Ibiza? Sort of. You're sort of in the forest.

You're sort of in the countryside. It was so peaceful. And just like, that's just so calming, isn't it? And we have that here as well in the UK. Like my mum and dad live in the countryside now. And I love going back because you just feel the weight just come off your shoulders as soon as you get back the air is cleaner it's fresher like we're in we're up in Northumberland in the north of the country and it's just like it's what life's about really just nice and calm yeah you would you ever

live in the countryside I don't know I've never done that before you don't live in a city where you are now like no still like it's a town isn't it yeah it's calm yeah I like being around people and that's what I think if I was in the countryside and there was no nothing really near I wouldn't like that yeah it's different for everyone isn't it yeah and you also it's different at different stages of your life yeah like five years ago there's no way I'd want to move out of the city because I want to have fun and I want everything that's like at my fingertips to be here. Yeah. But life, life changes. Yeah.

So I do want to, I do want to mention. Be in peace and quiet. We've talked a bit on the pod about, I feel like you both said, oh, when we're grown up, I'd love our kids to be friends and I've seen a couple I think a couple of footballers recently have announced pregnancies they're having babies um having to take a bit of time out what does the future look like when it comes to having your own family do you do you ever think about that and about like logistics of it with your jobs? I think it's something that you have to think about. I think it's not as easy as, you know, do I have one and come back? Would I be able to come back?

Do I make sure I try and achieve what I can and then step away from the game and have my own family? But yeah, I think right now I'm only 25. So I think for now I'm only 25. Yeah. I think for now I'm doing what I'm doing. And I think there'll be a point in my life where I have to think about it and have to think what's best for me and what's best for starting a family and stuff. So, yeah, it's so nice when you see people announcing, you know, that they're pregnant. And then when they come back as well, it's like wow that's that's inspiring as a female footballer to go and have that time out have a family and

then come back and play the game yeah it was Sam Kerr and Christy Muir who announced that they were having a baby also um Manny Knight a defender Hannah Hannah Blundell she stopped playing during the season yeah to go and have her baby what did you think when she made that decision, when she told you all? Oh, we were so happy for her. And little Romy is so cute. Oh, my God, she came to Old Trafford the other day, and she was just asleep the whole time. It was so noisy, and she was just asleep.

I love that about babies. They just sleep wherever they want. But, yeah, it's amazing that Hannah's stepped away had a baby we were there throughout it like she was she would come into training as long as she could and you could see like the bump getting bigger and bigger over time and then when she stepped away we had a our own little baby shower for her um and then she brought little Romy in and yeah it's it's amazing to see and it'd be nice for her to get back out on the pitch and you know have a little baby watching her as well yeah I mean I'm the same as Toonie like family is a massive part of me and like I would love to have my own

family one day but yeah you don't it's so weird because like loads of your friends have babies, don't they? And they're all like our age. To us, it's like, yeah, like I think with football and how fast it moves and how much there is where you're not on your career and you're not like it's just a new life which is cool to think about as well but you don't know how long yeah how yeah how you're going to come back but you also don't know how long it can take you to get pregnant or if you can have kids until you do it so then there's like a bit of a worry there but yeah I think you can't you just got to live in the here and now exactly you've already got so much pressure on your body doing what you do and that's the priority right now yeah do you um do you know what your maternity would be what the situation would be they it's it's changed recently I think, and it's good now.

I mean, we also had a player at Arsenal that had a baby last year and her support was amazing. She was given pelvic health specialists and her baby's called Mila and she brings her on trips with us and they've been really accommodating to her which is nice and now she's back playing and now she's back playing yeah and yeah her body's been through through it all and it's nice to see her journey like as a teammate how she went through it all and then came back and yeah she's been amazing but yeah the club helped her a lot too and now she she's got a gorgeous little family. That's good to hear, you know.

And it's good to see. And the fact that things are changing, I think across the board that's the case in so many different industries and so many different jobs. I felt like at radio, at BBC, it's been great. I'm sure that's something that's changed over the years. Yeah. But, you know, seeing people like Molly king and charlie hedges and my colleague

katie this is in all her babies recently and didn't feel like there was any pressure yeah you know to do it a certain way or be back by a certain time or yeah or that you wouldn't have your job or you wouldn't be i don't know right for radio one anymore because you're a mom because loads of the guys they all have babies they just don't you just don't know about it yeah yeah that's like in men's football so many people have babies because they obviously don't have to take too much time off work yeah but it's a completely different story for us as well it's a bigger bigger thing what kind of moms do you think you'd be i think i'd be a fun mom yeah cool mom yeah in your leopard print yeah of think you'd be? I think I'd be a fun mum. Yeah. Cool mum. Yeah.

