When World Cup champ daughter said her mum was ‘probably p***ed, she’ s Scottish ’, she actually meant I’d be angry thats he didn’t take my call
Margaret, 77, puts record straight and tells of her pride in her girl, who beat the odds to become one of the world’s top football coaches and a double World Cup winner
VICTORIOUS US football coach Jill Ellis famously told the world: “My mum’s probably p***ed. She’s Scottish,” as she celebrated her team’s World Cup win.
But proud mum Margaret Ellis is keen to point out that her daughter, who has lived in the US since she was a teenager, didn’t mean she was drunk.
Margaret, 77, originally from Corstorphine, Edinburgh, explained that Jill was using the word in its American slang sense – joking her mum might be angry at her for not answering a call because she was in a press conference.
She said she was “a little” embarrassed when she realised she had Facetimed 52-year-old Jill live on international TV.
Jill’s phone started ringing as she spoke to reporters and before looking at it, she predicted it was her mum.
“It’s probably my mom FaceTiming me,” Jill said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.
Then she looked down and added: “It is. Sorry, can’t talk right now. She’s probably p***ed – she’s Scottish.”
Florida-based Margaret said she was mortified when she realised she’d interrupted her live interviews.
Margaret added: “It rang and it rang and I thought she wasn’t there so I put the phone down.
“Little did I know they asked her who it was and she said, ‘It’s my mum and I know she’ll be p***ed because she didn’t answer.’
“She meant angry but I don’t get like that. I was embarrassed, just a little. We were all laughing about it.
“She was doing another TV interview the other day and I was frightened to call her in case I was on national television again – I’ll always text her first now.”
Despite Margaret’s TV gaffe, she and husband John were bursting with pride watching their daughter lead the team to their second women’s World Cup.
The couple moved to the US in 1980 and John, a former Royal Marine, took up a football coaching career in Virginia. They had no idea this would be setting
The other day, I was frightened to call her in case I was on TV again MARGARET ELLIS
Jill, then 14, on the way to becoming one of the most successful managers in the history of the sport.
Denied the chance to play the game when she was a schoolgirl in England, Jill became a high school superstar in the States and went on to have a stellar career in coaching after college.
Margaret and John –who met at the Edinburgh Tattoo in 1959 and married in 1963 – threw a massive party at their retirement community in Florida on Sunday and were thrilled to watch their girl lift the cup again.
But like most female footballers of her generation, it was a long road to the top for Jill, who was born in Kent when her father was stationed there.
Margaret said: “It’s a real soccer family. My dad was a big Hearts fan.
“I can always remember Jill so badly wanted to play and was out there on the street playing football with all the boys, she always had a ball at her feet.
“She came over here, got into the varsity team right away and from there she went on. She’s been phenomenal and I’m so proud of her.
“She has had a fabulous opportunity, we’ve all been really lucky and thoroughly enjoyed living here and for Jill, the best thing we ever did was bring her over here.”
In the mid-80s, there were no football scholarships to US colleges, so Margaret and John, who set up a Soccer Academy business now run by their son Paul, 54, had to foot the bill.
“It was $5000 a year, which was a lot of money, and then finally in fourth year, they gave a full women’s scholarship – I thought I’d won the lottery.
“It was a struggle but we got there and it’s been great to see her do so well.
“After graduating, she went to work with a telecoms company but she told us she didn’t like sitting in an office all day in a cubicle and had an offer to coach a team.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, here we go’ she’s giving up this fantastic job with good money for one with no pay hardly, but she went to the University of Maryland and worked there. I’m very proud of her taking that risk, she knew what she wanted to do.”
Having been a championship winner and American all-star player at William and Mary College, and with no professional playing career on offer at that time, naturalised American citizen Jill made her mark in coaching instead.
But with the women’s game now bigger than ever, her current crop of star players, such as captain Megan Rapinoe, are among the most successful footballers in the world and have been leading an equal pay campaign.
Margaret said she was proud that her daughter was a role model.
She said: “There wasn’t the same opportunity in those days.
“I’m glad that these youngsters nowadays are getting more playing time and it’s fabulous to see the little ones out on the field now.
“We’re all cheering for equal pay now. These girls have worked hard and you see the results.
“It’s just what the sport needs – we watched them at the ticker tape parade in New York and all the kids in the front were cheering and shouting, ‘Equal Pay’ and when the commentator asked the little girl, she said they needed to get the same amount of money as the men.” John and Margaret were flown to Switzerland in 2015 to see Jill presented with the coach of the year award after her first World Cup win, and they try to support the side as much as they can. Jill’s brother Paul and his family were in France for this year’s final, alongside Jill’s wife Betsy Stephenson and their 14-year-old daughter Lily. Margaret said: “This one really feels special. We’ve been to a few of their games. We don’t travel as much these days as we are getting on in years but we have been to see the team. “At the last World Cup, she was voted coach of the year and we were flown to Switzerland, I had a few tears, I must say. “They’re a great bunch of girls and they stick together, one for all and all for one.” She has special praise for Jill’s outspoken captain and top scorer Rapinoe. “Of course Megan Rapinoe was absolutely phenomenal. Oh yes, she’ll say her bit. She’s a sweet, sweet girl.”