We Are Chelsea - Life In Blue: Sophie Ingle

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

This is We are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Škoda, the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporters of women's sport.www.skoda.co.ukCaz De Moraes is joined by Sophie Ingle, who holds the record for most WSL appearances. Sophie has done two spells in blue and talks about how the club has changed over both stints. And we hear about how she received her call to rejoin Chelsea whilst Emma was in hospital after giving birth.Remember to subscribe and leave a review, wherever you get your podcasts!Send us your questions 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.

Emma was in hospital, give birth to Harry, and that evening she rang me to say, she wanted to sign me and she thought I was ready to come back to Chelsea and they had been monitoring me over the years, which was just insane because she had just given birth to Harry and she's ringing me from the hospital bed. Hello and welcome to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea. Women, brought to you in association with Skoda, who are the official car partner of Chelsea Women's and proud supporters of women's sport. I'm Kazda Mores and today I'm joined by another Chelsea Club legend.

She's had two spells with the Blues and has won nine trophies during her time hit. She's a centreback who also holds the record for the most WSL appearances. This is Life in Blue with Sophie Ingle. Sophie, thank you so much for coming on. Welcome to the podcast. We are Chelsea. How are you today? Yeah, I'm really good. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Well, we're going to get stuck in, and I've got a pretty big question straight away. I mean, you're the record holder for the most appearances in the WSL. Big question, how proud are you of not only that, but your career so far? Yeah, it's obviously a nice achievement to get to when I thought, probably never thought I would get to. Probably shows my age as well. Being in the league for probably over 10 years now. But yeah, it was nice to do it in a blue shirt after so many years at being at Chelsea.

And you've had two spells in blue. Talk to me about the first spell and the second spell and how they may have differed. Yeah, so the first spell was when it was semi-professional. I was studying in university in Wales in Cardiff. So I used to travel twice a week to train at Chelsea on a Tuesday night and a Thursday night. And then we'd obviously play on the weekend, depending where the game was.

Would I either drive up to Staines at the time where our home pitch was or meet the team somewhere for an away game on the bus. And yeah, we used to train 8 or 10 at night on the AstroTurf down the bottom and would then get home, I don't know, 1, 2 a.m. And then go to university the next day. And then fast forward maybe, I don't know, 4 or 5 years later to come back and it's fully professional, day training, train every day. Yeah, very, very different.

It's so bizarre to think when we see you guys now, the stars, Pat's Time for Bridge, there's just so much kind of glitz and glamour about the women's game now. But as you say, it's 2 a.m., you were kind of at uni. You were here pre-Emma Hayes. What kind of energy or what kind of, I guess, what did Emma really implement? to raise the standards? I think when she first came in, it was the last, say, two months of my time here at the first period.

And we had a chat towards the end of the season and she said she wanted to keep me on for another year or two, whatever it was at the time. But she wanted to up it to three times a week training because she wanted to professionalise the game here at Chelsea. And at the time, obviously, I would have loved to have stayed, but I also thought studying was also important to me because I didn't really know

that the women's game was ever going to go professional so I couldn't really risk that and I wanted to finish my degree in Wales so I had to turn that offer down and hence why I ended up moving to Bristol Academy at the time

who were still in the same league but yeah that's one of the reasons why I left Chelsea and what were you studying and how difficult was that decision I was studying sport development which is linked with coaching a bit But yeah, it was tough because I did enjoy it even though it was a lot traveling two, three times a week and also studying, playing for the university team as well, which I also loved. Again, it was the way the women's game was going.

