We Are Chelsea - UK vs Canada with Millie Bright and Kadeisha Buchanan

Episode Date: October 30, 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.uk Caz De Moraes is joined by defensive duo Millie Bright and Kadeisha Buchanan. How do their personalities complement each other on the pitch? And what do they get up to off the pitch? Millie also gives Kadeisha a lesson on fish and chips during a game of UK vs Canada, and will they ever make a Tik Tok together? To watch the full episode on YouTube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafc/videos Send us your questions to [e-mail] #WeAreChelsea Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 and proud supporters of women's sport. I'm Kaz de Mores and today I'm delighted to bring you the heart of the Chelsea defence as I'm joined by Millie Bright and Kedisha Bucannon. Captain Millie Bright is the longest serving player at the club and Kedisha joined the Blues from Leon back in 2022. This is We Are Chelsea with Millie Bright and Kedisha Buchanan. Millie, Kadisha, welcome back to the pod.

How are you both? I'm good, thanks, and you? I'm not too bad. I mean, it's raining, so I'm never happy when it's raining. So that means you're never happy? Exactly. You do know we're in England, don't you? I know, I know.

But I just feel like, you know when you get glimpses of sunshine and you're like, oh my god maybe maybe we're going to get an indian summer and then you get rain and then lower your expectations i'm wearing a bright jumper have you just come from training yes yeah are you fed and watered yes so just a bit tired but fed and watered and happy yeah we're good yeah we're all good chilling very good well i want to start off by asking you katisha a little bit about milly because we've had few others on the pod and they all said milly very nice things they said that you really made them feel welcome. You took them under their wing.

You looked at a bit, you were like, what did they say? Yeah, because it depends the time of day they caught me. No, I'm kidding. You were like, oh no, I'm worried. What have they said? No, they said you made them feel welcome. And you said that, yeah, you really hosted them in a nice way. So I want to know, did Millie do that for you?

What was Millie like when you first met her? No, she didn't do that for me. I don't remember that. The best, but I think based on personality, I think you're very welcoming, very nice, very talkative. If you get the conversations going, I'm more probably quite shy, so she probably had to force it out of me, but I think it was natural and, yeah, I felt very welcome by Millie.

And what are the tips that you give people to survive London life when they first arrive from a different city or a different country? Well, I'm a northerner, so I'm used to people. stopping in the streets, having a conversation, getting to know strangers, how's the day, you know, I know right, stuff like that. So when I came down, it's just so fast-paced. So my advice is get from A to B

and don't expect any stoppages in between that. Just get there. But yeah, it's just fast-paced, but I think, obviously, we're in Surrey, so it's a little bit quieter than the city. But a lot of our girls do like the city life and exploring and it's completely different. But, yeah, I'm more of a farms and fields kind of guys.

So. But, Kadisha, you've come from Toronto. So for you, it's city life, city life. Yeah, but nothing compares to like London City. I think it's massive city. It's like overwhelming sometimes. Yeah? Yeah.

Do you live near the city or do you live more further out here? Yeah, I live more further out. Okay. So it's quite quiet. You like the quiet life. Yeah. You like the quiet life. I spoke to the girls and asked them who would, who was most like, we did a game and it was like,

who was most likely to do what? And they said that Kadisha was most likely to walk down the. catwalk. Yeah, agree with her. Because she's very fashionable. Yeah, I wouldn't, like, for me, I wouldn't want to be the walking and all the flashing lights,

but I would say I'll be more like stylists, maybe put on the fit and make melly walk. Okay. Because we want, Keisha take the lime light. She deserves the limelight. So we're like, go, go, go. Yeah.

But I wouldn't, I wouldn't mind. If someone just says, I dare you to, I'm like, okay, I'll go. What is it about fashion? What is it about fashion? What is. it about clothes because yeah they all seem to say that you're the fashionable one i don't know i think

both of my parents are fashionistas like are they yeah my mom used to wear like red hair to my games red canada nail polish red flags like she'll put a red flag in her hair and she shave it like i think she's very like outside the box with her style and my dad as well um he loves jewelry gold so I think I get it from both parents. It's a way of, I guess, expressing themselves and an outlet. Yeah, exactly. So you've taken that on. Yeah.

