Jill Scott is sitting in her agent\u2019s tiny office in a glossy building on the south bank of the Thames, gazing out to the Tower of London opposite. But in her mind\u2019s eye, the 36-year-old is seeing the turf of Wembley Stadium as it was just after 7pm on 31st July last year, reliving the Euros final when England defeated Germany to lift the biggest football trophy the country had won since the men\u2019s team in 1966.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat moment when the whistle blew, seeing the crowd go up, and the time on the pitch after \u2013 that\u2019s what I think about,\u201d she says in the familiar Wearside accent, blue eyes blazing with the memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stayed on the pitch for 90 minutes afterwards just to take it all in. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. If I have days where I\u2019m a bit tired or I feel like I\u2019ve got too much to do, I think to myself, \u2018I won the Euros,\u2019 and I just smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes a long-held dream doesn\u2019t provide the fulfilment you thought it would, but I never set those long-term goals and it was only recently I realised why. As an eight-year-old girl growing up in Sunderland, I wanted to be a footballer but that [option] didn\u2019t exist. I didn\u2019t want anyone to take that idea away from me, so I just went day by day playing football, protecting the thought in my mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had 16 years in the England team \u2013 a lot of struggles, a lot of defeats along the way. Sometimes now it feels surreal. I still feel like little Jill who loved football, and got a bit bigger during an incredible journey with amazing people.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\""Beth\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1412679685-4738029.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"England\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>One of four siblings, little Jill grew up to be six foot tall and a giant of the game \u2013 her 161 England caps are the second-most of any player, male or female. Early on, her lean frame informed her gift for endurance running, earning her Junior Great North Run and North of England cross country titles.<\/p>\n
But football came even more instinctively to Scott, who first kicked a ball when she was five \u2013 and as she entered her teens, there was no contest over which sport she would prioritise.<\/p>\n
Her first club was Sunderland, and from there Scott played for Everton, Manchester City and Aston Villa, earning an MBE by 2020, long before the Euros zenith. Phil Neville, who managed the Lionesses for three years preceding the current Sarina Wiegman era, called Scott \u201cthe morale magician\u201d. And anyone who has ever heard her talk can understand why.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a quality that shone brightly during her victorious stint on last autumn\u2019s I\u2019m a Celebrity\u2026 Get Me Out of Here!<\/a>. Without fail, Scott came over as good fun with no side, kind, seriously cool but not terrifyingly cool, and able to lift spirits. She was everyone\u2019s trusted mate.<\/p>\n \u201cCool? Me?\u201d she queries, grinning at the idea. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone has ever called me that before. But I always work hard and try to be authentic. Whatever you\u2019re doing, you have to keep it fun. I\u2019ve always been the person who brings that to a football team. I like to be kind to people. If you can help someone\u2019s day by one per cent, put a smile on their face, then why not be kind?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m never not nice. It takes a lot to push us to react to stuff. If someone is annoying us, I\u2019ll kill them with kindness. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m ever nasty. It\u2019s just not in my nature. Some people might look at it as an opportunity to take advantage, but I\u2019m one step ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2023, Scott\u2019s professional world has turned again. The Women\u2019s World Cup<\/a> in Australia and New Zealand will be the first major tournament since her retirement after the Euros. She will be working at the event, compiling a regular behind-the-scenes show for the Lionesses\u2019 social media and doing \u201ca bit of pitchside\u201d match analysis for ITV. But she will not be playing.<\/p>\n \u201cI did 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 with England and this is the first one where I\u2019m not part of the squad,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I wasn\u2019t working there, I\u2019d have had FOMO [fear of missing out] big time, and would have been booking flights to get out there as a fan.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just glad I\u2019m still going to be around the girls with the Lionesses\u2019 show. I\u2019m at peace with the fact that I\u2019ve retired, but I miss being with the girls so much. The other day I was at St George\u2019s Park [the FA\u2019s multi-million-pound Staffordshire facility for England squads] and it was like greeting my own family when I haven\u2019t seen them for a while.