Hannah Hampton’s captain refuses to defend her as Lionesses pressed on Mary Earps ‘gossip’
Chelsea Women’s skipper Millie Bright appeared on her podcast but refused to take on any questions on Mary Earps or her club team-mate Hannah Hampton, who has been in the firing line
Hannah Hampton has been in the firing line from comments made in Mary Earps’ book(Image: Elsa – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Millie Bright and Rachel Daly claimed they would not embrace any “gossip” surrounding Mary Earps‘ controversial comments involving Lionesses hero Hannah Hampton, as the Chelsea Women’s skipper refused to defend her goalkeeper.
Earps has made herself and the England Women’s goalkeeping situation one of the game’s major talking points following the release of her book, All In. Hampton ultimately dislodged Earps as the Lionesses No.1 â leading to the latter’s retirement just weeks before this summer’s Euros.
Earps has made a number of controversial statements in her book. The PSG goalkeeper claimed “bad behaviour was being rewarded” by Sarina Wiegman when she bought Hampton into the fold. She also stated that the Chelsea shot-stopper was a disruptive influence.
Bright and ex-England forward Daly took questions on The Rest Is Footall: Daly Brightness podcast, which aired on Thursday, but made it clear from the outset that they would not be answering any on the controversy or discussing Earps’ book in any way.
Daly began the latest episode by saying: “Everyone I’m sure is probably going to want us to touch on the Hannah and Mary saga.”
Bright, who is Hampton’s captain at Chelsea, then came in and said: “We’ve seen your tweets, we know you want us to have a gossip, we’ve seen them all.”
Daly went on to maintain their stance as she added: “We’re not here to have a gossip, our podcast isn’t about that, everyone is going to have their own opinion, freedom of speech, people are going to say this, people are going to say that and I think for us our podcast is more about spreading positivity and joy.
“Think what you want but we’re not commenting on it.”
Rachel Daly and Millie Bright both refused to answer questions on the Mary Earps-Hannah Hampton saga(Image: The Rest Is Footall: Daly Brightness podcast)
Bright’s approach was in stark contrast to Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor, who came out to immediately defend her goalkeeper after Earps’ comments surfaced.
She said: “With what I read in terms of the comments coming from Mary Earps, it’s not acceptable to not show respect to your team-mates or managers.
“If you look at what Hannah said in her previous comments about Mary Earps, then what Mary is saying about her now – one of them is class, and Hannah is the class one.”
