Phil Neville dished out tough love to Beth Mead, and now the Arsenal striker is going to France instead of Whitley Bay for fish and chips.
Mead was given a dressing-down by the Lionesses’ head coach six months ago and told she was too nice.
Mead was involved in both goals as Denmark were beaten 2-0 on Saturday in the penultimate warm-up game before the World Cup.
And it was a few harsh words and a lesson learnt from the SheBelieves Cup that have made the difference.
Neville said: “We’re seeing someone now who we think could be a real threat for us at the World Cup. She’s ready to play. She wasn’t six months ago.
“We had harsh words with her. And she knew it. We had to tell her a few home truths about someone playing at a level she was happy with.
“In fact, if there’s one player I’ve given a massive rocket to, it’s her. She didn’t argue back. I said, ‘Stop being so nice’.
“Then, at the SheBelieves Cup, I left her out of the USA game after she’d scored an unbelievable goal against Brazil. She expected to play.
“She got really angry with me for the first time. She stormed out of the room and I thought to myself, 'Job done, she’s ready now’.
“She’s the nicest kid ever. I walked past her smiling, and she went, ‘Shut up! Shut up!’
“I see anger in her now. Aggression and determination and the practice is there. She hit 40 free-kicks on Friday and 30 corners. Her delivery is as good as anyone in the game.
“The penny has dropped. For me, it was like, ‘Do you want to go to Blackpool on your holidays, or do you want to go to the moon?’ She now wants to go to the moon. Before she was happy to go to somewhere like Whitley Bay and eat fish and chips.”
Mead admitted she had been smashed out of her comfort zone. “He probably didn’t tell you everything he said to me. But I had got complacent,” she said.
“I’ve always been a nice girl – my mum probably won’t say that – but I’ve had to get tougher. I was a girl from the middle of nowhere.
“I’ve always had people around me who were nice. I needed to become more aggressive. I’m not going out there to hurt anyone but if there’s a 50-50 now I’m going to make that tackle.
“At the time, I thought I was doing all right. I was six or seven out of ten and I now look to be an eight or nine.
“I did get angry with him when he rang. Then, one week before the SheBelieves he said I had one game to prove if I could go to the World Cup or not. That’s what I needed as a player. It made me kick on.
“I started performing better. It was the best thing for me. It took my game up to another level for Arsenal and I’ve brought that to England as well, creating chances and scoring goals.”
