Villa's Staniforth 'at ease' with decision to retire

"I'm excited now because I'm not 'Lucy the footballer' anymore. It might be hard to come to terms with down the line, but at the moment, it just excites me."

Staniforth hopes to "discover a new part" of herself away from the game and learn to celebrate her achievements.

"I've probably been so hard on myself throughout my whole career. I always wanted to achieve great things and be this wonderful player with a list of honours," she added.

"I've learned that while everything has been so hard, I've been so resilient. I just need to be like, 'Fair play, it's not easy'.

"I can get through anything and I'm really proud that I've been able to do that and still reach the peak of my career.

"I have tried not to take life too seriously. I've always tried to be a great team-mate and lift everyone's spirits. Hopefully those skills lead me into success after football."

'We had nothing and made the most out of everything we got'

Image caption,

Lucy Staniforth joined Aston Villa from Manchester United in 2023

Retirement will give Staniforth a chance to reflect on how much has changed since she made her Sunderland debut 17 years ago.

"It's pretty crazy. The kit was hanging off us, we were raising money to afford to get to games, but we had the best time," she recalled.

"It was such a great learning experience, just being thrown in the deep end into women's football and with a really humble upbringing.

"We had nothing and we made the most out of everything we got. Everything that came after, has just blown my mind.

"Being able to play at Wembley for England never crossed my mind, but now it's a regular thing. It's unbelievable."

So what next for Staniforth?

She has a master's degree in football directorship and has taken on golf as a hobby but wants to help unions across the sport improve facilities and access.

"That's the space that I'm going look to go into. I've got so much experience and I was playing for various different clubs," added Staniforth, who also had spells at Liverpool, Sunderland again, Birmingham and Manchester United before joining Villa in 2023.

"Access to facilities, the difficulties of playing international football and travelling, then match loading - I think those things are some key areas in women's football.

"It needs playing experience to be able to guide people in the right direction. I'm definitely steering down that route for now. But in the future, who knows?"

Ben Haines, Ellen White and Jen Beattie will bring you every beat of the end to the season on the Women's Football Weekly podcast. New episodes drop every Tuesday on BBC Sounds, plus find interviews and extra content from the Women's Super League and beyond on the Women's Football Weekly feed