Former teacher reveals pride at Lucy Bronze's journey to Euro 2022 winner

The England right-back – and Euro 2022 winner – attended Belford First School when Julian Tyley was in charge.

"I’ve got all sorts of great memories of Lucy,” he said. “She was an outstanding all round athlete at that age. She was really talented at most sports, anything she put her mind to really.

“One of the things I remember is seeing her out in the playground playing football with the boys. She had no fear of getting stuck in and she was better than them. The interesting thing was that they respected her as a good footballer."

Unfortunately, the school did not have a football team at the time so Lucy was forced to travel further afield.

Julian, now retired, admits: “I regretted the fact we did not have a football team at that time but I know that she used to play on Saturday mornings in the Glendale District football league.

“She had great back-up support, from her mother in particular, in travelling to play all over the place and that support has made all the difference.

“Girls football wasn’t really a thing back then so it’s been tremendous to see how that has changed in the last few years and, of course, Lucy has been a big part in that.”

The 30-year-old was born in Berwick and raised at Holy Island, Belford and Alnwick before setting out on a footballing journey which reached a new high with the victory against Germany on Sunday night.

But perhaps it is just as well Chloe Kelly came up with that extra time winner.

"I remember going to the area sports at Wooler First School and there was a penalty competition,” recalled Julian. “Everyone assumed Lucy would be the best but I think she only scored two out of five – so I don’t know what would have happened if there had been a penalty shoot-out in the final!”

He admits to ‘a sense of great pride’ watching her career unfold.

"It’s been fantastic watching her career progress,” he said.

“Who would have thought that this girl sitting in a classroom in Belford all those years ago would now be a European champion? It’s just unreal.”