Sport

Mary Earps has been voted the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2023

She's become an icon and role model for so many.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 28th November 2023

England and Manchester United Women goalkeeper Mary Earps has been voted the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year for 2023, adding yet another accolade to what has been a heavily decorated 18 months for the sporting star.

The Nottingham-born keeper was announced as the winner on Tuesday, 28 November, becoming the very first goalkeeper in history to ever win the BBC’s award for the best and most impactful female player of the year ahead of Spanish midfielder Aitana Bonmati and Chelsea star Sam Kerr.

Having followed up her Euro 2022 win alongside the Lionesses with the nation’s maiden Finalissimia trophy, a FIFA’s Best Goalkeeper Award, a Golden Glove at the 2023 Women’s World Cup and an England Women’s Player of the Year Award, her collection of silverware has certainly grown massively of late.

And, of course, following her incredible performance during the tournament and that now iconic stop seen around the world in the final against Spain, it was never going to be anyone else, was it?

Mary Earps came first in the public vote for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year, a five-player shortlist selected by expert coaches, players, administrators and journalists.

Speaking to the outlet following her win, Mary Earps said: “I am truly honoured to be BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year. Thank you so much for voting for me.

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“To be the first goalkeeper to get their hands on the award is incredibly special and I am incredibly grateful. Hopefully, one of many more to come and thank you so much again.”

The 30-year-old went on to add, “I try to use my story as a beacon of hope for people. To show that there are better days coming. You just have to keep going and keep fighting; that looks very different to different people.

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“I think there was a time when no one was watching what I was doing. To work hard in silence, on your own, nobody notices what you do. It doesn’t matter what you do, apart from to yourself and your own standards.

“I think that is a big part of where I am today, and sort of the resilience that I’ve shown and I know there are going to be many more moments where I’m going to need that resilience.” Earps also picked up the Billy Seymour Impact Award at the 2023 North West Football Awards earlier this month.

Greater Manchester cleans up as Man City, United, Bolton, Salford, Altrincham and more win at the North West Football Awards

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It goes without saying that just like the rest of the Lionesses squad, the no-nonsense no.1 has become an inspiration to so many women and young girls over the past year or so, as well as cementing herself as a firm favourite among football fans in general.

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The public outcry to have replicas of her England shirt manufactured, which resulted in Nike backing down and the people actually winning against a big global corporation for once, was proof enough of just how much the nation loves her.

Having finished second in the 2022/23 WSL title race and making it to Man United‘s first-ever Women’s FA Cup final, Earps had a great year at club level too and is undoubtedly one of the most popular female footballers on the planet right now, so we’re going to go ahead and call this latest award well-deserved.

Big up Big Mearps, a.k.a. ‘Mary Queen of Stops’.

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Featured Images — Mary Earps (via Instagram)/Adidas

Sport

The player celebrations from Stockport County’s League Two trophy presentation are glorious

Danny Jones Danny Jones All Stockport County player celebrations from League Two trophy presentation

If you’re a Stockport County fan, you’ve had a very good year as the Hatters have just been crowned League Two champions and will be back in the English third tier next season – safe to say they’ve been making most of the trophy celebrations.

Players and staff very much included.

Edgeley was filled with flares and even people climbing on rooftops when they officially secured promotion back to League One for the first time in 12 years – the second time they’ve managed to go up in three seasons – and there was a great attendance in Stockport town centre for the bus parade.

But it was last week’s trophy presentation back at the stadium that produced some of the most memorable scenes, with County topping off a season of impressive and often high-scoring performances on the pitch with plenty more pageantry. Cue the music.

Kyle Knoyle giving Undertaker vibes.
He’s been red-hot all season.
No one ever takes those pitch invasion ‘warnings’ seriously – not even the players.

We still haven’t stopped laughing at Kyle Knoyle.

From bringing Isaac Olaofe’s ‘Tanto’s on fire!’ chant to life to hammering home puns on names like Fraser Horsfall, no matter how obvious, these are the kind of deeply unserious celebrations we expect from a trophy presentation.

County fan or not, you’ve got to admit it looks like a good party.

It’s moments like these that players, fans and staff work hard all season for; to prat around like muppets in front of their adoring supporters. They even got assistant coach, Clint Hill, in the mix and, as it turns out, he proved to be one of the biggest ring-leaders.

