We Are Chelsea - Life In Blue: Fran Kirby

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

Fran Kirby is one of the most recognisable faces in the women's game. During her 9 years at the Chelsea, she has won 5 WSL titles, 4 FA cups and has become the clubs leading goal scorer... not to mention winning the `Euros with the Lionesses’ as well. In this episode, she sits down with Caz De Moraes to discuss her favourite moments in blue, how she has bounced back in some of the tougher times, and what she wants her legacy to be at this club. Plus, she talks us through team nights out and dancing on tables, singing Country Roads. This is Life In Blue, with Fran Kirby.Remember to subscribe and leave a review, wherever you get your podcasts!Send us your questions using to [e-mail] watch the full episode on Youtube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafc/videos#WeAreChelseaMusic courtesy of BMG Production Music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We were on a team night out after we'd won a trophy and country roads came on when we were out and honestly I think everyone else had to like remove themselves from the dance floor because Chelsea women were just boom in the middle jumping up and down and it was literally it was just one of their moments when you're looking around you're like oh my God what a team environment what a culture everyone was so happy

welcome to we are Chelsea a podcast brought to you from the Chelsea women's team. I'm Kaz de Mores, and today we have a very special episode with one of the Blues' longest-serving players. Arriving in 2015, she has fast become one of the most recognisable faces in the women's game. During her nine years at the club, she has won five WSL titles,

four FAA Cups, has become the club's leading goal scorer, not to mention winning the Euros with the lionesses. We're going to dive into all of that and find out what it was like from the legend herself. This is Life in Blue with Fran Kirby. Well, Fran, welcome to the podcast. I'm really happy to have you on.

Can you paint the picture of where we are at the club? We are in the beautiful conference room in the club. I've never been this side of the death. It's quite daunting. It is actually. There's not many people in it. Imagine when it's full. Does it feel daunting?

Sometimes. Yeah. Or I guess did it at the same. start and now you're like I do this you do get kind of used to it but it's still you don't really know especially when you're doing a press conference you don't know what question's going to get thrown at you and yeah it can be a little bit daunting but I think as you do more you just become accustomed to it okay I always wonder as well like does the press officer tell you like oh it's going to be hard today or it's going to be tough or whatever if there's a topic out there that

maybe is a bit controversial then yeah you kind of get told a little bit about it but yeah nine times out of ten it's normally there's one that kind of question gets asked and you're a bit thrown off a little bit but yeah I think when you've been doing it a long time you kind of know how to word and answer that maybe yeah helps you out a little bit I definitely prefer asking the questions than answering them so I feel for you but today should hopefully be very enjoyable I want to get to know you and your life as a blue so can we go back to the very beginning can you tell me what it was like right at the start yeah it was a bit of a whirlwind actually I joined halfway through a season which is always quite

tough as a player coming in because the team obviously has already established itself the team was in a really good place and it was after the world cup in 2015 so it was all very quick because of the transfer deadline and trying to get it all over the you know over the final hurdle and I remember I met my agent I think it was at a service station that I had to meet them half way to like discuss where I was going to go and what team I was going to pick and obviously Chelsea was the one that I went for and we decided it in a service station. In a service station. Yeah, that's how women's football was back then. You know, it wasn't these glamour, you know, these big announcements that we get now. I remember I had three pieces

of paper on a little table down in the women's office and that was my signing on and I had my agent take a picture. You know, that was kind of like me signing. There was no like professional photography or anything like that. So it was very basic back then. You know, now you get all the nice videos and the big, you know, shirt and everything. So, yeah, it was a lot different back then. Well, that's exactly what I was going to say. How much has the club changed?

Because you've been here so long. And I know speaking to Millie, she was saying, oh, it used to be like little packed lunches. And now it's this. Like, how much have you seen the club change? Yeah. Well, when I joined, we didn't have changing rooms. Wow. You know, and we had two sets of kit for the whole week.

Had to take your own kit home and wash it. obviously now we're super lucky that you know that's all taken care of us and we have abundance amount of training kit that we can use but yeah it was very you know the building that now obviously we have as our building we shared it so you know we didn't have a lunch room we didn't have a meeting room it was all very you turn up your train and you kind of go home um so yeah it's definitely changing obviously in terms of the whole building of the women's side and the stadium that we're now playing in at king's meadow and stanford bridge You know, back then, yeah, it wasn't like that at all.

