The She Kicks Locker Room: Captain’s Chat with Gilly Flaherty (West Ham United)

West Ham’s captain says she is passionate and has high standards, approachable and understanding, with a door always open for players struggling with anything at all – and that she prides herself on being consistent in her performances so that the standards she asks for are ones she meets. She thinks she always had it in her to lead, and learned in terms of how to be a captain from Jayne Ludlow at Arsenal, who taught her about raising the bar for your own standards, wore her heart on her sleeve and helped her enormously as a younger player. Being vice-captain at Arsenal and Chelsea, she says, helped her decide what sort of captain she wanted to be when the opportunity came. Walking out at Wembley with Matt Beard remains a proudest moment.