Clint was the real star of the show during Stockport County’s trophy celebrations.

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We sincerely hope the Hatters keep trickling out more of these party scenes as we know there’s plenty more that fans would love to watch back.

We’re still yet to see captain Paddy Madden, who won Player of the Month for April, and the gaffer himself, Dave Challinor, who has comfortably secured his legacy as one of the club’s all-time greats.

Challinor and the club have made no secret of seriously eyeing up the Championship and who knows what else at County’s momentum continues to build, especially with a huge stadium redevelopment kicking off soon.

What do you reckon, Hatters – do you reckon a third promotion could be on the cards?

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Featured Images — Stockport County (via X)

Sport

Erik ten Hag opens up on Man United’s failed Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong transfers

Danny Jones Danny Jones Erik ten Hag on failed Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong transfers

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has shed more light on his club’s failure to sign two key transfer targets in previous transfer windows, Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong.

With Man United‘s interest in the proven Premier League star and England captain along with the former Ajax star turned Barcelona midfielder having been widely publicised last year, it was no secret that they were top of the wish list at Old Trafford but nothing concrete ever came of it.

Now, addressing the Kane and de Jong transfers directly for the first time, ten Hag not only admitted that he wanted to sign them but that he wasn’t given the full backing of the board to do so, suggesting that his squad therefore missed out two key talents that he hoped to build the playing style around.

Speaking to club legend Gary Neville in a Sky Sports exclusive, the 54-year-old was careful not to outwardly criticise the previous executives – the majority of whom have now departed – but confessed that they weren’t able to get either deal across the line.

As you can see, ten Hag revealed that he quickly identified Kane as the ‘proven’ striker who could have brought “30 goals” to the team but that they simply couldn’t get him, presumably down to the potential transfer fee and wage expectations.

The 30-year-old striker obviously went on to sign for German giants Bayern Munich and has now broken the record for the most goals in a debut Bundesliga season, not mention being on the verge of surpassing the highest-ever tally in a single campaign, held by Robert Lewandowski (41).

He went on to express that he has every faith in the striker they did manage to sign, insisting that 21-year-old Rasmus Højlund “will get there [to that level] but needs time” and was offered some of “the biggest potential” on the market when they snapped him up.

As for his fellow Dutchman, de Jong – who he previously coached as part of the hugely talented Ajax which impressed so many in 2018/19 – ten Hag hinted at the failure to sign him as being a key factor in why he couldn’t implement his tactics at United, telling Neville: “you have to bring in [the right] players”.

The three-time Eredivisie winner went on to explain, “You need the player with those typical assets and you can’t bring a player, say, here who has a [certain] style of play I don’t want to change his nature.”

With Neville naming de Jong specifically, ten Hag confirmed the name by adding that he envisioned a partnership between him and Casemiro or, indeed, Kobbie Mainoo eventually, adding: “They would have been really complimentary with each other, absolutely. That is the [type of player you need] if you want to play the Ajax style.

However, despite having reportedly agreed on a sizeable fee with Barcelona (the number of which has been much disputed), it came to be that de Jong seemingly didn’t want the move and preferred to stay with the Catalan club.

As a result, this meant that United had to continue experimenting with different midfield combinations and signing alternatives like Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount, who perhaps weren’t as high up on the list of transfer targets or as well suited to ten Hag’s desired approach on the pitch.

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ten Hag ultimately went on to add that a laundry list of injury problems this season has also derailed the progress of his squad as a unit, with the Red Devils having been forced to utilise 31 different back-four combinations so far.

There have been some rumblings that de Jong could be open to another potential move elsewhere again this summer, but it’s fair to say that even if they were in the running it will take more than one player to get his side back on track.

You can watch the interview with Gary Neville in full HERE.

It remains to be seen how well ten Hag will be backed by the new footballing administration this summer but it is said United are willing to consider serious offers for several members of their first-team squad as they look to raise funds for any prospective incomings.

Only three Manchester United players are said to be ‘off limits’ this summer transfer window

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Featured Images — Wikimedia Commons/Sky Sports (via YouTube)/Frenkie De Jong (via IG)

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