‘Olympic snub was completely heartbreaking but I will prove people wrong’
Greenwood missed out on Tokyo 2020 but has used her time wisely to improve game ahead of tilt at the title
She may have suffered “complete heartbreak” but Alex Greenwood, whose omission from Great Britain’s Olympic squad caught so many by surprise, is in no mood to feel sorry for herself. “I’m not allowed to be a sulker in this family that I grew up in,” she says.
Even so, Greenwood had every right to feel aggrieved. She was one of the stars of a Manchester City side who finished second in last season’s Women’s Super League and, at 27, the defender is approaching the peak of her powers.
But two paths opened up for Greenwood and, with the new season on the horizon and a home European Championship to follow next summer, it is the road towards self-improvement, and not self-pity, that she chose to travel.
“I had my moment when I was upset, angry and disappointed, and I could have done one of two things,” Greenwood says, speaking for the first time about the day she received the news. “I could have let it run away with me, stayed disappointed, and dwelled on it, or I could react to it and say, ‘OK, I’m going to prove you wrong and I’m going to work so, so hard’, so now it’s honestly only a positive thing for me.
“To say I was heartbroken initially would be an understatement, it was complete heartbreak, I couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t that I was convinced I was going to Japan – that would be unprofessional – but after the season I’d had, lots of honest people around me said they thought I’d had one of my best seasons as a professional, and I’m usually really hard on myself.
“It affected me so much, in so many ways, at the time. At first I couldn’t see the positive in it, I was so negatively wrapped up in not being selected and how it was going to affect my future, when actually I simply needed to take a breath and sit back.”
Not that there was much sitting back to be done. A clear summer, even if that was not originally the plan, has given Greenwood the chance to fine tune her game after a promise from Gareth Taylor, her coach at City, who said: “I’m going to work you so hard.”
“To start with it was really tough for me to be convinced by the reasons I wasn’t going,” Greenwood says. “Then I had some time away to reflect and I kind of needed to flip my mentality a little bit. Doubts can almost take over a little bit, but I’ve had the time to reflect now and take a moment and speak to people closest to me and reassure myself, ‘You know what, yes you are good enough, you are a good player’.
“Now I’ve been able to work on things I hadn’t normally been able to work on, because when you’re an international sometimes, you don’t get a full preseason. I had a really good chance to get a break and go into Man City’s pre-season training feeling fresh, with a clear head, focused. “Gareth was brilliant with me, the whole club were, they were fantastic, and he sat down with me and said, ‘Over the summer I’m going to work you so hard, I’m going to work with you on the things I think you can improve and you’ve got our full support’, and that was massive.”
It is with her renewed sense of determination that Greenwood now looks forward to City’s opening league game of the season at one of her former clubs, Everton, on Sept 4. It is a contest that will make history for the WSL as it will be live on BBC One, and could see a league debut in English football for one of City’s new signings, Jamaica forward Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, who Greenwood says has settled in quickly.
“I feel as though I’ve known her all my life, she’s a top, top girl. She’s walked into the club like she’s always been here, she’s a confident girl, and on the pitch she’s been brilliant. She’s a great finisher, she’s strong, she’s powerful and has so much ability with the ball at her feet. I think some people see her as a tall, powerful player but actually technically she’s fantastic, and I’m really excited about how the season unfolds with her.”
With stars like Shaw, this will be a campaign that Greenwood believes can end with silverware for the team, and add to her own honours haul that already includes an FA Cup and a Champions League, as well as a treble in France.
“We want it [the title] like you wouldn’t believe. It’s one of the few that’s missing for me at the moment. I really, really want that in the bag, to win the league,” says Greenwood, who signed for City in September 2020 after winning the European title with Lyon in a successful one-year spell in France.
“We came so close last season, but just not close enough. It’s just something everyone wants to achieve in their career and I think I’m at the perfect club to do it. It’s getting harder and harder because teams are improving every year, but how exciting is that? That makes the challenge harder and makes it more worthy when you do achieve it.”
Manchester City defender joins the Telegraph team Champions League winner becomes our new women’s football columnist ahead of the 2021-22 season