How Toone is navigating grief through football

Ella Toone will have an empty chair at her wedding because her father Nick has died. She credits him as the main reason for her career and describes how he watched her matches, recorded them, and called her after games for a detailed debrief. Nick’s support included driving her to club matches, travelling for England games, and passionately discussing women’s football. After Toone’s 2022 European Championship final goal, she learned later that Nick had been diagnosed with prostate cancer during the tournament. She reflects on navigating grief as a professional athlete while honoring his legacy and helping pave the way for the next generation in women’s football.

"Toone knew that hours after every match, she would always get a phone call from Nick. He and her mum, Karen, would always come to watch Toone's matches, but Nick also recorded them on TV so he could have another look when he got home before calling his daughter for a "debrief on the whole game". "He was just obsessed," says the 26-year-old. "He loved women's football more than he loved watching the men's game. He knew all the players, he was passionate about where I was in my career, the team that I had, the way we were playing. "He would go into any pub and talk about women's football and talk about me.""

"Toone adds her dad was "the driving force" behind her football, taking her up and down the country for club matches and travelling abroad for England games. "Me and dad were all about football, that was our thing that we had together," she reveals."He was probably one of the first people that really saw potential in me." The day after Toone scored in England's 2-1 win over Germany in the 2022 European Championship final, she had no idea her dad had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer as he had only told his wife and brother."

""He didn't want anyone worrying about him," she explains. "He wasn't well throughout the tournament.I'm finding out more and more about it now that he's not here." It was not until the day after her Manchester Un"

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