{"id":6173,"date":"2026-05-08T21:38:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6173"},"modified":"2026-05-08T21:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:38:05","slug":"brightons-fran-kirby-instead-of-running-around-like-a-headless-chicken-i-stand-and-assess-brighton-hove-albion-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6173","title":{"rendered":"Brighton\u2019s Fran Kirby: \u2018Instead of running around like a headless chicken, I stand and assess\u2019 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women"},"content":{"rendered":"


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F<\/span>ran Kirby knows what she brings. She always has. The Brighton forward is not young for a footballer but, at 32, she\u2019s not old either and, injury free, is reminding people she still has it. \u201cI know I am not the same player that I was when I was 25, I\u2019m not naive,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s not who I am anymore, but I know what I can bring and that is creativity, the passes that other people won\u2019t try. I\u2019ve always said it: I will always try a pass, even if it doesn\u2019t come off. That\u2019s how I play. I play with risk. Sometimes it doesn\u2019t work, sometimes it does.\u201d<\/p>\n

That eye for a pass is frequently on display. A recent standout was Kirby\u2019s assist for Kiko Seike in Brighton\u2019s thrilling 3-2 win over Manchester City. The obvious move was to play a pass into Seike\u2019s feet; instead Kirby squeezed the ball between two defenders, taking them out of the action, and into space for her Japanese teammate to collect and fire in. It was vintage Kirby and, after her Chelsea career was blighted by injuries and pericarditis (inflammation of the heart lining), it is wonderful to see a woman who earned 77 caps for England playing at such a level.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve always had belief in myself,\u201d Kirby says, sitting in Brighton\u2019s Lancing training ground before the Women\u2019s FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool on Sunday. \u201cEven when things weren\u2019t going well, even when I wasn\u2019t playing, I felt like I could always do a job.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people wrote me off. I know I\u2019ve had my injuries, I know I had my illness, I know I didn\u2019t play much towards my end of my Chelsea career, so I can completely understand that, but I\u2019ve always had belief in myself and belief from the coach and players, and having that makes you feel confident. Sometimes you just need to get a rhythm, you need to get a flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirby is more thoughtful on the pitch too. Age and experience have helped. \u201cI\u2019ve become smarter: instead of running around like a headless chicken, I stand and assess how everything else is going and I\u2019ll see where people are standing defensively,\u201d she says. \u201cI just try to use my brain a little bit more. Of course, I always do the work defensively that I\u2019m asked to do, I always do the runs that I\u2019m asked to do, but it\u2019s more taking the time to think: \u2018OK, what does this moment need?\u2019 I think I can assess it better than I did when I was 25.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also a greater understanding of her body and its needs. \u201cSome people out there say they don\u2019t want their club to sign players over 30, but we understand our bodies more than ever,\u201d Kirby says. \u201cWe understand the game, we\u2019ve been there, done that. Where I\u2019m at now, I understand my body more than I ever did when I was 22, 23 or 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you have to do multiple things before training to warm everything up. It\u2019s coming in for treatment, ice baths at home, going in the pool at home in the evening when everyone\u2019s sitting on their sofa. It\u2019s a lot of different things just to make sure that everything is on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

The forward\u2019s programme is highly individualised and she is grateful for the buy-in from those around her at Brighton into keeping her playing. \u201cIt\u2019s a credit to the coaching staff, medical staff, strength and conditioning staff for understanding me,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s been really nice for me as a player, I want to be able to play every game and if there\u2019s a way that I can do that and everyone\u2019s willing to go with that plan, then that\u2019s really great.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Fran Kirby: \u2018The culture Brighton Women have, the belief we have, the work people are doing for each other on the pitch is huge.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: James Holyoak\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a whole period of time, especially with my knee at Chelsea, that\u2019s been in pain since I was 15 years old. If you were to ask me that before my surgery, I would say it was a pain every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having had so many enforced breaks from playing, Kirby is focused on doing what she can to play for as long as possible. There is no headspace for anything but football. Even lounging on the sofa or walking the dog has her thinking about how those activities can contribute to recovery. \u201cI don\u2019t think my head ever switches off and I think that drives the people in my life quite crazy,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s just because I know it\u2019s been nearly taken away from me on numerous occasions and I know playing isn\u2019t forever. So, while I\u2019m in it, I have to give it everything, I have to invest in it, I have to do what I can. When I leave the training ground, I\u2019m still a footballer. I\u2019m a professional footballer 24-7. It doesn\u2019t end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirby\u2019s current physical condition contributes to how much she is enjoying football and life at Brighton, but there are other factors. Not least the culture at the club, which she credits for the team\u2019s recent run of form, beginning with a 2-0 win against Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals. That was followed by a 3-2 win over Manchester City, a 1-1 draw with Manchester United and Wednesday\u2019s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Women\u2019s Super League, a result that handed City the title.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to keep a strong culture in a room full of so many people with so many different emotions,\u201d Kirby says. \u201cThe culture that we have, the belief that we have, the work that people are doing for each other on the pitch is huge. You can be as good as you want at football but if you\u2019re not willing to run through a brick wall for the person to your left and to your right, or make the right decision in the right moment that\u2019s right for the team, then you\u2019re not contributing to that culture. We\u2019ve created something here with everyone involved and the desire to make this special.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was even more impressive about Brighton\u2019s Women\u2019s Super League draw with Arsenal on Wednesday was that they made seven changes with this semi-final in mind. \u201cPeople underestimate how difficult it is not to be picked to play and how that feels as a player,\u201d says Kirby. \u201cThe disappointment that they have week after week of not being selected can really build up and create a really negative feeling in you. For the girls who haven\u2019t played much, who maybe haven\u2019t got the minutes that they want to get, it was a really big moment for them to put out that performance. Everyone was so proud of the players who were on the pitch because it showed how hard they\u2019ve been working.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Kirby with the Women\u2019s Euro 2022 trophy after England\u2019s triumph.<\/span> Photograph: John Sibley\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Credit also goes to the manager, Dario Vidosic. \u201cHe\u2019s pure football,\u201d says Kirby. \u201cThe way he wants to play, the style of play, I enjoy it, I feel it suits me as a player and it\u2019s probably brought out a different side of my footballing ability as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chance to help Brighton reach an FA Cup final is a large carrot for a five-times winner of the competition, but doing it for Vidosic, who lost his father, Rado, also a coach at Brighton, in January would mean a huge amount to Kirby too. \u201cHe deserves it,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s had a really tough year. Obviously, it was a really tough point for the club as well. The way that he handled himself, the way he conducted himself, I don\u2019t think many would have been able to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is someone that loves this football club, even though he hasn\u2019t been here that long. He\u2019s a fantastic coach and the way he\u2019s coached us this year, the way he\u2019s improved this team, he deserves his chance to play at Wembley. Hopefully we can do it for him, hopefully we can do it for his dad and for his whole family too, to show that what he sacrificed, in terms of coming back so early after his dad passed away, was worth it. I hope we\u2019re able to do that for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fran Kirby knows what she brings. She always has. The Brighton forward is not young…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}