I think we all wore the same things as well. So when you have the time to dress up, you want to show yourself and express yourself. So can we maybe see you shaving your head with the Canada flag? No. I did that back in 2015 World Cup and now I'm growing up my locks. Yeah. Well, they look great. Thank you.

Millie, what about, I guess what about you in terms of TikTok? Because they said that you were the most likely to be TikTok famous. So I want to know when you started on TikTok, are you addicted? Be honest. Oh, I'm absolutely addicted to TikTok. I just, I get caught in a scroll. I get caught. And it was funny, actually, because the other day we were talking and, you know,

there's so many conspiracies and this and that. And then we all get talking like, oh, my God, did you see that? And it's just you get hooked. But I like making funny TikToks as well. Normally it's things that are absolutely irrelevant to me and then the fans catch on and they're like, oh my God, like something's happened.

I'm like, no, it's literally just TikTok. Like everyone's so serious. Like it's just, TikTok started in, God, it was before COVID.

So it was just a place for everyone to connect and to get through a really rough time in the world. And I feel like now if you post something, it's like, oh, it's like, guys, it's just a song.

Like, it doesn't mean absolutely anything. what is your feed like because the algorithm works to what you like so do you have a lot more dances on your feed or do you have animals or do you have conspiracy like what is your feed usually it's cleaning get so many cleaning tips off there cleaning tips yeah are you like cleaning do you it's your house very clean so many yeah i mean i've got three dogs so it has to be well i would have said if i had three dogs it would be the opposite yeah three dogs is a lot Oh, it has to be...

Actually, it's the short-haired French. He sheds a lot, but my two sausage dogs, they're long-haired, and they don't shed as much as him. Oh. And I would hate for anyone to come to house and be like, oh, it smells like dogs. Like, no, it's fresh. Okay, because that is what I was imagining. Yeah, no, no, no, no.

Do you have a look at her TikTok and go, what you do? Have you got TikTok, Disha? I do, but I'm not on it as much. Okay, so you're not a poster. you just watch. Don't really watch either. It's just there. Cadish is so cool, isn't she?

She is. She's so cool. When my nieces come, then we'll make TikToks and that's it. I'll do it for the younger ones. Yeah, it's fun. I do like to dance. So they just have to get me going and then it'll be fun. Okay.

Good tip. Okay. She's a dancer. We just got to get her going on. Yeah. They'll feature soon. She'll feature soon. Be patient.

Be patient. Are you the first on the dance for? Like when you guys won the title, were you the first on the dance floor? I think I'm the first on the dance floor, for sure. Okay. Who's joining you on there? Trying to join. Yeah, who's trying?

Erin. Yeah, I'll say Erin. Erin. Neve. Yeah. Yeah, has Neve got some moves? Confidence is up there. Confidence is there.

It's all that matters. She's getting better. I've been teaching her. Okay. Yeah. What about Millie? Has Millie got good moves? Turns out when drinks a month.

Yeah. Millie's just around talking to everybody I'm just keeping the group together like making everyone's actually dancing No stand by us don't stand on the edge Get involved Can we see a TikTok of the two of you Yeah absolutely

I won't be dancing though Maybe you can teach me some dance moves And that can be the TikTok Yeah maybe we could do one But you could find it and then Yeah It'll be beginners level though Just bear that in mind

We're going to play a little game And it's UK versus Canada Which is better And you have to both be honest Who's better Avril Levine or Harry Stiles Avril Avril Avra Levine

Oh that's it I didn't think you were both going to say that You said honest answers Yeah I love it Okay why We loving skater boys Yeah that was me as a kid Was it?

Yeah Oh I love that Or Avril Yeah I just I don't think I really listen to Harry Styles No What about Celine Dion versus Adele?

Salis Interesting. Because... I like Adele. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Because I've got good memories from when Rach sings the songs.

Okay. So it's like for me that's... They're both incredible, but I've just got good memories of like friends, like Rachel's my best friend singing songs. And she literally thinks she's Celine, so. Okay. Happy memories. Happy memories.

Okay. And why Adele for you? I mean, I love Adele. voice. It's beautiful. But Celine, she's still going. Like, she's incredible, great performer, but yeah, it's the vocals for me.

Okay. Niagara Falls versus Lake District. Well, I've never been to Lake District. I don't know what... It's so nice. You should go. Did you just say the Lake District is better than Niagara Falls? Yes. One of the wonders of the world.

