Chloe was tough as old boots... she just bounced off of everybody
Mother’s pride at battler who never gave up
AS a football-mad youngster, Chloe Kelly was determined to show the boys on her West London estate not just that she was as good as they were but that she was even better.
Every day after school and in the holidays, she spent hours at what was known locally as ‘the cage’.
It was the rough, gravel-floored fencedin pitches where she and her five brothers and their friends kicked the ball about from dawn until dusk.
The nickname of that childhood haunt provides a perfect metaphor for the brave-hearted Lioness who went on to score the fairytale goal that clinched victory in the Euros for England.
For while, overnight, Miss Kelly has become a national hero, to get to the dizzying heights of her game this sporting superstar first had to claw her way out from the rusting metal football pens next to her family’s home on the Windmill Park Estate in Southall.
No- one knows this better than her mother Jane, who yesterday spoke to the Daily Mail at the family’s terraced home about the brilliant daughter she used to take to training on the bus.
‘She always had a ball at her feet,’ said the mother-of-seven, 55, who stayed at home to care for her children while her husband Noel, 58, worked as a machinery engineer. Bursting with pride, she added: ‘She was tough as old boots and just bounced off of everybody.
‘Growing up here, everyone used to go out playing. She just loved it. She’s kicked a ball since she could walk. Getting hit by the big boys with the ball, she used to get up and get up and that’s made her such a tough footballer.
‘She used to come home with cuts on her legs from bouncing off the cage floor but she’d still go back the next day.’
Miss Kelly’s journey to glory has lessons for us all about the importance not only of self-belief but of hard work and perseverance, of refusing to give up.
As a child, on FA Cup Final day, she would catch the 92 bus, not to watch the match as she couldn’t afford a ticket, but to buy a programme so she could read about her favourite players and feed on the ‘vibe around Wembley’.
But she has been dogged by injuries which might, had she not been such a fighter, ended her career.
A damaged ankle kept her out of the World Cup in 2019 while last year she suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament which required surgery and months of rehab. She only returned to her role as a forward for Manchester City in April and battled hard to recover her form in time to fulfil her dream of representing her country at the Euros.
‘She’s a role model for our times; not just for women but for men as well,’ says Tommy Walsh, who coached Miss Kelly as a 19-year-old at Arsenal FC.
‘She always had the talent but she worked to reach it. She never gave up. She had a real hunger and a relentless work ethic. She’s also just a really lovely person. She’s someone who is humble but wants to be a world-class player.’
Yesterday the streets on the estate where Miss Kelly grew up were a sea of red-and-white flags. Several who live here remember the days when she used to face them down in the cage.
‘She was obsessed with football,’ says neighbour Connor McCallion, 21, ‘That was all she ever did. She was always with her brothers; there would be loads of us in the cage, 20 or 30 sometimes.
‘She was the only girl but a lot of the boys used to move out of the way when she kicked the ball. We always knew she was going to be a pro.’
Padraig Nugent, 24, says: ‘ She was always better than the boys. Even as a girl, she was known as “Superstar”.’
As the youngest of seven, Miss Kelly, 24, grew up with her own squad of footballers to train with,. Her father Noel told the Mail last night how her first kicks took place alongside her brothers
Daniel, now 34, and Jack, 33, plus triplets Jamie, Martin and Ryan, 30. Her sister Paris, 27, who works at a dentist’s clinic, showed no interest in the game.
This year Miss Kelly told the Mail how her brothers made no allowances for her. ‘If I was on the floor, they’d tell me to get up. They never felt sorry for me if I was getting knocked about. That was the way to go. If they made it easy, you would always think everything is going to come easy in life and that’s not the case. That’s how I’ve got so far today.’
Miss Kelly was spotted by scouts from her family’s favourite team Queens Park Rangers while a pupil at Elthorne Park High School. But the club couldn’t give her the opportunities she got by joining Arsenal, enduring a two-hour round trip every time she went to train.
She made her debut for the women’s first team at 17 in 2015, scoring her first goal after just 22 minutes. Coach Mr Walsh connected with her instantly. He said: ‘ Her grandfather came from Omagh, County Tyrone, where I’m from. She was such a lovely person to work with. She’d always grab me after training with a bag of balls so she could work at her finish. She had a real hunger.’
In 2016, Miss Kelly moved to Everton on loan. In 2018, the move became permanent and she became their top scorer in 2019. The next year she signed a two-year deal with Manchester City and lives with her boyfriend of three years, Scott, 31, a greenkeeper at a golf club and their cockerpoo Otis.
But in May 2021, Miss Kelly suffered her serious ligament injury in a match against Birmingham City. She had surgery and rehab at the Liverpool clinic of sports physio Matt Konopinski and, on Sunday, paid tribute to those who got her back to full strength.
Clearly, this is just the beginning. Who knows what advertising and sponsorship deals lie ahead.
Last night Miss Kelly returned to her parents’ home where delighted neighbours hugged and kissed her.
Her caged lioness days may be over but the family and neighbours who know her are certain of one thing: that off the pitch at least her feet will remain firmly on the ground.
‘Humble but wants to be world-class’