Steph Houghton on Man City's revolution, England highs and lows, retirement plans and family

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

There’s a word Steph Houghton has adopted as a kind of mission statement in recent years: "Perspective." It is a word that crops up frequently during the defender's 40-minute chat with the Manchester Evening News and a handful of other publications - one that has helped her navigate some of the most difficult periods of her career, her personal life and, most recently, helped shape her decision to retire from football. "I kind of had an idea," the departing Manchester City captain says when quizzed on whether she always knew the 2023/24 season would be her last. "I wasn't really certain and I wanted to see where I was at in terms of if I was getting game-time or, if I wasn't getting game-time, if I was able to do the job I was doing on the bench for the whole season in terms of being the leader, being positive and bringing energy. ALSO READ: 'Not good' Pep Guardiola knows why Man City lost to Man United ALSO READ: United hand Guardiola awkward reminder of his Man City future "I think for definite it was probably around Christmas where I was like: 'I'm tired now’.

It was a battle to keep myself motivated without probably getting the rewards a normal player would get." The 36-year-old comes from a generation of players whose time on the pitch has straddled two inordinately different worlds.

When she made her senior debut for Sunderland back in 2002, she was still having to pay to play, though she credits her dad with stumping up the cash for her £250-a-year subs.

Fast forward to 2019 and over 53,000 fans were watching on as Houghton led England out in the semi-finals of the World Cup in France.