Yeah, I've been. What do you think? I mean, I've never... I've also been to Lake District and it's more accessible. I can get there any time. I can go when I want. And it's home. Niagara Poss. I mean, I feel, I've not been to either.

And you're right, the Lake District is more accessible. I feel like the Niagara Falls. It's one of the wonders of the world. Yeah, it is special, but you told me to be honest. I'm being honest. I'm going to have to visit. That you're trying to persuade me. Once is the best time to visit the Lake District.

Summer's beautiful because I feel like you can see everything, but the winter for me, those walks just hit different. okay so if you like it a little bit the winter season it's nice and cold nice and cold nice and cold nice and cold is not good together yeah well I'm none so maybe we're in the summer yeah yeah uh Tim Hortons versus Pratt Tim Hortons oh Tim Hortons by far sorry I've been to a Tim Hortons not bothered not bothered not really bothered on there is one in Lester but it doesn't hit as the one in Canada okay what do they serve

tell us for those you don't know there's coffee timbits timbits is like mini donuts that does sound a bit that's yeah I don't really don't want to offend anyone don't really rape Pratt

I thought Pratt was French to be honest I didn't realize it was English it was English it sounds French it sounds French right pretamoggi yeah are you are you French are you French no

And the last one, maple syrup versus honey. Oh, maple syrup. Maple syrup. Yeah. Well, why is that Canada, UK? Like, do you guys make your own honey here? No, we're just trying to, listen, we're clutching at the nearest thing that we've got to maple syrup that we have in England. If you're doing, like, English, you should have said, like, Henderson's or something, like, not with maple syrup, but something proper English.

Or you should have done, like, fishing chips or something, like, compared. and maple syrup. No. Fish and chips or like poutine. Something like, okay, fish and chips and like English, like, do you know what I mean? Fish and chips. Do you know what a poutine is?

No. Oh, it's very good to be fair. I've had one. It's like chips. It's like gravy. Yeah, gravy, cheese. Oh, people have that at the, uh, chippy there. And then you can put baking and you can put like a lot of like ground beef stuff in the

stuff in the stuff. She was like, no, you have this. She's like, yeah, I can get that at the chippy. No, she said chips, cheese and gravy. I said that's what people would have at the chippy. What's a chippy? Fishing chips, like, sausage, battered sausage, fish cakes, chips, chips, chips. Chip, boy.

This podcast is brought to you by Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. It's football season, time for afterwork training, muddy boots and early morning weekend games. Whether you're playing five-a-side after work, cheering the kids on from the sidelines on a Saturday morning, or gathering with your mates to watch the big leagues each 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 though search the scoda range today to jump in and see for yourself let's talk a little bit about family because i know family is so important to both of you how much support have you had from your family growing up and i guess now that you're here i think they're the reason that i am here i speak so highly of my family but um i think we've all had especially probably our generation we've had a different experience maybe in our careers and have footballing careers in terms of if I feel like your parents have to make so much sacrifice for you to be able to make those training sessions when it's part time and you're semi-pro whilst working and you know many other factors and to this day I'm 31 and my mum and my

mum and my dad's still come to every single game and I remind him that you can have a day off like you can't have a weekend to yourself and just breathe and relax and they're like no no no they're down with the shirts on the Chelsea shirts or even England shirts but yeah I mean I have I've always said to my mum and dad, I owe every single trophy to you guys for putting me in a position where I can live the dream that I've always wanted to. And how many sisters have you got?

Two older ones. You've got two older ones. Now you've got little bobbas in Chelsea shirts as well coming to support you, haven't you? Yeah, little rascals, loud and proud, I always say to him, but yeah, they absolutely love it. And I think they love the girls just as much as the football, to be honest. But yeah, big family.

And what about you, Kadeja? Because you've got six sisters, so big family as well. Yeah. How much have you felt the support from your family? Yeah, I'm massive. I think growing up, I had two older sisters playing soccer as well, so it's quite competitive. It took a lot of the community as well to get me to trainings and stuff like that to game. So it takes a village to raise a family. That's what I always say. It did take many people to get me where I am today. But yeah, I think my two sisters pushed me to my limits at time, a lot of times.

but I think they made me who I am today. Yeah, I was going to say that's amazing that you had older sisters playing football because I feel like that's what really helps. You always want your kid to play with the older ones, don't you? Because they push them and they help them. I also have five brothers and the oldest one played as well. So it come from quite a soccer family. So it was quite competitive and fun.

