Jill Scott: I’ll never be able to thank the fans enough

England legend Jill Scott has announced her retirement from football and as expected, she has done so in style.

Jill has written a 3,000-plus word article as part of her announcement, which you can read in full at The Players’ Tribune.

Below is a section of the article.
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At the final whistle, I just remember running straight up to Keira and saying, “Thank you for absolutely bossing the midfield the entire tournament.” 

After that I did something that I haven’t shared with anyone yet. I ran to the changing rooms to send one text. I didn’t want to be on my phone, but there was one person I needed to message. Mo Marley. Mo was the coach who took a chance on a skinny 18-year-old Jill Scott. If she’d never given me that opportunity, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I can’t say enough good things about Mo. In the changing room, I just messaged her saying, “We did it, Mo.” 

Obviously, everyone got to see the absolute scenes in the dressing room on social media after the Euro final. But the thing that really sticks out to me is that night, when we got back to the Lensbury Hotel, me and Millie Bright were sharing a room, and of course we were buzzing so there was no way we were going to sleep. We just sat up all night, literally doing raps and poems and all sorts of nonsense, like little kids. At half seven in the morning, as the sun was coming up, I went for a walk to get a coffee with Lotte without having a minute of sleep, and it was the most surreal moment of my life. 

On the walk to the cafe, everybody stopped us. 

There were car horns beeping, and people stopping us to take photos with tears in their eyes, and they were just saying, “Thank you.” We walked past the news agents and there were pictures of us on every front page. 

ENGLAND. CHAMPIONS. 

It felt better than a dream. 

But as I like to say: It’s not about the splash. It’s about the dive. 

You know the last thing I ever did on a football pitch? It was perfectly me. We had celebrated, the streamers were going off, and I was just sitting there with my medal on the grass for an hour and a half, taking it all in … and I knew, deep in my heart, that this was it. 

So many memories came back to me. I thought about Sunderland and all the sprints I had done from wall to wall, 10 metres at a time. I thought about showing up to my first England cap with moulds instead of studs! 

Thought about the tattoo I got at 2 o ‘clock in the morning in the middle of Liverpool after we beat Arsenal in the Community Shield. 

Thought about the unbelievable support of my family all these years – about how Ganny would be telling the painter or the gardener or anyone who stopped by the house, “You know my granddaughter plays for England?” 

Thought about all the fans who supported me in my career, and how I’ll never be able to thank them enough. 

Thought about how my niece and nephews got to watch their Aunty Jill go out a champion. 

Thought about all them little moments with the girls in hotels and changing rooms and minibusses over the years. Those are the things that I’ll miss the most. 

(I told you I wasn’t going to cry.) 

I just sat there and thought: Right. If this is it, let’s do one more run. 

So I grabbed Lotte Wubben-Moy as well as our Sports scientist Martin and I said, “You’ve made me do so many box-to-box runs throughout this tournament… Come on, run one more with us.” 

The game had been over for ages, but it just felt right. Suddenly I was like that little girl again, running on her own in the back lanes. 

Box to box. Wall to wall. 

Only this time I had a gold medal swinging from my neck. 

That was my way of saying goodbye. 

And this is my way of saying thank you. 

– Jill

You can read Jill’s farewell article in full at The Players’ Tribune here.