Is there a little bit, or maybe now because we're in the future and everything's improved and you're living a different reality, is there a little bit of nostalgia when you look back and go, I know we were sort of rough and ready and we were doing it, but it was quite nice. Yeah, I think when I first joined Chelsea, you know, there wasn't really much pressure. Okay. Because the women's game wasn't at that point yet. You know, of course you have pressure coming in and, you know, obviously I moved from Redding to Chelsea. There was a buyout in that kind of situation. So there was a slight pressure, but in terms of the fans, in terms of the media, you know, it wasn't spoken about so much, whereas now I think when a player signs for big money now

that's happening in the women's game, there's a lot more pressure, there's a lot more scrutiny. There's not as much patience maybe as maybe what I had joining Chelsea because people want results right now and that's obviously where the business has gone to. But, I mean, for me, I'm delighted that the club obviously has grown and the professionalism in the club and the players that I've been able to play with at this club as well is something that I am so proud of to be able to say that I've played with some amazing players so when I first joined Chelsea it was a step up from what I originally had but then now seeing obviously where it's gone it's it's yeah amazing I mean there's

pros and cons to do them well but I guess one of the cons is that there's pressure there's all these things that you've talked about but I guess you've just been too successful So that's what happens. Just need to stop winning. Talk about the change and I guess the step up or the differences from Reading to Chelsea and how I guess the obvious changes and also the emotional changes. Yeah, it was a really tough decision. Not to join Chelsea and to be part of an amazing club,

but to leave my hometown, to leave a club where my best friends played at, who I've known for, you know, I was at the club at Redding for, around 14 years you know I grew up through their academy I played under the same woman who I played under under 12s Kelly Chambers so we've obviously built

such an amazing relationship and it's hard to have them conversations and kind of send a text message because I was at the World Cup at the time so everything was going on while I was at the World Cup and to have to send that kind of text message saying look I don't even remember what I said I think of something like I'm really sorry but I want to go

and that was really tough because obviously I had such fond memories of the club and we were top of the league in the WSL2 hoping to get promotion. So at the same time obviously Redding were thinking we're going to lose Fran and how does that look for us? You know they got promoted anyway which was amazing for the club and the players but yeah emotionally it was really really tough but I knew if I wanted to further my career and that's always been my ambition I had to do something else and obviously Chelsea was the club that I could see that at the time happening for. So in terms of the club and the decision, it wasn't difficult, but leaving what I've

known for so long, that was probably the hardest part of all of it. And I guess how daunting was it coming into Chelsea? Who were the big characters in the changing room? How did Little Fran feel back then? I was a mute, to be honest. I was an absolute mute. I, well, I came in injured from the world. which also doesn't help the situation because you don't kind of for me my whole life I've built

friendships and relationships by playing on the pitch okay and that's where I express myself that's where I'm most confident and especially back then I was really shy and really introverted but on the pitch I was completely different whereas now obviously I have a bit more confidence and a bit more maturity so you're walking into a room and jilly flarity's there Kate Chapman's there any Alucco's there, Claire Rafferty's there, Hedwig Lindar's there, G, so young. And I'm looking around, I'm like, I've watched these girls, you know, on TV or when I've gone to watch them play,

and I'm actually now in changing rooms with these legends. And I remember when I went with an England camp, it was in La Mango, and I went as an under 23. And I got pulled into a meeting saying, you're going to go and train with seniors today. And I think I'd only been in, like, one or two under 23s camp. So I was like, whoa, like, this is way out of my depth. flight, I don't know what I'm doing.

And the first person who came up to me and shook my hand and introduced themselves was Eniulco. And that has stayed with me when I first joined Chelsea, when, you know, me and Eni have had an amazing relationship, you know, throughout that time. We still do now. And that will always stay with me. And that was probably one of the reasons why I wanted to come to this club because someone actually took the time.

And like, it wasn't like, you should know who I am and shook my hand. It was like, hi, I'm Eni, really nice to meet you. Like, it was a full introduction. and that just showed me the type of person and character any was. And, you know, ultimately I got on with all the Chelsea girls. So that played a big part in it. And obviously coming into that environment, you know, it was really special. Do you try and do the same thing when new players come now?

