'In my blood': Legendary midfielder Jill Scott announces her retirement from football and reflects on incredible journey

Scott, born and raised in Sunderland, won 161 caps for her country and speaking to The Player's Tribune, said the game had been 'in her blood' from the age of five.

"Today, I may be saying my goodbyes to football, but we’re going to make this a celebration," she said.

"No sad faces!! We’ve had too much fun for any tears.

"Maybe it’s because I’m from Sunderland, but two things have always been true about me: I’ve always been stubborn, and I’ve always loved football. It’s been in my blood ever since I was five years old."

Scott has reflected on her earliest memories in the game, from being pictured in the Sunderland Echo with her first 'man of the match' trophy to beating Germany in front of 90,000 fans in July.

"If nobody was up for a game, I’d just kick about in the back lanes by myself," Scott says of growing up in Sunderland.

"If the ball flew over a fence and the neighbour wasn’t around to throw it back, I’d just run sprints back and forth from one wall tothe other. And you have to imagine the back lanes in Sunderland — they’re maybe 10 metres wide, tops. Run, touch the wall, run to the other wall. Back and forth in a grubby lane! I’d be doing this for hours, until dark. That was just my fitness routine."

The midfielder's experience helped see England over the line in extra time, and Scott has reflected on her crucial cameo in what was a landmark moment for the women's game in this country.

One confrontation with her opposite number went viral on social media, a source of some embarrassment but also a reflection of the stakes and Scott's determination to end with a major international trophy.

A WSL champion and and four times FA Cup winner across an extraordinary career, this was was the crowing moment.

"The best thing that happened to me was when they called me to warm up in the 77th minute, because at least then I was in control of something," Scott recalled of the final.

"I just snapped out of it and could concentrate on doing my job. I knew what I had to do: Go in there and smash as many players as I could. Close them down. Run my socks off. Shut up shop.

"I just wanted to win so, so, so badly, and there was a moment in the game where I lost my head a little bit… which has gone a bit viral and has been turned into mugs and t-shirts (that are currently sitting in my grandma’s house.) Obviously, I wish the BBC cameras didn’t pick it up, but all I can do now is apologise to my grandma: Sorry, Ganny!!!

"I had 30 years of football’s heartbreaks and dreams and disappointments built up inside me, and I just wanted to do it for everybody in that stadium … everybody in the country… all them girls having a kickabout in the back lanes. I wanted it so, so bad."

Scott has also reflected on her decision to retire, saying that she knew in the hours after that Wembley win that it was time for the next chapter.

So typically, she explained, she brought it all to an end with a box-to-box run on the famous turf, echoing her first steps in the game.

"So many memories came back to me," Scott said.

"I thought about Sunderland and all the sprints I had done from wall to wall, 10 metres at a time. I thought about showing up to my first England cap with moulds instead of studs!"Thought about the unbelievable support of my family all these years – about how Ganny would be telling the painter or the gardener or anyone who stopped by the house, “You know my granddaughter plays for England?”

"Thought about all the fans who supported me in my career, and how I’ll never be able to thank them enough.

"Thought about how my niece and nephews got to watch their Aunty Jill go out a champion.

"Thought about all them little moments with the girls in hotels and changing rooms and minibusses over the years. Those are the things that I’ll miss the most. (I told you I wasn’t going to cry.)

"I just sat there and thought: Right. If this is it, let’s do one more run.

"So I grabbed Lotte Wubben-Moy as well as our Sports scientist Martin and I said,

“You’ve made me do so many box-to-box runs throughout this tournament… Come on, run one more with us.” The game had been over for ages, but it just felt right. Suddenly I was like that little girl again, running on her own in the back lanes.

"Box to box. Wall to wall. Only this time I had a gold medal swinging from my neck.

"That was my way of saying goodbye.

"And this is my way of saying thank you."

Including the Olympics Scott played in ten major tournaments for England, and only Fara Williams has won more caps.

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