Ana

Eleven

*

Takk, Manchester

Having beaten Wales 3-0 at Rodney Parade, Millie and Rachel dancing around with a huge England flag afterwards and slaughtered Kazakhstan, the Lionesses returned to the UK and set about preparing for the new season.

On a off day, Ana having little work to do, the assistant manager heads to Manchester to meet up with Caroline Weir.

Caroline: "Nice to see you in my part of the world for a change".

Ana: "I'm sorry it's not Dunfermline, but this is the best I could do and I've heard you lot come here regularly".

Caroline: "Uh-huh. Steph and Jill the most, but Ellie's catching on to drinking coffee despite being a stern Yorkshire tea lassie".

Ana: "Wow. That must have been a surprise".

Caroline: "It was".

Ana: "Congratulations by the way. How does it feel to be going to a World Cup?".

Caroline: "Thank you but it really has been a massive team effort, especially on Shelley's part".

Ana can see that the Scot is suppressing her real excitement and nods along, taking a sip of her coffee to see if she will continue.

Caroline: "You know what, I can believe it. It's such a massive deal for us, as players and as a country, we only want to do Scotland proud and hopefully we can. Now we wait on the draw and see who we'll play".

Ana: "Mmm yes. I hope we don't have to play you again, that would be unfair since your thrashing at the Euros however you've massively improved since, we both know that so I think it'd be a much tighter and hotly contested game if so".

Caroline: "Aye I think we'd give you a game".

The assistant manager smiles and looks out the window at the Manchester weather.

Ana: "I have a favour to ask, if that's alright?".

Caroline: "Sure".

Ana: "I know you have some pranksters on the national team...".

Caroline: "Don't get me started on Mitch and Lisa when's she in the right mood".

Ana smiles.

Ana: "Well I was wondering how you managed them. You see Rachel Daly and Millie Bright are our equivalent of Emma and Lisa you see, and I was wondering if you could give me any advice. They're driving me nuts!".

She doesn't mention the conversation she had with Millie out of common decency.

Caroline: "What are you asking me for? When we were at Liverpool, you managed everything, anything and anyone. Where's that Ana gone?".

Ana: "You're right, I'm forgetting that. Thank you for reminding me".

She smiles and takes another sip of her drink, quietly contemplating a plan to tackle Millie's doubts and Rachel's recklessness before the World Cup.