Yeah, I think it's a bit more different now in terms of there's a lot more different nationalities than maybe it was back then. So I think back then it was predominantly. English maybe G we had head vig we had you know there was a couple that weren't English so I think it's a lot more difficult now to communicate that much but I mean you can you can always you know introduce yourself be polite make them feel welcome you know I was speaking to some of the girls like if you need a car insurance sorted like you need to do this or you know if you need an accountant then you know I know a good one and you can just you know help people get settled in that kind of way

instead of obviously how it was back then in terms of like I knew everything anyway But yeah, I think players have a big role in terms of welcoming people and making them feel settled. And I want to touch on the fact that you said, you were a mute, you weren't really speaking, you were introverted, you didn't, you're not the same Fran that we see today. I guess what, if there's someone listening who has a similar personality, who it just takes a little bit longer to warm up, what were the things or what were the tips that you would give? Because it can feel daunting or if you really want to play, but maybe there's not many women on the team that you're going to play or there's not many women on the team that you're going to play or there's not much. girls and you're going into a boys team you might feel the same things what tips would you give to someone who is feeling that way i mean i don't think there's an easy solution for me i had to do it the hard way i had to get i was i was injured so i realized i had to step out on my own comfort zone

and that would be the biggest thing is i had to then realize i'm not going to make these relationships on the pitch i've got to do more off it and i have similar conversations now with players and sometimes it's maybe just giving 2% more of what you're giving. You don't have to change your whole character to fit in, but is there 2% you can give? Is there something else that you can just slightly adjust to just make people understand you a little bit more? And for me, that was massive in terms of off the pitch anyway, because I knew I had to, if I didn't build them relationships and then I came to on the pitch and I started to act a certain way, people would be like, hold on like you're the shy girl yeah you're shy why are you shouting at me like you shouldn't be

shouting me you don't talk to me so you know you have to get that respect on and off the pitch for people to you know understand you and respect you so what is fran on the pitch like and why does she change so much i think you would get different answers if you ask different people to be honest um i'm very demanding i would say of myself and of others um i'm probably a perfectionist, I would say. I really dislike when I don't play well or if I don't feel like I have played at the level that I feel I can give and I get quite frustrated in that. I'm a team player. I will always try and help the team as much as I can, whether that's on the pitch, off the pitch, my work rate defensively. If I'm through on goal, if someone's in a better position, nine times out of

ten, I'll probably pass them the ball for them to score, you know, situations like that. But yeah, I think it's just my competitive nature. I'm so competitive. I hate losing, whether that's training, games, anything. I will try and win all the time, which is probably where I maybe get frustrated and people think that I'm too demanding. Talk to me about your debut match.

Do you remember it? What was it like walking out on the pitch? What was it like beforehand? What were the emotions on the drive-in? Were you listening to music? What was going on? Yeah, to be honest, I don't remember too much of the day. but I remember obviously getting told to warm up to come on

because I didn't start the game and we were winning at the time so there wasn't much pressure coming in it wasn't like a case of right I need just go on and win with the game so that was quite a nice feeling coming on for your debut and it was at Staines which was a long time ago and not many players in the team now have played at Staines and I loved it there I thought it was great I loved the atmosphere

and when I came on I could hear the crowd were excited because I'd come in in the summer and I could really feel that kind of feeling and then i remember g getting the ball and i just saw a massive space and i just ran into it and i got the ball and i was one v one with the goalkeeper and i was like you cannot miss like if you miss everyone is going to say well frank kirby can't even score a one b one when she's just signed for chelsea like it was like luckily i had a good composure and you know fake the first shot and then shot and scored and i remember just a relief of that moment and just feeling like yeah okay like you're off you're good you're ready to go and

Yeah, I was really, really proud on the way home that I was able to come in and score a goal. I love just imagining that you were saying that to yourself, you cannot miss. Is that how you speak to yourself? You can't do this. You need to do it. Oh, if I had missed, I probably would have asked to get subbed again. It would have been one of them ones where the sub get subbed. I love that.