In your leopard print. Yeah. Of course you'll be in my leopard print. Doing the school run. Yeah, cool mums, surely. Yeah. I don't think you'd be strict. I don't think you'd ever shout.

No. I think your kid would be really well behaved. Oh, really? I think mine might struggle. Without me shouting at it. Yeah. kid would be really well behaved. Oh, really? I think mine might struggle. Without me shouting at it. Yeah. Yours would be running around. Well, from what my mum says about me when I was little,

if mine's anything like me, then I'm struggling. Were you hard work? Yeah, really bad. Yeah, mum said I was horrible. I was a terror. Your cousin's little baby's like a little terror, isn't he? Yeah, you can just see in his eyes that he's he's got something in him um but my problem was that was really hair so so when she like brushed my hair and that i just kick off so if my say i have a little girl and she's hair so i just

won't touch her hair you don't know how to do hair, actually. I would just get a hoover. Have you seen that? Where they get the hoover? And suck it all in. Just suck it off and put a bobble on the end. I used to have, this is because I have Afro hair, but like Sunday evenings we used to sit and I would always have my hair

done for the week and it was like plaits, braids, so tight. And I remember it being so painful and mum would like pull it really, really tight. But that's just what we did on a Sunday night.

And then you'd have it for the week. Yeah, at least it's only once a week yeah no I don't know how Alton does it every week yeah comes in with a plaits in and I'm like oh I would have serious headache and hair so I don't know how to do that I don't know how to do the styles yeah yeah Leah's girlfriend's really good at it but yeah I don't know. I wouldn't know what to do. I'd just have to put it in a pony. I'd teach the girl to do it in a high pony. You'd do it. What kind of mum do you think you'll be?

Or like at the moment, I think probably because of my hormones, all I can think is like deeply loving. Yeah. All you're full of is just pure love yeah like not even at the moment not even stress or worry just like excitement yeah like we're both just buzzing yeah that's so nice that's the best that's it we're just you know and and kind of i'm sort of marveling all the time at what the body is capable of yeah the way it changes the way it knows like i don't have to i don't have to

go okay today i'm gonna make hands today i'm gonna make a spleen like otherwise i wouldn't do it in the same way that we don't have to sit here and go right breathe in breathe out otherwise we wouldn't do you have the app on your phone where it says that this week it's an avocado yeah yeah my mates are obsessed with that i am a bit but it doesn't i i so this week apparently it's pomelo what's that like a grapefruit. But last week it was an aubergine. Now in my understanding. Aubergine's bigger.

Aubergine's bigger. Yeah. Exactly. And also, aren't they two different shapes? Different shapes. Yeah. Different shapes. Like one week it was a cauliflower.

And I was like, what cauliflower? They're strange. Like this. And you were like. But and it's squash. But then it was a different kind of pumpkin. And I, so I'm not. Yeah, you've got i i so i'm not yeah you're gonna be sold i'm not so you're just gonna go with the flow i'm just going with the flow yeah that's the best way to be having an absolutely lovely time to be honest i think seeing seeing

all my mates turn into mums and like they're on their journey and you just gotta go with the flow and you're like every child is different yeah and No one can do the same thing for the child, do you know what I mean? So seeing them go in their journeys and doing different things, it's just so nice. I just love, I love kids that you can just give back. When they're quiet and sleeping, when they cry, you just give them back. Your turn. Yeah. top-rated dealers and advanced search tools, deal ratings and price history, so you know a great

deal when you see one. That's cargurus.ca. Does anyone have baby names on the phone, like in the notes page? Yeah. I've always done that. I have too, I've had it for years. Have you? Yeah. Would you share what's on there or no? Is it too personal? Can I tell you, can I share what's on there can I tell you can I guess what's on there Vinnie, Lenny, Reggie yeah I like Arnie however Joe's name Joe's second name is Bunny

so it doesn't fit nice you know what I mean your grandad's name Arnie Arnie is so cute arnie um margo baby names look at them all well i'm having 70 i'm having 20 kids luna you're gonna need 20 i don't have i don't have that yeah less actually said what about luna for a girl because we always say that my dad's gone to the moon he's the man on the moon and luna means

moon yeah that's would that be nice i have a little girl i have a i have seen a lot of dogs called luna nah but little luna bunny this is one thing i've realized is that there's a fine line between cute baby name and dog name yeah there is a fine line and also isn't it funny like you see a name that you love and then you remember this horrible kid yeah yeah that's why we're not saying anything out loud because then you get like a look from someone who knows someone called that and then it's like the context is ruined so you've got a few that you're thinking about or there's a couple there's a couple that we like but we won't say them to anyone else no yeah but have you got one that you prefer more than the others we've got two that we prefer

more than okay nice and then when you see them you'll be like we've got to get to know them yeah me and my brothers had earth names for ages my mum just didn't name us for whatever the maximum time you can do before you legally have to name your child so i was called weaving basket my brother well louis lou Louis was called Running Water. Theo was Beaming Moon and Gabe was Tall Trees. Oh, they're nice. But why were you just kept their names? Weaving, love a basket.