And like I said, Emma wanted to up it to three times a week training and probably the year later would be four and eventually full time. So that just showed Emma's intent from the start coming to this football club. Can we talk a little bit about your position and how it started and then it's. changed and you were kind of centrally and what happened there with your position and how happy were you with the transition? I just loved it because I got to play and I think it helped me as a player

to be able to play a different position and learn a new role maybe I wasn't great at it at left back but I think because when I first came to Chelsea the left back at the time Claire Raff got injured so Matt Beard the manager brought me in and knew I could half use my left foot so he just said you know go fall back and let's see how you do

and obviously I was only a youngster then so I just thrived and couldn't believe I was playing for Chelsea to be honest so yeah it was just more excited than I didn't really think about the position too much and touching on that I can't believe I was playing for Chelsea let's talk about you coming back for your second spell

how that came about how did you feel what was going through your mind so the last game of the season I was at Liverpool at the time and we had just played Chelsea and Chelsea had gone all year unbeaten and it was half time we were winning 2-0 at Liverpool against Chelsea and they went on to beat us three to and were unbeaten the whole season. I'd already won the league the week prior. Emma was in hospital, give birth to Harry and that evening she rang me to say she wanted to sign me and she thought I was ready

to come back to Chelsea and they had been monitoring me over the years. Which was just insane because she had just given birth to Harry and she's ringing me from the hospital bed. I mean, I feel like that sums up Emma Hayes. I'm just picturing her in hospital, newborn next to her, TV on. And she's like, has anyone got, can you get Sophie on the line? I've got a really important conversation to have with her. What?

I know. It's insane. And probably didn't need to happen right then. But obviously she was thinking of the next season. and she wanted to get things done as soon as she could. But, yeah, I'd just given birth to Harry, I think, the day before. Oh, my God, I love that. She's absolutely one of a kind. Can you talk to me about those early training sessions and what they were like?

With Emma when I first came back. Yes. They were exciting. It was another step up from originally being at Liverpool. I think the standard here was a league higher with all the players that were at this club. But also I kind of relished in that and I loved competing against, you know, the best around and having them as my teammates. What do you think, I mean, it's obvious now because we've seen what Emma's done and what she's achieved and what you've all achieved at this

club. But what do you think Emma had then that made you all, I guess, not only buy into her way of thinking and play for her, but believe that she could take Chelsea on the kind of winning streak that she has and win all these titles and professionalise the game in the way that she wanted and fulfil that vision. I think it was mainly just the standard she set off the pitch. There was no days where you could just have a jolly. It wasn't about having a laugh. It was, let's be as serious as we can. We want to win every title that we can. Talk to me about your debut and can you remember the buildup where you're feeling nervous where you're feeling excited did you feel like you had something to prove what were the feelings mentality going into

it do you know what I'm really bad in my memory I actually don't remember what game it was okay that's fine don't worry but I always just I never really get nervous I'm quite laid back and I am getting those vibes though to be fair you're very calm and I just think you know football is it's just a game and obviously of course you want to win and you'll do everything you can but if you've done the prep you know during that week then you should be in a good place going into that game so there's no need for nerves and you should just enjoy it

and I always think there's a lot worse that can happen than losing a football game so that's always been my mentality and I think it shows in the way that I play that I don't really get nervous and I'm calm you know 90% of the time what was it like walking out into the stadium being part of a new club or a new era of the blues.

I think it was just exciting. I think looking back now how far the game has gone, and especially at Chelsea, how much this team's grown over the last, say, six years that I've been here. It's just, yeah, really exciting that where it was, say, there was a thousand people in the stand. Now we're selling out stadiums, and it's a regular occurrence now.

And it's kind of what we expect and we also deserve, I think, as players to, we have to give that on the pitch and we have to show the quality to then bring the fans back, you know, week after week. Do you remember the difference in, or was there a difference when you sign the second time compared to signing the first time?

So I think Fran said that she signed in a petrol garage along one of the motorways. She was like, I'm pretty sure there was no glit to glamour. I literally signed, whereas obviously players coming in now, there's media, there's photo ops, what we're the two like for you? I think both of mine were here at Cobham. Okay. I think at the second time I had a choice to go to Stamford Bridge and see the pitch and do

the sign in there, but me being me, I just didn't want the fuss. I just wanted it as easy as possible and I just brought my mum to Cobham and yeah, we went to the men's building and did the sign in there. Touching on your mum, what is your family and friends, what has the support been like? Yeah, unreal. I can't thank them enough over the years. I think as a little girl, I was lucky enough that my mum and dad could take me to football. You know, they drove some of my friends' parents maybe didn't drive so they couldn't go to games or training. But I was really lucky that they supported me in that way and they would drive me wherever my game was and continue to do so.

