“I absolutely love my job,” says England midfield icon Ella Toone. “But I would never call it a job because it’s just my passion and what I love.”
Before she lifted the Euros trophy for the England Lionesses in July, 2022, she says she never really felt famous. But she does now. She doesn’t love it.
“I don’t know if I like it,” she says. “I think sometimes I get a bit anxious that people are looking at me and stuff and like what they’re saying about me, but yeah, you’ve gotta embrace it. I mean, it’s part and parcel of women’s football now we get recognised more.”
Ella found her aptitude for ball control playing on the touchlines, aged just six or seven. Her dad would take her to the local football club in Tyldesley, where she grew up, and the coaches noticed she had a natural flair. He started taking her to Astley and Tyldesley Girls, and she never looked back.
She was scouted for the Manchester United academy, who signed her after just a couple of weeks into her six week trial. She was just eight-years-old. As a lifelong Red, with Cristiano Ronaldo posters all over her walls and innumerable jerseys in her wardrobe, it was the dream.
Well, almost. They had no women’s team at the time, so after two seasons at Blackburn, she found herself pulling on a blue shirt at City instead. As horrifying for her as that was, she knew it was absolutely the right thing to do.
“It was stacked with the best players in the world,” she says. “And I knew for my development it was right. But yeah, I mean, it did hurt me to pull that shirt on, being a red but I would never look back. I think it was the best thing that I ever did.”
On a bright Manchester afternoon, we met her at the ultra-plush Sexy Fish (she’s more of a steak and eggs girl, but has come to love sushi thanks to her mates who badgered her into trying it). She arrives early, thanks to her mum, who built into her a strict punctuality code. She’s generally early for everything – yet she’ll never forget the day she emerged late after half-time watching United, and found Sir Alex Ferguson sitting behind her.
“He was like ‘You’re late, Mrs. Toone’,” she says, still slightly amazed that she knew who she was in the first place.
International football has brought its share of highs and lows. Phil Neville’s call while she walked the dog ushered in her first England camp, yet her debut only arrived after Covid-19 delays. She’s missed just one call-up since – due to injury – and describes the cycle of celebrations and setbacks as ‘the life of a footballer’.
Yet nothing matches the thrill of stepping onto the pitch at Wembley and scoring in a major final, especially against Germany on home soil.
Off the pitch, Ella embraces all kinds of outside challenges. Her TikToks and YouTube vlogs give fans a glimpse beyond training drills, while a Vogue photo shoot proved she’s transcended sport into a more rarified form of notoriety. Next up is a creative agency to help women’s athletes build their brands, plus an art collaboration at Manchester International Festival, where she’ll be involved in Juan Mata’s project with art collective Keiken.
As she digs into her pudding (a cheesecake coincidentally in United colours), one piece of advice rings true: always be yourself. She lives by it, and remains that normal girl from Tyldesley who just wanted to play football.