I did cry to my mom at time saying they're cheating. They're pushing me over and she just said, get on with it. I said, okay. Love just brush it off. You said it takes a fillet and I have just had my second child. It's hard. I want both of my daughters to be playing for Chelsea Women's basically. And then how do I not be the pushy mum because I want her to love it?

Because your parents weren't pushy, were they? No. How do you get that balance? Would you have liked them to have been a bit more pushy? No. Every decision I made was my decision and that's one of the biggest things that I look back on. I feel proud of and that's not to say that my mum and dad didn't expect. expect me to, you know, whatever I'm taking part in, I have to be committed.

Okay. So on the flip side, as me and my sisters, horses were our thing as kids. If we were at a horse, we were getting up before school. You go do your chores. You come back, get ready for school. You'd go to school. You'd come back. You'd then go and ride and practice for the show at the weekend before my football match.

So it weren't about being necessarily, like, forcing us to do anything. But there was, you know, there were boundaries and rules. Like, if you want that alongside your football, then you have to. you have to do your chores you know i had to be on time i had to respect my teammates i had to be a good person when i was there train my hardest not sulk after losing like and that's got to be hard i feel like everyone i've spoken to in the chelsea team they just like winning and they yeah we hate losing but i think you for me i that's something i grew into when you know i'm little i just wanted to have four and i wanted to enjoy myself yeah nobody liked losing but i

weren't going home like an angry child. I think it's when you start. Now I'm an angry child. Everyone just knows like, okay, leave Millie B. My dad's the only one that will probably be like, you're okay. Because I won't really snap at him. And then everyone else is like, Levi just steps aside. I'm like, yeah, good choice.

I love that. Kadeja, what was it like for you? Yeah, I think at first my mom didn't really know the game. So she was just encouraging and just wanting me to. be the best version of myself and for my dad it's where I took

soccer after him he was a footballer around like the community I'm not professionally but he played a lot on the weekend so he was kind of like my coach

but he shouldn't he shouldn't have been my coach because you're not allowed to coach from the sideline as a parent but he didn't understand those rules he's just like being

a Jamaican that he is he was just kind of like shouting at me and telling me what to do but I think and like he didn't have to because I knew what was expected of me and like my decision making and they all got better. But he did help me and he was very he would like run up and down the sideline. That's how I imagine I'm going to be. Did you like it? Was it okay? No. Oh,

you didn't like it? It's very embarrassing. No, I did not like it at all. Did you do that with your sisters as well? Yeah, my sisters as well. And did they like it? No, no one. And my mom. And my mom was on the other end of the pitch and he was on the other end of pitch because she couldn't. It's quite like embarrassing to be honest. He's the only one that was like shouting. He was making good points,

but it's like you can't coach from the sideline, sir. Yeah. Okay. So maybe I should rethink my position in these. Some places have fines now as well. I remember when I was at Sheffernard Academy, if parents shouted on you could get a fine. Wow.

Because I know some of the parents did that in the age route when I was in it and a couple of the parents that always got fines because they couldn't help. And they probably weren't shouting on good things. It was more just, and it was like a rule of the academy. I like to be respectful and allow the coaches to coach. So yeah, some places do have fines. I might have to sit in the car then. Maybe we can have a coffee or something.

Yeah, just shout from the car. Where no one can hear me. Maybe I'll do that. do your family come out to watch any games because they're so far away yeah definitely when i played back in toronto um i get like 70 tickets or so hundred sometimes you'd get a hundred tickets yeah yeah yeah yeah so but here are not so much obviously because it's far and they have family and work so it's quite difficult but yeah when i'm back home in canada on home soil the whole family comes out wow that must have been such a big change to have a hundred people

come and watch you and then be here and run a regular basis you haven't got your family was that quite hard um i think i'm used to it um yeah yeah i'm used to it i've been away from since college so then leon and then now chelsea so but it's always a good home warm welcome yeah yeah um milly i want to talk to you about young minds because you've done some work there how do you think it's helped your role, I guess, as team captain in understanding people and what they're going through, especially your teammates? I think I've always been quite aware of other people. I think because of the nature of who I am as a person, I would always look to help someone else before myself. And I find if I know people are struggling, I'm not helping them, it actually

gives me anxiety. Like, my family is my biggest trigger. So if they're going through stuff, that will make me anxious and then I'll be worried and stressed. And so I feel like that's probably just how I am around others. And if I feel like I always want to fix things and make things, I like things to be happy and smooth and just for everyone to get along. So I feel like that's always been within me from a young age. Probably just never knew how to express my feelings and my emotions. And I said in my young minds interview that I've always seen myself as like the glue in my family.