I mean, it's good. You hold yourself to really high standards. I'm like learning a lot. Yeah, probably too much, to be honest. I think sometimes I've had conversations with managers where they've said, like don't be so hard on yourself like don't expect all the time you are going to be a solid 10 out of 10 but that's really hard for me like if I misplace a pass like you can see that I'm angry at myself for doing that okay I can I can switch it off though you know like I get angry in the moment and

then I'm like right okay come on next one okay so I show the emotion I show the anger but then you move on to the next thing okay your Chelsea women's top score that's a feat in itself When you think back to when you were joining, did you ever think back then, I'm going to be Chelsea's all-time top scorer? No way. No way. I mean, I knew I had ability to score goals coming into the club

because I had scored quite a few for Redin. But I always see myself as more of a playmaker. You know, someone that helps with goals. Of course, I love to school goals. It's a great feeling to score goals. But I never imagined where my game would go in terms of how many goals I would score and be able to score. And yeah,

it's something that I'm hugely proud of. And it's something that, you know, I obviously believe that record will be broken by a certain someone who obviously is an amazing goal scorer. But for me to be able to have that journey with Chelsea and, you know,

maybe the moments where we didn't have all of these facilities, we didn't have all of these things that we do now to be able to continuously score goals for the club and, you know, help the club win. trophies is something that I am really, really proud of and I will never ever take for granted.

Let's talk about celebrations and in the changing room. Yes. What's that like? Yeah, they're a bit crazy, to be fair. I think for us as players, obviously, we focus each game. You know, so we don't really get blown away

with, you know, oh my God, if we win this game, then we could possibly, you know, win the title. But yeah, our celebrations in the changing room are quite quite fun um obviously country roads is always on when we win um i don't know if i should be saying this but we're just in jess car walking to the room but i remember we were on a team night out after we'd won a trophy and uh country roads came on when we were out and honestly i think everyone else had to like remove themselves from the dance floor because chelsea women were just boom in the middle jumping up and down and it was literally it was just one of their moments when you're looking around

And you're going, oh my God, what a team environment. What a culture. Because like literally like just so randomly, probably someone went and asked the DJ. It's normally me. It wasn't me. So I don't know where the song came from. But yeah, it was just one of the moments when I was just looking around and everyone was so happy.

And I think that memory will stay with me forever. And obviously all the ones in the change room as well. But that one, I think because it was that song. The whole team was out. And it was like literally like, I think I probably pushed about two randoms off. And I was like, no, we're here. This is our moment. I love that

I absolutely love that talk to me a little bit about what Emma was like obviously it's really sad it's her last season here but what was what's been the pivotal moments having Emma as the kind of big boss

well Emma was the driving force for me to come here she was so on it with me and made me feel really valued and made me feel that the club really wanted me she really wanted me and when you have a manager who's actively going out of their way to make

you feel this way you're like yeah i want to play for this person i want to i want to come into this environment because this person is selling it to me in such a way of you will fit in here you know you're going to win trophies here and hearing that confidence and that drive i was like yes like this is where i need to go this is a manager who knows what she wants she wants to win trophies i want to win trophies it's a it's a no-brainer really and do you think your mentality of pushing yourself and also being so competitive does that go hand in hand with emma i feel like it would and she didn't need to do much work on you but she didn't need to kind of convince you or push you in those areas because it sounds like you're similar no absolutely not and she still laughs now to this day we had training

the other day and we have a point system of every match day minus one and you get a point for every win and we did one the other day in training where not everyone was out in training but my team won. So I went over I said, is that a point? You know, I'm near the top of the leaderboard or I am one of the top of leaderboards. I'm like,

I still want my points. That is the level that I go to and she said, you will never change. So she knows from me nine years ago to now, she knows that I am grinding out for these wins and I am grinding for these points. Well, you like to win. I mean five league titles, four FAA Cups, two league cups and a community shield.

Do you think you can pick... And a spring series. And a spring series. I don't forget. Winner. Winner. Winner. Winner.

Chicken dinner. Absolutely. Can you pick out your personal favourite? Okay. I'm going to go from the beginning. Scoring my first goal, obviously on my debut. Winning the league, obviously. First time Chelsea had won it, which was really special.

Scoring Chelsea's first Champions League goal. It's definitely up there as one of my highlights and being part of obviously the first campaign. That must have felt incredible. Yeah, it was a good one. It was a good one. And it's not normally a goal that I score either. It was outside the box.

