This is Alex Scott’s world What’s it like being the first female pundit? She reveals all
Alex Scott has battled Twitter trolls to blaze a pathway for female peers in the football media, but that barely skims the surface when it comes to the life of an influential new icon at the front of change...
PEOPLE MAY SEE ME ON TV NOW AND THINK I’VE ARRIVED ALL OF A SUDDEN, BUT I’VE PUT IN SO MUCH HARD WORK”
By her own admissions, Alex Scott does not know how to stop. When reeling off her series of lockdown activities to Fourfourtwo – not limited to hosting The One Show and learning Spanish – her busyness is exposed when she forgets to include a Zoom chat about mental health with Prince William.
“I’ve been doing so much I totally forgot,” she laughs. “That was very cool, receiving an email that said, ‘ His Royal Highness would like you to be on a call with him – would you accept?’ Can you actually say no to that? Of course I want to be on it!”
But you can forgive her: the former Arsenal and England full- back has also been part of a task force advising the government on how sport can return safely amid the coronavirus pandemic, is on the board for UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, and recently broadcast to a peak audience of nearly four million for the BBC’S first live top- flight fixture since 1988. There’s much to discuss, then...
Hi Alex. Do you have issues sitting still?
[ Laughs] Even before I retired I went straight into my media career, so it’s been the same in lockdown. There’s a part of me that thinks, ‘ How can I best make use of this time?’ The Spanish is going really well – I’ve had about 50 lessons. It’s always been a goal to travel around South America, so I wanted to speak some of the language first. I also thought it would be useful in my current work – there are so many Spanish- speaking players in the Premier League, and it would be really cool if I could interview them.
What do you think when you look at where you are today, broadcasting to millions on various platforms?
I still pinch myself every day. It was in 2012, when I’d rejoined Arsenal after a spell in America, when I started to think, ‘ What does my life after football look like?’ So I started my media degree in 2013, simply planning for some sort of a job afterwards. Even then I thought, ‘ Wouldn’t it be nice if I could work just part- time at one
of the major media companies?’ Fast- forward to now, being across both BBC Sport and Sky Sports, all those headlines about being the first female pundit/ presenter… it’s mad. I’m just very passionate about getting out there and meeting people, and I think that’s what has got me to where I am.
What were realistic goals when you came to the end of your playing career?
When I was mapping out life after football, I thought, ‘ Oh no, am I going to end up living back with Mum?!’ There was the fear factor. In my final two seasons as a player, I worked part- time on the Women’s Football Show and
Final Score for the BBC, and I had a Youtube show on Soccer AM. People might see me on TV now and think I’ve arrived all of a sudden, but I put in so much hard work. I was doing a London Live show with Jimmy Bullard on Thursdays, so I’d literally be on the training pitch at Arsenal and asking my coach, ‘ What time is it? I have a programme to host!’ Then I’d bolt it down the motorway into London. I was trying so hard to put things into place that by the time I was retiring, I knew the TV career was there. I didn’t expect this, though!
What was the football media landscape like for female broadcasters back then?
It was a bit lonely at first, because I was kind of the only one. When I turn on the TV now, there’s Karen Carney, Rachel Brown- Finnis... we’re not where we need to be yet, but this season it’s far more normal. Everything that I went through, changing perceptions on TV, has helped to open the door for others. I’m proud I did that to make it easier for them.
Being a pundit for the 2018 World Cup was significant – how did all of that go down?
I did the men’s FA Cup final that season, and after I remember sitting down with the BBC’S head of football, Steve Rudge, who knew that I was retiring. It was just a general chat, but I was planting these little seeds: ‘ you’ve not got a female pundit’, ‘ you’ve never had one at a World Cup – let me be that person!’ We still laugh about it – he knows how ambitious I am and that I’m always looking for what’s next. At the time he said, ‘ We’ll see how your development goes’ but I was so comfortable so quickly that he said, ‘ Let’s do it’.
With that comes a lot of attention. What has been the hardest thing to cope with?
