'Tough times don't last' - Kelly and Hampton shine after adversity
'Tough times don't last'
Seven months ago, things were looking very different for Kelly.The 27-year-old was fearing for her place in England's Euros squad following a difficult start to the season with Manchester City, where she made just one Women's Super League (WSL) start in the first four months of the campaign.But after a toxic stand-off with the club, Kelly signed for Arsenal on loan in January, and made her move permanent in July.The winger has not only "refound her smile", but has won the Women's Champions League with the Gunners and helped England win another Euros - scoring the decisive goal in the final once again."If that's a story to tell someone maybe experiencing something the same - tough times don't last," Kelly said."Just around the corner was a Champions League final, won that, and now a Euros final, won that."Kelly has had to settle for a place on the bench in Switzerland, but every time she has come on she has made a difference for England.Against Sweden, she provided the assist to kickstart a comeback before scoring in the shootout.In the semi-final victory over Italy, it was Kelly's goal that sealed England's place in the final with just one minute of extra time to spare."Thank you to everyone who wrote me off - I'm grateful," Kelly said in a media conference after the final.Speaking about Wiegman, Kelly added: "She gave me hope when I probably didn't have any. She gave me an opportunity to represent my country again."
'A lot more to come' from Hampton
Hampton, who has been playing her first major tournament as England's first-choice goalkeeper, had big shoes to fill in Switzerland.Earps - twice named as the best women's goalkeeper in the world - had played significant roles in England's victory at Euro 2022 and on the way to the 2023 World Cup final.But Hampton, who looked likely to start at the Euros even before Earps' retirement, has proved she deserves the number one shirt."At the start of the tournament did you think Hannah Hampton would be the star? Perhaps not. You wondered how she was going to do," ex-Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha said."Look how well she has done on the biggest stage. To save those penalties - and these were really good saves. She backed herself 100%."An amazing moment to see her be that important to the team."Just months after England's Euro triumph in 2022, Hampton was dropped from the squad.Reports suggested it was because of her behaviour, and she had to wait until March 2023 for a recall, when Wiegman said Hampton had "sorted out personal issues".Speaking to BBC One following her shootout heroics in the 2025 final, Hampton said: "All I can really say is thank you to Sarina [Wiegman] for all the belief and faith that she's had in me."She knew what I was capable of and she really put that in me to really go and showcase what I can do."Hampton, who helped Chelsea win a domestic treble this season, has shown exactly what she is capable of throughout the tournament.After losing their opening game against France, Hampton was instrumental in helping England bounce back against the Netherlands - with a sublime defence-splitting pass starting the attack for England's first goal and setting the tempo for a statement 4-0 performance.Then, in their quarter-final against Sweden, she pulled off two brilliant saves in the shootout to help keep England's title defence alive."The girls have run around for 120 minutes, so the least I can do is save a couple of pens here and there and help the team out in any way I can," Hampton told BBC Radio 5 Live after the final.She added on BBC One: "There's still a lot more to come from me. For my first major tournament, to win it is not too bad."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Helena Rowland: England's 97-7 victory over Spain just the start of the journey
Hat-trick hero Helena Rowland hopes there is more to come after World Cup favourites England launched their warm-up fixtures with a 97-7 demolition of Spain. The rampant Red Roses ran in 15 tries in Leicester as preparations for a tilt at global glory on home soil began in ruthless fashion. A dominant display at Welford Road was marred only by a second-half red card for stand-in captain Marlie Packer following an adjudged illegal clearout on Spain's sole try scorer Claudia Pena. John Mitchell's side, who were back in action for the first time since completing a Six Nations grand slam in April, play away to France next weekend before beginning their World Cup campaign against the United States on Friday, August 22 in Sunderland. 'We've got a big few months coming up,' versatile back Rowland, who was making her first Test start on the wing, told BBC Sport. 'It's all about trying to live every moment. We've definitely tried to keep evolving our game. Hopefully it will come together. This is just the start of our journey and hopefully there's more to come.' Prop Sarah Bern claimed two of England's tries, while Maddie Feaunati, Lucy Packer, Jess Breach, Jade Shekells, Lilli Ives Campion, Emma Sing, May Campbell, Hannah Botterman, Abby Dow and Megan Jones also crossed for Test rugby's top-ranked nation. 'I don't score that many tries so to get three in a game is always nice,' added Rowland. 'We put in some pretty nice stuff there, glad to get it off the training park. 'There's still plenty of things to fix up, as we knew there always would be. It's the first game after quite a long time. It was enjoyable out there and we've got to focus on next week now.'