I hit it quite hard. Hit the cross by and went in. And I don't normally score goals like that. So that was a nice one to remember, to be fair. Obviously, all the trophies, winning at Wembley, you know, you can't really compare to that type of feeling. Let's talk about your first time playing at Stamford Bridge. How did that feel?

What's the atmosphere like there? Well, I remember the first couple times we played, I was injured. So I didn't get a chance to play. And I was devastated. Absolutely devastated, especially the second time, because we played there before and I accepted that I was injured and I couldn't play. And then I saw that we were playing at Stamford Bridge again and I was training and got injured again.

I was like, oh my God, like this is just not meant to be. And then obviously coming in into the. the game at Stanford Bridge was an amazing feeling and the crowd hearing the crowd it just is something that I will just never forget and you know for me I always hold on to memories that I feel are more emotional rather than you know everything else going on and hearing people cheering and happy for me to come on and being part of that it's it's something that I will never forget Tell me a little bit about your relationship with the fans because you've talked about the crowd there.

How have they supported you? How do you see them? How do you view them? They've been incredible for the whole thing. And I think, you know, obviously there has been some frustrations and I feel the frustrations in terms of my injury, in terms of my illness, in terms of all of that side of it. And I will never sit here and say, oh, why are you frustrated with me?

Because I also get frustrated with myself that I'm not able to give them. more because I feel for the whole journey and those who have been there from the beginning and those who are joined along the way they've always been so supportive of me and understanding and yeah like I said when I'm coming into games and they're giving me the reception that they're giving me or you know I always hear them chant my song and that's been there since I first joined to now and it just it just really gives me a sense of this is where I've been this has been my home and they've made it feel more like home than I probably ever could have imagined so for me the fans have been incredible and I probably couldn't ask for any more support

than what they've given me if you had to pick a game that stands out that you loved the main one I would say was the Continental Cup final against Bristol because it was on Mother's Day yeah and obviously I scored a goal which was really nice and obviously I could celebrate in a way to to show that emotion so that one would probably be my favourite and obviously we won which was amazing but obviously Maron also had a really bad knee injury so it wasn't my favourite

but it's favourite obviously for emotional reasons and I'd probably say the by Munich one at home which then we went to the Champions League final that was pretty special one to obviously score right at the end and I remember people after the game they were like to me but why didn't you shoot earlier when I went through and I was like Because if I'd shot earlier and I'd missed, you would have...

Yeah, you'd have all come at me. Yeah. So let me get to a place where I'm comfortable. All people kept saying to me after the game, we're like, why didn't you shoot earlier? So the ball went in. Stop. That's got to be a really hard part of, I guess, the transition because there wasn't much social media when I was growing up. And, well, it's just got a lot more.

And now, in some ways, the fans are so much closer. and it's great that you can just message Frank Kirby and you might like it or you might message back. And even though you don't respond to everyone because there's so many, that has to be a really difficult part because even though they're strangers and sometimes what people say it doesn't mean anything,

I feel as humans we hold on to the negative more than we hold on to the positive. How do you deal with that amount of comments and just whether they're negative or positive just saying something like that, I scored. It's the problem. Yeah, it's definitely, like you said, become a lot more open for people to write things on social media than obviously when I first joined Chelsea. To be honest, I would say when I first joined Chelsea, I still got quite a lot of messages, whether they were positive or negative.

Okay. But I feel a lot of the time people write on social media negative things because not everyone always wants to be positive about people. So if I feel positive, I always think about reviews as well. unless obviously you're actively going on I say for a review for a restaurant if everything's great you probably won't go and write a review yeah you're right

but if it's negative you want to go on and tell everyone that it was bad and that they shouldn't go there and the forks were dirty or whatever it is so I feel like that is a bit of contrast as well in terms of social media in terms of I could score two goals in a game and go on social media

and there's nothing there right I could have a bad game and Chelsea fans are oh no She's not at the level anymore. We need to get rid of her. And you know, you have to take that in and you have to, you know, read that. And it's not easy.

I would say for me over the last few years, it's definitely been a journey with social media in terms of in some moments it's really affected me and probably affected me too much. I've allowed it to affect me too much. Whereas obviously as you grow and you become, you know, more experience and you understand, you know, like I said to you now, like not everyone is going to be your fan. Not everyone likes the way you play, the way you look, the way you talk, the way you act. Do you smile at the camera? Do you walk past the camera? Do you interact with fans? Do you not?