And when you chose to leave Chelsea, which would have been really difficult because you clearly love and love the game and would have loved to have been a professional footballer, but you chose your studies were your parents always supportive of that too? Yeah, I think they've always said, you know, you go and do what you want to do and they'll obviously advise and support where we're necessary. But at the end of the day, it's my decision and my mum always says I'm quite stubborn. so whatever's in my head I'm going to go with and like I said at the time the game was it was different it wasn't full time and you know I knew I needed something to fall back on if football didn't work out or I had a big injury

or a club didn't want to sign me at least now I have a degree you know to fall back on absolutely it's incredible that you've managed to do both and actually speaking to quite a lot of you it's something that I've found in the women's game you guys are very interested in keeping your mind occupied anyway. I think it was Hannah that was saying she's learning Italian and she's learning other languages. So I really enjoy the fact that you guys are still learning and wanting to educate yourself while also doing this.

I mean, I'm not sure I'd be able to do it. I'm not going to lie. I don't know if I'd be able to train and then go wake up and get back at 2 a.m. and go and do a degree. Yeah, I'm not sure about now because the game has, it is a dad. and it's changed so much to them have to study alongside playing full-time. I think that is quite tough maybe for the youngsters coming through who also want to study but aspire to be a professional female athlete.

I think that's tough. And maybe we need to look into that more to help the youngsters that want to do both because I think that is really important. This podcast is brought to you by SCODA, the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. Whether you're playing five aside after work, cheering the kids on from the sidelines on a Saturday morning

or gathering with your mates to watch the big leagues at the weekend. Skoda's the perfect companion for your everyday adventures. Zip around town in the fully electric eniac or give the squad a lift home in the all-new seven-seater Kodiak. There's something in the range to suit teams of all shapes and sizes. Don't just take my word for it. Search the Skoda range today to jump in and see for yourself. So noticeably, what were the changes that you found were great here at Chelsea coming back the second time?

Well, the first day I came in, we got giving breakfast, which was amazing, you know, to be, have a chef upstairs and someone cook for you and it was obviously all healthy food. That was a big change coming back because before it was just, we'd stop at the services and pick up a sandwich before training. Whereas, yeah, coming in on my first day of training, the second time joining Chelsea, we had obviously food, we had all our kit washed for us this time. I didn't have to take it home to my mum for her to wash it and it was all in piles. They were probably on the first day anyway. They were the two big differences that I noticed and obviously training in the day. I love that.

I remember speaking to Katie Chapman and she was saying that, yeah, she could always tell. who knew how to do their laundry and separate their whites from their colours and blacks because some would turn up in grey socks. Yeah, I can imagine. Let's also talk about Emma. I know we've touched on her, but obviously she's been an integral part to your journey and this club. How much of an impact do you think she's had on your career? Yeah, massive.

I think even, you know, going back to that phone call when she was in hospital to be able to do that as a manager as a mother at the time, I had a lot of respect from that day, one to say she was monitoring me over the last couple of years since I had left Chelsea and she thought I was in a good place to come back and really push on this team as Katie Chapman was just leaving. So it was kind of like a replacement that Emma felt that they needed a holding midfielder to come back. So from that day it was just, I think, a lot of respect between the both of us and very honest conversations. you've won nine trophies in your second spell can you look back on that time did you think when you first signed for the second time that you would go on that kind of winning streak

honestly no i don't think i thought i would win nine um i definitely knew we could win things here and that's one of the reasons why i did sign for chelsea because um they were already successful emma already ran won a lot of trophies but when you put it like that to win nine in say six years it is quite a lot of trophies I think in the first season we didn't actually win anything when I first came and I thought god this team's not used to not winning but then since that we kind of went on a winning streak how difficult is it being part of a team that wins so much because we see it with

a lot of the big clubs especially the pressure maybe that fans sometimes bring because there's just this expectation for you to win. How do you as players deal with that? Yeah, it is intense. But I think Emma brings in the right people to be able to deal with that pressure at this club because we are always going to be competing for all of the trophies every single year and you have to be ready for those finals or to get to finals. And I think everyone has a level head here, which goes along.

