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Captain Sloey aims to inspire
St Mirren Women’s new captain can’t wait to inspire the next generation of girls to lace up their boots and carve out a career in football.
Gill Sloey has recently been handed the armband after Jane O’Toole moved on to pastures new.
The former Scotland under-19 international revealed it was a significant moment for her to be named skipper by head coach Kate Cooper.
The 26- year- old striker is hoping to use that responsibility to motivate more women to take up the game by becoming a role model for the club.
She told Express Sport: “This will be my second season with St Mirren and it was a really proud moment to be named captain.
“There’s a lot of ambition at this club to grow and develop and I can’t wait to be a part of that going forward.
“Jane was a great role model on and off the pitch. She’s away to Gartcairn now and she’ll be sorely missed as she was one of the toughest players around.
“Anyone who saw the footage of her knocking her dislocated kneecap back into place can see what a toughie she is.
“Women’s football is really growing. As a player, you always want to influence the younger players, but what’s changed now is that there are proper female role models around.
“When I was growing
up, most of our role models were men. Now girls can see that there’s a career path there,
“The World Cup was a massive turning point for women’s football. To see Scotland playing at a major tournament on the BBC, with players from full- time professional clubs, was huge.
“It shows girls that, with hard work, talent and determination, you can get a career out of this game.”
Sloey is one of the few footballers to have crossed the Old Firm divide, having played for both Celtic and Rangers as a striker in her time on the pitch so far.
Her career has been dogged by a respiratory condition, which has seen her have to move clubs more frequently than she would have liked.
Now she’s settled in Paisley and is looking to help the club push on when the new season gets up and running.
Sloey said: “I started off at Celtic when I was 13 and was there for around seven years.
“From there, I went to Hamilton for two seasons before heading back to Celtic for a short while, and then to Rangers for two years.
“Women’s football wasn’t as big back then, so there wasn’t much of a backlash crossing that divide. They’re both professional now so it might be a different story if I’d done that now.
“I had to have two seasons off after my time at Rangers due to a respiratory condition, which was really disappointing.
“I went to Glasgow Girls and Hamilton when I was fit enough, but my health got in the way of that again.
“It’s really been peaks and troughs with my fitness over the years.
“I’m feeling fit now though and I can’t wait for the new season to get up and running.”
The Saints have seen big changes in the squad as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
And Sloey is determined to gel the team as much as possible with the remaining pre-season friendlies to get the team ready for a return to competitive action.
She added: “It’s a relatively new squad heading into this season.
“We’ve lost four starters from last season for various reasons, but we’ve brought in some good, experienced players to replace them.
“We’re training three nights a week and playing games now, so it’s all positive and exciting.
“We want to achieve things and do well, but, given the pandemic, this season will mostly be about gelling the new team together.”