Everyone is always going to have a judgment on you, even though they don't know you. And I think I had to learn that quite quickly of, you know, not everyone is going to be happy for you and is going to like you. I do think that is a tough thing that the new generation will probably have. You know, you'd have like media training, but now you probably have to have how do you deal with social? media and someone else I mean I can understand why lots of athletes have someone else just deal with it and they don't look at it um but like people go I'll just ignore it well yeah you can just ignore it but we always also think about the negative things about ourselves yeah no one ever really sits there and go I look great today you know you don't say that to yourself you look in

the mirror you go oh I look tired you know you're already putting the negative thoughts into your own head and then you read something where someone else is saying negative things about you and then it spirals. Yeah, well, especially you because you're driving a hard bargain on yourself, it sounds like. I know, yeah, I'm awful about myself as well. Don't worry, I don't need anyone else to do it for me. If I've done a bad pass, I know. Not awful, but you hold yourself to a very high standard.

And so, yeah, I can imagine that that would be really hard. I mean, you've been here nine years. You've played with so many different players. Is there one player that sticks out in your mind that you think, oh, she was incredible? Gee, so young. I really. Without a shadow of a doubt. Okay.

Yeah. Obviously, look, I've played with some incredible players. You know, the likes of, like I said, Ennio Lucco, Claire Rafferty, Hedviglindal. You're looking more recent, Penelajada, Magda, you know, Anna Borges, you know, players who, you know, incredible, incredible players. But, gee, for me, never got the recognition she deserved as a female footballer worldwide. Okay. I think she's someone. that should have been in awards, winning awards every year she played at Chelsea.

And I never felt she got given that record. I think towards the end she did, but still not enough. Okay. I think she, incredible, funny person, a bit of a diva. Yeah. Okay. But she go on the pitch and, you know, incredible. I loved playing with you.

When you say diva, what was she like? Throwing tantrums. Every now and then. To be fair, if we ever wanted more days off, we'd ask G. Because Emma would give G the days off. So after a huddle, for example, and we'd have a huddle, obviously, after every game. And G would be there two days off? And we'd all be like, cheering.

And Emma would be like, all right. But if I was to do it, you would just look silly. He'd be like, no, Fran, absolutely not. I love that. Everyone needs a little G in her life. Absolutely. We miss her on two days off. you're one of the most recognizable faces in women's football how have you managed to deal with

that rise and I guess still maintain a level of somewhat normality in your life that was really hard actually for a period because I felt at one point everyone wanted a piece you know when you're doing well and you're playing well of course everything else comes with it and I think I struggled a lot with that in terms of being able to block that out and being able to focus on the football and I think it took me a couple of months to be like you know what no you're a footballer you're here to play football you're here to play well you need to park everything else and that was that was quite tough

because I felt in the women's game there wasn't really that happening for many others and I think for me I was probably the first one that was kind of exposed to that in terms of media in terms of all of that side of it so I had to learn very quickly how to deal with that and how to park that to then focus on you know I had to have numerous conversations

with my agents where they probably hate it I was like no we're not doing any media we're not doing any marketing in the next couple of months because I need to focus on football and being strong enough to do that is something obviously now that I can do and I think maybe sharing them

with the youth coming through to make them understand look first and foremost you're a footballer. Yeah. If you give everything to footballer, look what you can achieve. And I had to have that conversation with myself to be like, look, no. Like you're losing track of what's important and that's football and that's winning. So off the back of that, I guess how important has the mental health side of it been?

Because that's been a real journey for you. You've been really open about it. But for anyone else looking in, because we haven't walked in your shoes, what have you learned from what you were at? exposed to, I guess. It's a good question. I would say I've learned that life is a journey and it's not always going to be pretty. It's not always going to be roses. And you never really know what's going on inside someone's head.