In that first season it was the trolls. The 2018 World Cup was different to when I became the first female pundit on Sky’s Super Sunday, though. There were so many headlines about it that people were just waiting for me to slip up and do something wrong. It’s a different audience to the BBC. It’s always been a fight to prove that I know about football and am confident in that environment, with people getting used to it. It was really hard to take sometimes. In my first few shows I felt in my element, just talking about the match and thinking, ‘ This is great’ – but then you receive abuse every day and think, ‘ Why am I going through this?’ There was a point when I was worried about losing my personality, because of the trolls and what they were doing to me. But then I thought that if I walked away, they would win. I’ve worked very hard to be in this position, so wasn’t going to just let them win.
How do you get through that?
I’m not on Twitter a lot – it has become such a negative place. People don’t go out of their way to write positive comments, but will to criticise. I still go through it, but my attitude has changed. The different things I’ve done have also opened up lots of new audiences: I’m Alex the pundit, Alex the presenter and Alex from Strictly Come Dancing! [ FFT: Surely the peak?] I’d always wanted to do it – ask any of my football mates and they’ll tell you it was always my dream. I never thought I’d be in a position where they considered me.
You’ve paved the way for many others on TV – but your whole generation of female footballers are pioneers, no?
Without a doubt – there is always someone who has gone before you, who helps lay the stones for where you are now. For me, there were the likes of Marieanne Spacey and Hope Powell during their playing days – wow, the things that Hope had to fight for so that we could have them. She would be knocking on every door at the FA to make things happen. That’s what keeps me humble, to think of all those who were fighting long before me to get into this position.
What was it like being on Arsenal’s books from 1992? We hear you’ve got a special pair of boots to show for it...
[ Laughs] Yes! Vic Akers, Arsenal’s first- team kitman [ and boss of Arsenal Ladies], asked, ‘ Do you want Marc Overmars’ boots? I think he’s your size’. I took them but was far too scared to wear them. I think they’re still up in my loft – they were that precious. I’ll need to go and check later! I joined Arsenal when I was eight and felt lucky. We used to train around the pitch at Highbury, running up the stairs doing horseshoes. Vic built Arsenal’s women’s team on a semi- pro level, allowing us to take our football to the next level. That meant clubs like Manchester City could then use our model and push the game on. I don’t think he gets enough credit for what he did.
The 2007 World Cup is viewed as a seminal moment for the Lionesses – but not always for the right reasons, after you were paid £ 40 a day. What was it like?
It didn’t feel like that at the time. We reached the quarter- finals and received the FA central contracts that the girls earn today. We knew that the more successful we were, the more we could help to change women’s football in this country. It was actually a huge pressure, as we were so young then! I now look back at that World Cup as something really special. We weren’t even supposed to qualify and no one thought anything of us. But suddenly we woke up in China, when most of us had never been on a plane for that long before. We were still having to do fitness programmes at our local park, then take on the USA who were all fully- fledged professionals. The BBC showed the quarter- final live and we thought we’d hit the big time! We were on a magical journey together and it was so exciting, knowing that we were helping our sport.
Now you’re advising the government about sport after coronavirus. What do you do?
Weekly meetings. There’s a huge task force underneath me, too – that’s where you have governing bodies and Premier League people. It’s another mad moment; the government asking me for my opinions. I have that voice thanks to my journey: living in east London, being a semi- professional and a pro, and now being on TV – I’ve got a broader perspective. They’ve been hearing my views, which I’ve really loved. It’s taken a lot of time, just being passionate about ensuring my sector returns in the right way – and that’s not just football.
What have you made of all the Black Lives Matter discussions in recent months?
It’s been amazing to watch football using its power to affect change. Nelson Mandela said sport could change the world, and I believe that’s what we’re all seeing now. What we’re seeing is everyone coming together, and that solidarity has not been in isolation. But while this has been a moment, it needs to be much more going forward. We have lots of diversity on the pitch, so it’s about other areas of the game – boards, coaches and more.
How do we broaden out the discussions to make them more impactful?
I said this to Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer the other day, actually. What we need to get past is white people feeling uncomfortable talking about it, because we need them to say how they feel – then you can have more conversations. Every black man or woman can tell you a story that they went through, but I think it’s about listening to varied points of view, too. It’s about having conversations with everyone.
BEFORE GERMANY’S FIRST EURO 2020 GAME, I’LL BE THINKING, ‘ THIS TIME LAST YEAR I WAS BUILDING A SAND PIT!’