trying to keep everything together and I've tried to be a little bit more open about these sorts of feelings and the way I think and, you know, how it affects me because ultimately I'm trying to help everyone else, but your mental health is just as important as your physical health and actually flip it and it can be your superpower, not a downfall if you take care of it and it's something that it does need taking care of. And it's just about learning about yourself, being aware, but ultimately helping someone else get through a tough time as well. What do you do for your mental health

to be away from football and let go of the pressures? Animals are my biggest thing. Yeah, obviously back home we've got the horses so when I get a couple days off, which is probably rare these days. But when I do, I try and go back to Sheffield and just spend time up there with my mum and dad and my nephews and that's my childhood.

Just freedom, just complete freedom. And obviously down here, it's coffee, spending time with Levi. the dogs and yeah in moments i've always said that i write a journal um not all the time but when i feel like i need to just get things down on a piece of paper good or bad how i'm feeling and then reflects when i feel like i need to do that oh nice what about you cadisha because it's how you're not so close to home yeah i think i am used to it but it does get sad sometimes when the family's growing and there's new young ones and you want to meet them. But I think for me, if stuff gets overwhelming from my family, I just tend to just remove myself from the group and just

take time for myself and I love to sleep. And I think I therapy clean and therapy shop. So those are my outlets. I just want to ask, what do you think are the biggest differences between the two of you as players and do you think those differences help the team oh i definitely think we compliment one another 100% and in what way i mean i can leave me really in the box by herself and she would destroy everybody and i can leave you in a one v one and i can just jog back and you'll be yeah no there is just deal of it yeah no i do think we compliment one another i think both on and off the ball um but i think on the pitch we're yeah i mean i want us to be that monster center parent center back pairing that no one wants to face and both very aggressive i think we love

winning our jewels um yeah what i like when i play with you is just like the communication it's like on point to the tea and we communicate like throughout the game whether it's just smaller conversations or just left, right, tactical stuff, I feel like we're very in tune to what we need to do to get the job then and we just kind of work at it. And are you both loud on the pitch to one another? Sometimes we don't always need to be loud. Like we'll just have our own little conversation, whether it's a break in play or, I mean, I'm definitely a loud one.

I feel like at the back we kind of have to be. we have to be organising the rest of the team and I can't be any other way though I don't doubt that I do not doubt that I think a lot of the times when I think most communicate it's like between units so I think my communication stops like at a midfield or the goalkeeper where I feel like Millie's voice

can carry to like the strikers or like she can yeah you guys always seem so like everyone that I've spoken to you seem to get on so well almost like a family do you think you bicker like family as well I mean it just happens

everyone is competitive and then you just leave it though when you leave the match or you leave training yeah that's the rule you step off the training I think we've always had a really good environment at Chelsea

and I've been here 10 years and there's a reason for that and there's a reason players stay for so long it's because we yeah you play for your teammates as much as you play for anything else. My last question. How would you describe each other in three words? I'll go stylish, calm, yes, and committed. Me for Millie will be honest. Um, a beast. Not just physical,

but like the way she smashes the ball left foot right foot something I've never ever seen in the woman's game it's and it's on a dime like every time she smash the ball like my heart just like warms inside I'm just like wow like I wish I could do that um um and my last one will be I think just like friendly I feel like you know those like teddy beers like yeah i'm red yeah i always say this giant like obviously like with canada and playing up against england like you really don't want to get in milly's way

and stuff but i feel like after like knowing her and playing she's like oh like she's actually like nice but on the field she just seems like mean and just like ready to like tear your head up and then like me hurry her you're just like oh okay good uh listen thank you so so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having us. Thank you for listening to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea women, brought to you in association with Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea women, and they are proud supporters of women's sport. Remember to subscribe, give us a review,

and send in your questions to We Are Chelsea at chelcfc.com. Or you can leave us a comment on the YouTube and we'll try and include it in the next episode. See you next time.