Aston Villa’s Lucy Staniforth: ‘I’d be lying if I said I’m not thinking about the World Cup’
As Lucy Staniforth left Manchester United’s training ground for the final time a nagging voice inside her head suggested she might be about to step off the edge of the world. Fast forward three months from that watershed January moment and the midfielder, now at Aston Villa, feels on top of it.
“When you’re at Manchester United it seems like the best place on the planet and anywhere else is never going to quite live up to it,” she says. “But everything that’s happened since leaving has surpassed my expectations.”
The success of her adaptation to a new, deeper role, anchoring midfield for Carla Ward’s upwardly-mobile side, has not merely silenced those inner doubts but rekindled the 30-year-old’s case for an England recall for the World Cup in Australia.
More immediately, there is an intriguing double header against Chelsea to look forward to with Villa at home and hoping to extend their seven-match unbeaten WSL run on Sunday before facing the same opponents in the FA Cup semi-final on 16 April.
Staniforth has played a key role in Villa’s rise to fifth in the WSL with her performances leading to questions as to why she enjoyed limited game time at Manchester United. “I made friends for life there,” she says. “But Marc [Skinner, United’s manager] and I had a conversation and Marc made it clear he was happy to let me leave.
““If you’d ask me six months ago how I saw my future, I’d never have imagined things working out so well.”
Reunions with her old friends Jordan Nobbs and Rachel Daly have proved welcome bonuses. “Me, Jordan and Rach have known each other for 14 years so it’s been lovely,” she says. “It’s made everything so easy. It’s felt like we’re rolling back the years. It’s fun.”
Nobbs’s father, Keith, is a former Hartlepool defender and Lucy’s dad, Gordon, led the attacking line at Hull, York and Carlisle. “The smell of Deep Heat takes me back to early childhood and toddling around next to my Dad in changing rooms,” says Staniforth. “Those memories are priceless. He’s an immeasurably positive influence on my career.”
Their close-knit family confronted tragedy when Lucy’s older brother, Thomas, a promising 20-year-old Sheffield Wednesday defender, collapsed and died during a night out in York. “I was nine when Thomas died, but my career is a bit of a tribute to him and what could have been,” she says. “He was close to a Premier League debut and people say he was an unbelievable player. I just try to do all I can to keep his memory alive. I try to do Thomas proud.”
The family subsequently relocated to Alnwick in Northumberland, where an early priority was to find Lucy a team. “My mum was advised to phone Diane Bronze,” she says. “She spent the next hour talking to Diane who said I should join Blyth Town with her daughter Lucy.”
Before long, the two future England teammates were best friends. “When we were 12 we toured America with Blyth,” says Staniforth. “It was an amazing experience.”
The next stop was Sunderland. “I’m a Newcastle fan so that was really difficult. But Lucy was playing there and a lot of what I did when I was younger was just copy Lucy Bronze. At first I used to wear a Brazil shirt under my Sunderland top to make sure I didn’t have it next to my skin.”
Despite two stints at Sunderland, Staniforth’s love for Newcastle endures. “I’ve recently completed a Masters in Football Directorship,” she says. “And my long-term dream is to work for Newcastle and help make them a successful WSL club.”
Nonetheless, she recalls those formative Sunderland times fondly. “So many players from my early days there have had amazing England careers. And Jill Scott, Steph Houghton, Carly Telford, Lucy Bronze, Jordan Nobbs and Demi Stokes have been pivotal in paving the way towards England becoming a top side.”
After being included in Sarina Wiegman’s initial 28-woman Euro 2022 squad, but failing to make the final 23, she hopes her own international adventures are not over after 15 appearances. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it,” she says. “Of course I want to play for England again. The World Cup’s round the corner; it’s something you fight for.”
It helps that Ward trusts her. “I don’t want to sound sycophantic, but Carla’s great,” she says. “She’s thrown me into a new position and believed in me. I’d been used to playing different attacking midfield roles, but sitting in front of the back four and breaking up play really suits me.
“Sometimes it just takes a significant change to find your feet. When people used to ask about my best position I hadn’t a clue. Now I’d probably say it’s this one.”