Quotes from Millie Bright

If you're a footballer, your club should be able to help you with medical needs, and that's where the women's game gets a lack of respect. It doesn't reflect well on women's football at all.

I don't know where horse riding could have taken me, and it's something I can always go back to when I've retired from football, but the crossroads came in my life when Chelsea wanted to sign me and make me a professional footballer in 2013 when I was 20.

You get to a stage where you replay every scenario in your head, but you have to stop; otherwise, you drive yourself insane.

I think I've always been regarded as a mentally strong person and a tough character, but it took me a while to reach a point where I realised that internalising your emotions wasn't doing me any good.

In tournament football, you cannot dwell on things for too long.

We see every game as a big game, and, as you know in tournament football, anything is possible. Each game, we want to keep raising the bar and lifting our standards and putting goals past teams.

I try not to overthink things. If you think too much, that's when the mistakes come in. Keep it basic is what I've been doing well - winning my headers and making sure I win my one-v-one battles. Often, your natural instinct tells you whether to hold or go.

You can go back into equestrianism any time - we've got a yard back home in Sheffield, and the horses are still there. They're just on hold for the moment. I can't ride and play football; it's too much of a risk.

When I was at Doncaster Rovers Belles, I used to play up front or as a number 10, but when I joined Chelsea in 2015, I was more a midfielder, and over the last few years, I've moved into the back four.

I was probably on a horse before the age of three. From a very young age, I could ride on my own, work, trot, you name it.

In the past, I tried to put on a brave face and smile after a defeat, but then it would backfire in training, and I'd get frustrated. Now I just embrace it, let it out, and then, two days later, I'm back in training and ready for the next game.

When I was younger, I had a fear of being judged as a footballer, and my worst fear was feeling like I didn't belong at the level of football I was playing.

At the start, you don't earn a great deal, so you have to work other jobs if you want to play football. When I was at Doncaster, I couldn't solely do football. I had to work; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to live.

My grandad used to work in the mines, he's retired now, but he's been a big part of my career.

Women's football will always be different from men's football, but that doesn't mean you cannot still appreciate it. OK, so it might be a bit slower than the men's game, but then League Two football is slower than the Champions League, and it doesn't stop people turning out to see their local teams.

Spending time with the horses was also a good place to escape to if you were having a bad day, so it was good from a mental point of view.

The game is not just about the top four or five teams; it's the whole league that needs to be stable and developing. Without the other teams, we are nothing.

Top players now will get bonuses for winning competitions or reaching various stages of them, scoring goals, or keeping clean sheets, but most don't play football for the money, because it's not been in the game that long. They do it for the love of playing.

I always love going home anyway; it's where my roots are. I always like to go back. It's a good reminder of where I started and the journey that I still have to go on to get where I want to be.

I had to take a risk in quitting two jobs I was working at the same time while playing semi-pro up at Doncaster. I had to stop those two jobs and move down to London, away from my family, when the opportunity with Chelsea came my way.

I don't think I started kicking a ball until I was six or seven. Horses were my first love, so I was occupied with that.

People just need to be open-minded enough to accept the game for what it is. If you don't want to see it, then you're never going to appreciate it, which is fine; it's your choice. But we appreciate not being slated in the meantime.

I'd say I'm a front foot defender; I never hesitate to go in for a challenge. You have to get one over your opponent and dominate them.

You have to get one above your opponent; being on the front foot allows you to do that. It allows you to dominate them.