Weaving Basket Hope. Weaving Basket Wosu Hope. And then my middle name is Ongwiao, which is Igbo, so Nigerian tribal language. It's Igbo for Child of the Sun, which is my great-grandmother's name. Yeah. We've all got like Ebo names, earth names,

and then our actual names. I don't know why I was weaving basket actually. Tall trees and... Yeah. But I do love a basket. I actually bought it the weekend and knew, but I've got so many baskets. I like to go out with a basket. I bought a basket in the shape of a donkey.

Oh, that's cute. So it's neither here nor there but anyway that's that's something i have yeah yeah for the baby for the yeah for the baby at the moment everything it's for the baby i love those videos i always cry at them when someone's had a baby and then the mom and dad come into the room and they're like we've named it and then they say like so like for example you'd have a baby boy and you'd be like we've named him Mario and tell your dad yeah yeah I was thinking I cannot name my kids Karen Karen you can't name your kid Karen anymore and Nick like they're not like you know what I mean like oh mum I've named her after you Karen yeah who looked at the baby and said that's a Karen that Karen

my dad's called Nigel yeah you don't get a baby Nigel yeah that is Keith yeah a little baby

Keith Adam's trying to trying to go for Mohammed Salah which oh

I can't call the child Mohammed Salah no you can't yeah I do want to ask you actually where could you live is it dead cert that it will be the UK or could you see yourself like Italy or going back to America or being abroad I'm staying in Tilsa yeah that's home yeah I don't think I'll leave Maybe I'll have a nice holiday home somewhere. Yeah. Maybe I've been there or something like that. I'd be there, yeah. I'd say that.

But I'll always come home. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where I'll live. Probably just near family, wherever they are. Yeah. It's that support network, isn't it? It's having your people. Because at the end of the day, home I don't think is a place.

No. No, it's the people around you. It's a feeling yeah I'm not really too fussed to be honest just near family and friends yeah and all mine are stuck in cells they so yeah they'll be there forever so you will be there too before we finish I just want to imagine okay let's step into a time machine we go forward in the future 50 years what would you like to have achieved what would you like to look back on your life and think yeah I'm really proud of doing that when I was in America um our coach was like a legend out there he was really like philosophical and like really wanted you to

be like a good person a good student because obviously we were in college out there too and he's like whenever you think back on your life and what you want to be just think about what you'd want people to say at your funeral and I think like ultimately yeah we want to achieve everything but you know you want people to remember you for who you are and for the person yeah and how you make them feel and so I think that's important. But obviously we want to win everything too, don't we? It's in our nature. Yeah. It's in nature. But yeah, I think being a good person,

being someone who gives everything every time they step onto the pitch, I think they're the main things. Obviously, when I'm that age, I would like to think I've brought up a lovely family as well. Yeah. You'd be what, in your 70s, in 50 years old? Do you know anyone around that age? Who are the older people in your lives who are wise, I guess?

What sort of advice do they give you? Nan. Oh, my nanny's so cute. Oh, yeah, my nan's mad. She's so cute. Oh, yeah, my nan's mad. She's so funny. I don't know. My nan is just, like, such a family person. She lives in Italy,

and she would just do anything for any of us, our family, our grandkids. So I think that's just nice to know that. And she's, like, a biggest support system. She texts me before every game. She's really good on her phone, considering she's like 86. She's got like her Fire 6 set up so she can watch the game. She voice notes me. She FaceTimes me.

She's really, really tapped in to her technology side. But that's good because she lives in Italy, so we get to speak to her. She's very clever as well. She texts when they don't see me and Les together on camp. She'll text saying, is Toonie okay? Where is Toonie? Yeah, she texts me one camp because I don't know why or what happened, but we weren't seen together for the first few days.

And she texts me saying, hi, hope you're having a lovely camp. Just wanted to make sure you and Ella haven't fallen out because I've been following all the socials and I haven't seen you two together it's like the

daily mail to get the scoop it's what happens when me and my son picture together for one day on camp everyone thinks

we've fell out I feel like the future's looking good the future looks good looks bright looks orange

exciting times thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode of the Toonie and Rooster show remember on YouTube

and BBC Sounds we've got loads more episodes for you to get stuck into and stay tuned for the next episode of The Drops

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