How Mary Earps’ book turned most of women’s football against her

Speak to anyone in women’s football about the fallout from Mary Earps’ autobiography and they will tell you the same thing: she has got this spectacularly wrong.

In truth, that is putting it lightly. Her book All In: Football, Life and Learning to be Unapologetically Me comes out this week but extracts have already been published in The Guardian.

In the book, Earps criticises Sarina Wiegman for “rewarding bad behaviour” by bringing Hannah Hampton back into the team before describing the manager’s handling of the No 1 battle as “bull----.”

The former England goalkeeper did interviews with the BBC and Talksport on Monday, seemingly in an attempt to backtrack. She claimed the comments she made about Hampton and Wiegman had been distorted and taken out of context.

Meanwhile, pre-recorded interviews have continued to drop left, right and centre. With each one, the reaction of figures in the industry has been more incredulous. Sources have described Earps as having “main character syndrome” while others have translated her interviews as screaming “me, me, me”.

Earps’ former England team-mate Fara Williams is one of the few figures to have spoken publicly and described her comments on Hampton and Wiegman as “baffling”.

Writing in her column for TNT Sports, Williams said: “I honestly didn’t like Mary’s comments about Hannah. It’s quite baffling to see Mary come out publicly and talk about a former international team-mate in this way.

“Looking back at the way her retirement played out, I was expecting something to come out eventually. It was bound to happen when you consider a player as popular as Mary to retire on the eve of a major tournament, although I couldn’t have predicted Mary to talk about Hannah in the way she did, because you need to respect your team-mates whether you like them or not.”

This is also the view of sources close to the Lionesses. There is still lingering resentment at the way Earps went about her retirement, which came five weeks before the Euros and was viewed by some as an attempt to unsettle Hampton and the wider squad. But there is even greater anger at how Hampton has been dragged through the mud and the public airing of the pair’s dirty laundry.

Earps claimed in her interview with the BBC that she had not written the book to “tear anyone down” and has insisted there is no bad blood between her and her former team-mate. But people seem to have seen through this. Williams makes the point that Earps would have known that her quotes on Wiegman and Hampton would make headlines and the wider view is: what was she expecting?

What everyone within the game seems to agree on is that she has been massively let down by the PR team behind her. Putting Earps up for more media since the backlash has poured petrol on the flames rather than limiting the damage. In another ill-advised move, Earps is doing a question-and-answer session with football magazine Four Four Two, with their X account inviting fans to send questions in to the goalkeeper.

Respected figures in the industry are astounded by the mistakes that have been made and while there has been much criticism of Earps, there is also concern for her welfare.

She fought back tears in her interview with Talksport and looked equally emotional when she spoke to the BBC. It is understandable she wants to change the narrative but the more she talks, the worse it gets.

Many believe she needs to be taken out of the spotlight for her own well-being.

None of the current Lionesses have spoken publicly about Earps’ book but Millie Bright, who retired from international duty last month, is due to release her podcast Daly Brightness with fellow former England player Rachel Daly.

Bright is Hampton’s Chelsea team-mate and captain but is also a long-time friend of Earps. Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor was heavily critical of Earps and accused her of disrespect so it will be intriguing to see whether Bright makes any mention of the autobiography this week.

While many viewed Earps’ retirement as selfish, she still had some goodwill around some quarters of the England camp and the wider women’s game. But that is quickly evaporating. While no one can take her achievements on the pitch away from her, many see the damage that has been done to her reputation in the last few days as irreversible. The best thing she can do right now is to take herself out of the firing line.

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