way, I think, at the top of women's football. And everyone has to be at their best, but also ready for those challenges, because it's not easy. Like you say, you play a game every three to four days. You're always on the road. You're not home much. Sometimes you play a lot. Sometimes you don't as an individual, but you have to be ready for when you are needed on the pitch. And I think that's why Emma does so well in bringing in the right personalities to this football club. And do you mean as in the team and players or do you also mean backroom staff and people that maybe as fans we don't see yeah both probably um obviously more so as players um because we have to gel together on the pitch but it's we all have to have the same mentality and if you have one going astray and

going to do their own thing it's not going to work but i think emma really studies people's personalities and make sure she brings in the right personnel um and also for the staff um because we obviously You have to get on with them and we have to respect them and we have to listen to the advice they're giving us. How much of a change do you think it'll be when Emma leaves and someone new comes in? Because she's so iconic when we think of Chelsea Women, we think of Emma.

How much will, I guess also you guys have to adapt to a whole new person? Is there a part of your minds that are going, oh, I'm going to have to prove myself to someone completely new and different? Or is it quite exciting to have that challenge ahead? Yeah, I think it's. a bit of both. I think you do have to prove yourself because this new manager coming in probably haven't seen you much or they don't know you as a person. Whereas a lot of us have worked with Emma for four, five, six years. And that is going to be the big change because we're

so used to the way Emma works, how she leads herself, how she does meetings, how she trains with us. So all those little things are obviously going to change because whoever comes in is going to be different to Emma, whether they have similarities or not, they're still a different person. And that's a part of football that you have to adapt quickly because you don't really have time to necessarily get to know someone, you know, in and out within a couple of weeks. You know, you have to just all have the same goal and hopefully you're all on the same page to go and bring the trophies home. So many of the players that I've spoken to have talked about how much Emma impacts their

life away from the pitch as well and how much she's helped them personally for whatever's been going on. How important do you think it is for a manager to take on that role and see you all as, I guess, whole human beings rather than just players? Yeah, I think it is important. Just because we aren't just footballers, like you say, we have our own lives away from football and we all have different personalities, but it's just about someone recognizing, you know, how's your family, today or what do you do on your day off you know just those little conversations can go a long way from the top and obviously it's tough for emma because she has so many players so many staff to deal with it's not easy and she can't do it every day and us as players we don't expect it every day but

you know every now and then when she does just check in on you to make sure you're doing okay or pulls you aside to say you're training really well and you're doing doing good for the team I think those little conversations do go a long way and that's where the girls have a lot of respect for her. I'm really curious because you've been here so long and twice. What are your standout moments from either the first spell or the second spell? I always say the FA Cup final when it was COVID, you know what? The Christmas one it was in December, which was crazy to think that

we had played an FA Cup final at Wembley in December. in the weather that one always stands out for me because it was just after COVID and the fans could come back and obviously we won so that always helps but I think it meant more

because the fans were there and we had played so many games without them and football's not the same without the fans well it's interesting because we did notice I think I noticed as a fan in the men's and the women's game that some people really thrive from having a crowd

whether it's the opposition or their home crowd. And in the men's game, particularly, I noticed that some of them thrived having no crowd. So personally for you, I mean, it sounds like I know the answer. How much of an influence do the fans have? Yeah, it makes them more exciting. And that's what you want. You want to turn up to a game

and you want to get a bit of banter from the opposition fans and your fans to support you. And we missed that for so long. It was just kind of like we were playing friendly games because that's how it feels, you know, in preseason when you do a friendly and there's no fans there it's just you can hear the coaches whereas when the fans come back you can't hear the coaches you can't hear what they're saying which is it's nice sometimes yeah sometimes that can be good um but yeah i think having the fans there

was was the big thing who is the best player's hard question who's the best player that you've played alongside in blue it is a tough question but one sticks out g-say-on franz said the same thing actually Yeah, I think she's one of those players. I think until you actually play with her, you don't realize how good she is. Of course, opposition will always say she stands out, you know, for her qualities. But when you see her daily on the training pitch, she's phenomenal. If you had to, now this is also a tricky one, if you had to tell me what your top attributes are as a player, what would you say they are?

