Rachel Daly interview: England hero eager to keep breaking boundaries with Aston Villa

“I hadn’t got it,” she says. “For some reason, it had gone to my accountant. My agent then says: ‘Rachel, you’ve got an MBE’.

“I was so shocked. I’m sat there in my car, on the way to Aldi, living my normal day-to-day life and I get this news. It was all quite surreal.

“I rang my mum because she loves the Royal Family and all that stuff. She was crying, excited. Out of everything I have achieved in my life, I think this is probably her proudest moment.”

Daly will receive her medal, awarded for services to football, later this month. Special though the occasion will undoubtedly be, the pomp and pageantry will also be a world away from where she has always felt most at home and it is the pursuit of more glory on the football pitch, rather than a palace, which continues to drive her.

While Royal recognition came as a complete surprise, Daly did enter the summer knowing she stood a fair chance of being named Villa captain after Rachel Corsie’s retirement at the end of last season.

Already vice-captain, she had regularly deputised for the Scotland international. It also slowly dawned on her, as such things rather depressingly do for us all at some point, she was now the oldest member of the squad.

“I look back and think, how did this happen? How did I become the oldest?” she laughs. “I was always a young player. Now being the oldest at Villa, I can’t say it is something I love but my body feels good, so that’s all that matters.”

At 33, Daly remains as passionate about football as she has ever been. There is not a moment in her life she can recall not being obsessed with a sport she claims to have been playing “pretty much since I came out of the womb”.

It is a love which has taken her on a remarkable journey, from the playing fields of Harrogate, her hometown, to Leeds United, Lincoln City, New York, Houston and then back to the UK with Villa. Neither does she believe it anywhere close to finished yet.

“I feel I have so much more to give,” says Daly. “I want to keep growing. I want to see how far I can get. I want to push myself to the absolute limit.

“To take the role of captain is a massive honour for me. I love the club. I love everything it stands for. I love being part of it.” 

Daly might only now have taken the armband on a permanent basis but ever since joining Villa from Houston Dynamo three years ago she has been their most recognisable and revered player.

You only need to look at her haul of three consecutive supporters’ player of the season awards to understand that, while the 22 Women’s Super League goals she plundered in her first campaign remains a record and led to her being awarded the PFA player of the year prize. Daly’s current tally is 59 goals, from just over 80 appearances.

To the casual observer of the women’s game, meanwhile, she remains best known as a member of England’s victorious Euro 2022 team.

Daly played all six matches of the tournament at left-back and then went viral with her impromptu rendition of River Deep, Mountain High in front of thousands of supporters at Trafalgar Square during the celebrations which followed.

Having been centre stage for that historic moment, Daly struggles to recall precisely where she watched the Lionesses retain their title two months ago.

There are no regrets, however, at the decision to call time on her international career 18 months ago after 84 caps and 16 goals.

“At the start of the Euros, I did have a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out),” she admits. “I was like: ‘Oh I know what they will be doing now’. The build-up is so exciting.

“But I knew when my time was up and I knew I had made the right decision. 

“I think if you hold on to something you are always going to have doubts and regrets but for me, I need to embrace the fact I had an amazing career with England and draw the line under it. 

“This summer was good for me because there was no bitterness, no envy. It was pure pride and I was so happy for them, the nation and the team behind the team, everyone involved.”

Daly hopes the success of a second Euros title can further accelerate growth of a women’s game which has already changed beyond recognition since she took her first steps as a professional at Lincoln 15 years ago.

“I came into the game with nothing, I was thumbing lifts to training,” she says. “Now I see 18-year-olds driving brand new Mercedes in. 

“But where at first I was maybe like, what the hell? Now it is like, yeah, actually, this is how it should be. 

“They should be rewarded for putting all their time in. They should be rewarded for how it is going.

“I still don’t think we are anywhere near what we need to be. I am not going to sit here and say we should be getting what the men get. I don’t think we will get there anytime soon. 

“But I do think there are things which could be improved in the women’s game. 

“Attendance is the No.1 thing. There needs to be a lot more done to drive that. 

“We play all our games at Villa Park and we need to get to a point where we sell the place out. The men do it week-in, week-out. I would love to get to the point where half of it is sold.” 

To do that it will require a winning team and with the Women’s Super League continuing to be dominated by four clubs - Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea - the latter of whom have won the last six titles and seven of the last nine, achieving that is far from easy.

Yet Daly believes Villa possesses both the will and - most importantly - the investment to eventually break the hegemony of the Big Four. 

Last season was a struggle for large parts but a run of five straight wins to close the campaign raised optimism heading into the first full campaign under head coach Natalia Arroyo. A strong performance last weekend against Chelsea, albeit in defeat, has bred further positivity heading into Sunday’s visit of Liverpool (noon kick-off).

Daly, meanwhile, finds inspiration in the journey of the men’s team.

“You look where they were a few years back, in the Championship,” she says. “Then, last season, they were in the Champions League.

“The growth of the club has been massive and from the women’s side, that is something I want to achieve. I would love to win a trophy, I would love to kick on and get into the top four, top five.

“Chelsea have been the dominant force for so many years now and a lot of it comes down to money.

“The investment we have got from Aston Villa as a whole has been huge, since when I first came in. It is going to be difficult to break into that top-four but continued growth, continued investment, I don’t see why we wouldn’t.”

In the meantime, Daly is determined to keep enjoying the ride. Closer to the end than the beginning it may well be, yet thoughts of what might come next were proving so distracting, she has taken the conscious decision to stay focused on the here and now.

A bi-weekly podcast with close friend and fellow England hero Millie Bright, Daly Brightness, has provided a mere taste of an alternative but Daly says: “I know what I like and what I don’t like but I don’t know what I want to do.

“I don’t want to look back on the last years of my career thinking I wasted so much time worrying what was next, not enjoying it or being in the moment. 

“I will go and work in Aldi after I retire, if it comes to it, I am not bothered.”

She continues: “I always want to drive standards, I always want to push for more. I always want to break boundaries. If we are not getting something and another club is, I always want to push for more. I think that is the way the game is going. If it is going to grow, we have to demand that.”