And there are moments when I play in a game of football where maybe I'm not at the best headspace at that time. For whatever reason, it could be that, you know, there's been a buildup of games, there's something going on at home. I've had a fallout with someone everyone says I'll be professional don't bring it into work absolutely but it's hard sometimes to

you know and I think that's something that everyone can learn from even now why for example for me if I lose a game of football I'm miserable and of course I want to show my appreciation to the fans and to everything they've done

but I am miserable so don't expect someone to come over smiling at you and all happy and oh yeah amazing I appreciate the fans more than you can ever ever imagine but winning to me is what gives me that feeling

and I think it's the case for many girls in the team as well maybe like they haven't had the best game or whatever and maybe they get a bit of scrutiny for not signing things for not smiling and sometimes it's understanding what maybe that person is going through

or maybe just allowing do you know what she's not in the right place right now and that's fine of course if you bring it over and over and over and over and over then you know then maybe you need to look to actually go and get some sort of help in terms of dealing with that emotion but it's just everyone understanding that everyone is in different spaces and not everyone is open and comfortable changing the way that they are to suit what everyone else's needs are yeah it's a very good point you never know what someone's going through and you just expect I guess my next question has to be on how you want to inspire the next

generation because everything that you've done I mean I haven't even touched it but not just at Chelsea with the lionesses it's obviously propelled the game to a different level do you feel that pressure and how do you want to inspire the next generation the next Fran Kirby's coming not. I want to inspire them to win, to want to be winners, to want to push themselves to their limits, to be competitive, to be a good person, to be a good teammate. I think all of these things are my core values. How can I be a good teammate and how can I win? And for me, that has driven me to probably pushing myself so much so that when I come into training, I can train the hardest that I can, whether I'm playing, whether I'm not playing.

If I'm not playing, I'm making your life hell because they're going to make your life hell on Sunday. That's my mindset. It's never easy. It's never, oh, I'm not playing, so I'm not going to try. It's how can I be my best? Because, by the way, on Sunday, you're coming up against another European champion

or someone who's been voted as one of the best players in the world. So how can I make it difficult for you? And I think that is, especially at a club like Chelsea or a club where you know that you're looking to win titles you need players that are going to push the other players to want to have the same ambitions and the same

drive so if I'm showing that after winning the trophies that I have and I still can give that every day then hopefully that inspires people to go do you know what if she does it maybe then I can go and win X amount of WSLs X amount of FAA cups and that's

where a club like Chelsea should be aspiring to do I mean I just need to give a moment after every one of your answers. I'm like, I need to keep that in for me and my life. My last question, because I do have to wrap you if you're a busy woman. What do you want your legacy to be? And I guess how iconic do you want the number 14 to be? Yeah, I mean, the number 14 is iconic to me anyway,

regardless on what happens with the club and the number 14 at the club. It's something that, you know, when I first took the number, I took it obviously for a specific reason. Which was? My mom's birthday. So I remember Emma messaged me and I was originally 11 at Reading. Okay.

And obviously Claire Rafferty had number 11. So there was no way I was going to come in and say, do you know what, Raff? Give me that number please. And Emma messaged me and said, look, 11's not available. Like these are the numbers that we have available. Like, what do you think?

And I saw the 14. I said, I would love to have number 14 because it's the same day as my mom's birthday. and that was just kind of it and I think as I've progressed with the club and achieve more it's become so much more than just I'll take number 14

it's just become embedded in who I am and what I am and yeah I think for me to be able to leave this shirt in a good place and in a place where whoever ends up having the shirt will know what it means and will hopefully give as much as I have done to the club

and be able to carry on, obviously, what I have done with the number. I think that would be really special. And, yeah, I mean, for me, legacy is someone who just gave everything for the shirt and everything for every team that I played with, all the players that I played with. And that, you know, when people talk about you, they don't just talk about you as a footballer. They talk about you as a person. They talk about your character. They talk about how you were in the team environment.

and that is what I want to be remembered for in this building, how I interacted with everyone, how I was with the kitchen staff, the media staff, the security, was it smiling when I came in, did I wave when I came in? You know, all of these things are important to me. So hopefully, you know, that is something that my legacy leaves people going, do you know what?

Yeah, great footballer, but even better person. I want you to be my life coach. My job after football. I love it. It's just so brilliant. I'm going to be like, smiling and waving at everyone I meet today. I'm going to be like, I'm a great person, but I'm a brilliant person, actually.

I'm not, I'm going to say, I'm a somewhat great footballer. We've got some ability. Some ability is a footballer, but a great person. Fran, you have been such a special guest. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you very much for having me. Thank you for listening to We Are Chelsea. Don't forget to like and subscribe.

And we'll be back with more episodes with Chelsea's top players. We'll see you soon. Thank you.