Sorry, I can see that you clearly don't want to tell me how great you are. I think it was Fran that described herself as like an okay footballer. I described myself as an okay footballer, Fran. So I can see that you're also really down to her. But if you had to. I don't know. I would just say my calmness. I think that really helps.

A lot of teams that I've been involved in always, you know, the girls always say your calmness helps them. Whether it's in a big game or not, sometimes a lot of the girls get nervous. but being around me makes them feel at ease because I'm so horizontal, as my nannies to say. Yeah, just calmness, composure on the ball. And over the years, probably become a bit more demanding, in a quiet way, obviously. I don't really shout, but just to give information to the girls around me on the pitch tactically.

That is important, though, to have that kind of level head because football is so up and down. If you allow yourself to go with the waves, you're going to be constantly up and down. So is there something that you do? I mean, it sounds like it's quite natural to you, but is there something that you do to work on kind of mentally staying level-headed? No, I think it's just within me. I think I'm just, yeah. I think the girls always say, like, why don't you get nervous or how do you not get nervous? And it's hard to explain because I just don't.

But then I don't understand from their point of view why they get so nervous because I'm just like, it's just a game. We're either going to win it or we're going to lose it. We're going to do everything we can to win it, of course. But if we lose, we lose. And we move on to the next one and we hopefully win that one. So in a way, being part of so many competitions

and having the quick succession of games is quite good for you in particular because you're like, okay, let's move on. Don and Dusted, we're on to the next. I do think that helps. And I think it comes with a, because over years you learn, you know, what's important and how to move on quickly from a game

and how to reflect from a game. Whereas I think when you're younger, you pick out all the tiny little things that don't really affect, shouldn't affect you too much, but because you're young, you look into things. Before I let you go, I want to touch on the Welsh national team because it's obviously something that's really important, but how much do you enjoy playing for your country?

I love it. it's so hard to describe because it's my country and I think because Wales is such a small country we kind of all understand it when we go back home and we play for our national team that it means everything and we had this discussion actually the other day with some of the girls that if you didn't get paid for your national team would you still play for them and I said hands down I don't want to get paid I don't care it's not about the money it's about representing Wales it's about doing everything I can for my country whereas some of the girls had the opposite and was like I wouldn't play unless I got paid which that's mind blowing to me because

it's your country it's like the proudest thing you can ever do I wonder if that also plays into the pressures and maybe social media and kind of the negatives that come with being on the international stage yeah probably and because when you play international you don't get any rest you always you know you think you're having the summer off but then you have international games so you have to keep ticking over and it is tough but i would turn up to wales with a broken leg and expect to play and hope to play and would do everything i could to play well captain attitude did it does it feel extra special being the captain and leading out wales yeah it it was the best um i did it for nine years um which is insane to think captain captain captain in my

country for nine years is a long long time but one that is probably the proudest thing that I've ever done but I just felt that I was ready to pass on the armband and give someone else a chance because not everyone gets to do that and I've been lucky enough to do it for nine years and I want one of my teammates to hopefully have the same feelings and you know for their family as well their family and friends to watch whether it's their daughter or granddaughter to walk walk out and lead the Welsh national team. It's a really good thing. And luckily my family have been able to watch me do it for nine years.

My last question, if you have to look back on your career, both club and country, how do you reflect on it? I mean, a big question. Yeah, it's pretty big. Probably just one that I never seen coming. Obviously as a kid, I just loved playing football and I would do everything to play football. But I've been so lucky along the years to, one, now it's my job, two, to come into an environment like Chelsea every single day and play alongside some amazing players, win amazing trophies. But then with your national team as well on top to get so many caps and be the captain for so long, I think that's obviously up there and really special.

Sophie, it has been an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for joining us and being so honest. Thank you. I feel really Zen after speaking to you. It's true. Probably too, Zen. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you for listening to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Skoda, who are the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. Remember to subscribe to the feed, give us a review and send in your questions to We Are Chelsea

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