Drew Spence: 'Phil's not spoken to me once. Is it because of what happened?'
“I’m not saying I deserve to be in the England squad but I think I deserve to have been given a chance,” says Drew Spence, Chelsea’s longest serving player. A new two-year contract signed in March will take the 27-yearold into her 13th year with the club. Plenty of players have been ditched by Emma Hayes, with the manager unsentimental in her quest for success, but Spence, the only player to have been at the club longer than Hayes, remains firmly in the manager’s plans.
It is a huge vote of confidence for the midfielder, yet the respect of one of the most experienced club managers in the game, two league titles, a Spring Series trophy, two FA Cups and, this year, the team’s first League Cup, have not been enough to earn her a place in Phil Neville’s England squad.
Spence admits “the squad is difficult to get in, especially my position, because there’s so many good midfielders in England. It’s tough”. However with defenders such as Lucy Bronze and Leah Williamson filling in in midfield and formations tweaked game by game to try to compensate for injuries, the inability of Spence to get a look-in seems odd.
“Phil’s not spoken to me once,” says the softly spoken Spence, with no anger but a tinge of disappointment. “To not be given that chance makes me question: ‘Is it because of what happened?’ I
think it is because of what happened, if I’m totally honest.”
Spence is referring to her involvement in the Mark Sampson racism case. In 2017, when her then Chelsea teammate Eni Aluko spoke to the Guardian about her treatment after taking part in an anonymous questionnaire on the culture within the national team, Spence was pulled into the ring as the unnamed player who, while the only player of colour in the room, had been asked by Sampson how many times she had been arrested. Initially Spence stayed quiet before writing to the FA to confirm Aluko’s account of the event.
After a very public and messy series of investigations, the FA “sincerely apologised” to both Spence and Aluko. The latter did not play for England again, but with more than 100 caps and the end of her career a bit closer
football since the League was founded 132 years ago,” the EFL chair said. “Our clubs have been left with significant outgoings while facing a sudden loss of income.
“With this in mind, I’m sure you will be aware of talk about wages and deferrals. Good progress is being made in these areas with a view to this assisting in delivering medium to longterm solutions that protect our game for years to come.”
The former Premier League and Liverpool chief executive also insisted the game must “tread extremely carefully” with its public image when football does resume.
Speaking on Sky to Gary Neville, who asked whether it was right some clubs could go bankrupt because of the crisis while others spend £100m on one player, Parry said the game had to act responsibly. “We are in the court of public opinion now as the Premier League has seen in recent weeks fairly graphically,” he replied.
“We have seen the negative response to furloughing, which I think has been grossly exaggerated given the scheme is to apply to every company.
Football has to be hugely conscious of its public image at the moment and we have to tread extremely carefully.
“I think the question you raise is a really, really valid one. This is a time when football has to be increasingly careful and making sure we are doing all we can to do the right thing.”