‘Would you say it to someone’s face?’ Ellen White on going from player to pundit

F or a generation of England fans she was the talismanic striker the nation could always rely on to find the net at a major tournament, scoring a record 52 goals for the Lionesses across her 113 caps. But now that it is her turn to live through the stress and tension of watching games, Ellen White personifies what she has always been deep down: an England fan. “I’m a nail-biter, I’m horrible [to watch a match with], I’m grabbing people, shoving people, I’m really kind of fully invested because I want the best for the team, I’m always rooting for them,” White says, as she reflects on her successful transition to working as a TV pundit and, particularly, covering the Euro 2025 triumph of Sarina Wiegman’s team, trying to use her own understanding of what the players are enduring to bring a fairness to her analysis. “When you’ve lived it and breathed it and you know what that feels like, hearing that [potential criticism] from maybe a player or someone that you know, it’s about having that fine balance of ‘would you feel comfortable saying it to someone’s face?’, whatever you’re saying in front of the camera or punditry. …