Steph Houghton sits down to reflect on her career

In a 40-minute media session last week, the former Manchester City and England captain looked back at key moments of her career, missing the Euros, her biggest influences and more...

Steph Houghton’s illustrious playing career came to an end last week. Image: Andrew Yates / Sportimage

The final day of the Women’s Super League season brought to an end many remarkable eras the league has seen across its 13 years.

We said goodbye for now to Chelsea boss Emma Hayes who has been a constant for 12 of those 13 years, while Arsenal said goodbye to one of its key players since 2017 in Vivianne Miedema.

But few eras have been as remarkable as Steph Houghton’s, the now retired Manchester City and England defender’s playing days tailing all the way back to even pre-WSL days when she broke through as part of a golden era in the north east alongside the likes of Jill Scott, Lucy Bronze, Jordan Nobbs and Demi Stokes at Sunderland.

As she discusses across a 40-minute media session, Houghton’s career has in so many ways intertwined with some of the sport’s key moments over more than a decade, whether it be the 2012 London Olympics – a tournament which put Houghton on the map – or the bronze medal winning England team of the 2015 World Cup.

There have though been lower moments, particularly towards the end, such as the penalty miss against the USA in 2019, her heartbreak at missing out on what would prove to be a successful, game-changing Euro 2022 for England, and even the final game of her career which saw City miss out on just a second domestic title.

Houghton though retires with three WSL medals, five FA Cup medals and seven Continental Cup medals, as well as a bronze and silver World Cup medal – not a bad haul by anyone’s means, but the impact she’s had on the sport has been far more wide ranging than just her silverware collection, as was evident by the amount of tributes paid to her on a video played out at the City Football Academy after her team’s final home game of the season against another of her former clubs in Arsenal.

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“It is nice,” she smiles. “I was stood in the tunnel. I couldn't watch that video I'd have probably broken down, but I got the video later and watched it myself.

“I think…yeah, that's what I mean when people say ‘what got you the most?’ It's the people you worked with every single day and sometimes you don't really say it to each other, maybe when you win a trophy you do say ‘oh my god you've been amazing this season’, but that's how we kind of worked. We always looked forward, we never looked back, we always pushed each other out of our comfort zones every single time.

“You speak about those players and for all we speak about what I've done for the game, they've been on that journey with me and that's what I'll always be forever grateful for. The likes of Faye White, Casey Stoney, Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey, they gave me a dream, they've done so much to allow me to push on that next generation and we maybe don't speak about that enough.

“They were the ones who first started the conversations, they were the first ones to go ‘oh actually why aren't England players being paid to play for the country like the boys’, they were the ones to first start those conversations and we just continued them on. In the back of my mind I've always had to remember where we have come from, I was lucky to be around those players and I owe a lot to them in terms of how they were with me as a young player and that's where you have to replay that when the likes of Khiara Keating and Ruby Mace come in, to be that person they can rely on, show them the way and guide them to a certain point because they're now the future and you want them to be able to have those conversations.

“Those messages mean a lot and it will probably take me a few weeks, months to really sink in and realise what you've done, but there's a lot of people who have fought for the game to be where it is today.”

The mention of where she came from takes the 36-year-old back two decades to when she was breaking through as a teenager in a Sunderland side stacked with talent.

Houghton stood out among them and was named the FA Young Player of the Year in 2007, but the sport was in a completely different place then to where it is now, as she reflects on having to pay to play.

“Oh my dad paid the £250 subs for the year, I didn’t!” she laughs. “Growing up, I think…I look back at it now, and I probably think, yeah, to get through that stage and get to where I am, I think it takes a lot of probably stubbornness, for one, but also that motivation to try and prove people wrong.