The She Kicks Locker Room: Captain’s Chat with Alex Scott

Arsenal captain Alex Scott gives a strikingly self-questioning account of leadership in the magazine’s regular Captain’s Chat. She leads by example, gives 110 per cent and takes defeats to heart, but says she is captain by default, through love and pride for a club she grew up at, and there to uphold an English mentality as transfers and foreign signings change the squad. She contrasts herself with Faye White, Jayne Ludlow and Casey Stoney, all incredible leaders on a different scale, and credits Kristine Lilly at Boston with showing her a quieter style. Mo Marley was the first to tell her she would be a captain, Hope Powell gave her the England vice-captaincy and Pedro Martinez Losa trusts her with the armband, yet she still asks whether she is the right person. Walking up the Wembley steps at the 2016 cup final is her proudest moment. Team talks, she insists, must never be pre-planned.