<\/p>\n \u201cI stayed until 9pm just talking and catching up with the team and the staff. If you go through something as life-changing as the Euros, you have such a special bond,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Teams can be tricky organisms \u2013 united by a shirt, divided by cliques. But the Euro-winning Lionesses were the exception. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t have that,\u201d says Scott. \u201cYou had natural friendships, but I can honestly say everyone got on. No one was an energy-sapper when their own journey wasn\u2019t going according to plan, even though everyone wanted to play.\u201d<\/p>\n A key element in 2022\u2019s success was team manager Sarina Wiegman. Capped 99 times for the Netherlands, as a manager the 53-year-old steered the Dutch to victory at the 2017 Euros. She began the England job in September 2021, helming a 30-match unbeaten streak that ended only two months ago, when the Lionesses lost a friendly to Australia. Scott likens her to the manager many call the best in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cShe reminds me of Pep [Guardiola of Manchester City], always a step ahead of the game, always planning for the next moment. Talk about influential women in sport. She\u2019s a mastermind behind the game.<\/p>\n \u201cSarina built team spirit from the ground up with kindness and warmth, but at the same time demanded high standards. That\u2019s how I\u2019ve always loved to work \u2013 fun off the pitch, be there for each other, but when you cross that white line you have to give everything to win. She\u2019s so good at instilling that.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the players call her Sarina, not \u2018gaffer\u2019 or \u2018boss\u2019. She will make sure England are the best-prepared team in Australia or New Zealand. She was a tenacious player and is the best person to lead the team. Any of the girls would say the same, which is very rare because not everyone is in the manager\u2019s plans. But everyone feels the same about Sarina.\u201d<\/p>\n So is Wiegman\u2019s 2023 squad as good as the Euros-winning side? \u201cWhat\u2019s important is to see this as a new journey,\u201d Scott says. \u201cThere are 16 players from 2022, so seven new ones. It\u2019s so unfortunate that Leah [Williamson, who captained England to the Euros win], Beth [Mead, Euros player of the tournament and Sports Personality of the Year] and Fran [Kirby] are injured. But it\u2019s an opportunity for the next generation.<\/p>\n \u201cAre they as experienced? No. Do they have as much talent? Yes, 100 per cent. We have to get behind the team with the same love and support shown at the Euros. It\u2019s a new time but I really believe we can win it.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Scott, these days she is effectively being herself for a living, and is hugely in demand, as her Instagram attests \u2013 mixing with Robbie Williams and Tom Hiddleston at Soccer Aid<\/a>, giving motivational talks to businesses, getting football\u2019s big names on her Coffee Club podcast for BBC Sounds, joining in Pride month, becoming the new team captain on Sky\u2019s A League of Their Own<\/a>\u2026 and still putting in the odd shift at Boxx2Boxx, the Manchester coffee shop she owns with her fianc\u00e9e, former community health officer Shelly Unitt.<\/p>\n Scott hasn\u2019t changed, but women\u2019s football has. From being largely ignored, it has not only taken off in a way \u201clittle Jill\u201d could never have imagined, but has done so as a force for good.<\/p>\n There is no atmosphere of latent threat in crowds at the women\u2019s game. The culture of the sport welcomes everyone, no matter who you are, what you look like or who you love. Jill Scott is part of what made all that possible.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s most important to me is the respect for the women\u2019s game,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I think back 10 years to when there were 200 watching the big games\u2026 Did I picture 50,000 at club games and 90,000 at Wembley? No.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit, if we\u2019re careful. The speed of the change can be a worry if you don\u2019t have the right foundations in place. But we\u2019re getting the crowds in based on our achievements. With solid planning, getting more young girls involved in a safe environment, we can keep progressing in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n I glimpse the tattoo on her right wrist. It reads: \u201cDay by day. Step by step. Mile by mile.\u201d Words to live by, for the thousands Scott has inspired. And if all else fails\u2026 just be more Jill.<\/p> ![\""Jill\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/Jill-Scott-07432b1.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Jill-Scott\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""Jill\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/07\/jill-scott-17e51ad.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"Jill\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""Jill\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1497852726-1df3c0f.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Soccer\\"\/")
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