Lynda The Leader (Lynda Shepherd interview)

Blackburn’s captain has had a whirlwind six months: crowned FAWPL Players’ Player of the Year at Wembley in November, a league title by April, and a play-off with Spurs that she says will be the biggest game she has played because she has never wanted to win anything more. Shepherd’s account of her career is disarmingly physical – a head split open at Watford, taped up and reopened two minutes later; two teeth lost in an aerial clash with Rachel Williams; a concussion against Lincoln after which she congratulated team mates on a game they had lost – and she regrets none of it. Spotted in a park at eighteen, she has had spells in the WSL with Liverpool and Manchester City but insists her heart is at Blackburn, where she intends to finish.