Daily Mirror
4 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Frank Skinner reveals how much Three Lions anthem made him over four years
Three Lions songwriter Frank Skinner, who released the song in collaboration with David Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds in 1996, has spoken about making money from the anthem Three Lions co-writer Frank Skinner has spoken about the profits from the football anthem following the Lionesses' victory in the Euro 2025 final last week. He's dismissed the "myth" that he has made "loads of money" from the song. Frank, 68, and David Baddiel, 61, released the song with the Lightning Seeds in 1996 in celebrate England's participation in the UEFA European Championship that year. The two comedians, who hosted Fantasy Football League together, co-wrote the song, which has since been re-released. Although it's topped the Official Singles Chart in the UK four times since its first release almost 30 years ago, Frank has said it hasn't made him as much money as some people may suspect. It comes after England's Euro 2025 winners to lose major chunk of prize money after return home. Frank was asked about Three Lions, which is known for the "it's coming home" chant, on an episode of the podcast Frank Off the Radio released yesterday. It came after a fan submitted a question about royalties from the song. Reading out the question submitted by a listener, his co-host Emily Dean asked: "Has David Baddiel made enquiries regarding any recent uptick in royalties?" Whilst addressing the question, Frank gave an insight into the situation. Responding, Frank said: "Um ... I ... no ... I don't know what's happening about the ..." Without finishing his previous comment, he told Emily instead: "As I always say, it's a myth that we made loads of money out of Three Lions." Emily said: "You once told me how much you made." Frank went on to say that the profits were worth an estimated £38,000 from Three Lions over a four year period, though he didn't specify when and if that was just his share. He said: "I think in total it was about ... I think it came out ... it was about 38 grand. Over four years." Frank continued by saying: "That's a lot of money, don't get me wrong! But, y'know, you imagine people get four Number 1s ..." His co-star Emily however shared that she had expected him to have made much more from the track. Comedian Sara Barron, who was a guest on the episode, suggested similarly and questioned why that hadn't been the case. Emily said: "I'll be honest, I thought it was about £4 million." Amid the discussion on the podcast, Sara then asked: "Yeah, why is it not £4 million?" Frank went on to tease: "Have you met my manager?" It isn't the first time that Frank has spoken about the financial impact of Three Lions. Asked about it on Radio X last year, he told Chris Moyles: "Honestly, I would say I made about £50,000 out of Three Lions." He added: "Seriously." Frank said at the time that he had a quarter of the profits from it. He also shared that he still gets a "kick" out of it when football fans sing Three Lions now, saying: "I do, yeah. They don't sing it as much on the terraces as they did [though]!"
BBC News
4 minutes ago
- BBC News
Kilmarnock 2-2 Livingston: What Kettlewell said
Kilmarnock manager Stuart Kettlewell tells BBC Scotland: "It's really frustrating. You point to big moments in games and the game turned on it's head when Livingston were awarded the penalty with the red card to George Stanger."We felt we were really comfortable. Livingston changed their shape at half-time, and that tells you what we've done in the first half is good. We felt we would manage the situation."One or two things started to conspire against us. I believe [the penalty] is rather soft, the initial tug came from Robbie Muirhead. We feel harshly done by on that one."Once we went down to 10, we were resolute. We limited Livingston to few chances. You believe at that point you're going to get through it, but it wasn't to be."It felt we were comfortable enough, albeit we were down to 10 men. I didn't feel Livingston were creating many chances at that point. The game just hinges on that one moment."
