Leah Williamson reveals which music has players ‘really kicking on’ in the changing room

Virgin Radio

28 Aug 2024, 12:40

Ahead of the release of her third children’s book, Euros-winning Lioness captain Leah Williamson visited the Chris Evans Breakfast Show to talk about it, as well as chatting all things football and music.

New book The Wonder Team and the Rainforest Rescue is out tomorrow (29th August) and is the third in Leah’s time-twisting Wonder Team series, which aims to inspire children with themes of teamwork, friendship, resilience, leadership and problem-solving. The books are aimed at children aged 8+. 

Joining the Chris Evans Breakfast Show, the Arsenal footballer said: “The main character, well, she's called Leah and she's a footballer. So obviously it attracts that crowd of young footballers, especially girls, but the response we've had from just kids… we've tried to make the books as inclusive as possible, as diverse as possible, just to reach as many kids as possible.”

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The narrative follows Leah and her friends as they are magically transported back in time to the rain forests of Tanzania, where they must use their skills to find a way back to the present. Leah wrote it with her cousin Jordan Glover, who also joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show today.

Jordan said: “We wanted to focus on the 60s because, with these books, our aim is to highlight fantastic women throughout history who've done brilliant things.”

Leah interjected: “Stories that you might not have heard of, or should be heard.”

Jordan continued: “Exactly. So with this one, we were focusing very much on the kind of work that Jane Goodall's done and the Black Mamba anti-poaching group, and we combined that all together in this story, and we wanted to spotlight what they were doing. And Jane Goodall was working in the 60s, so it made sense for us to start there.” 

Arsenal defender Leah said: “Listen, when it comes to music, 60s is my era.” 

On the subject of music, Leah was asked which four acts she would choose, were she to make a supergroup to travel around with her and play whatever playlist songs she wanted. Mentioning London producer Fred Again, the footy star also said that Avril Lavigne is getting the vibes going on the Arsenal changing room stereo. “At the minute, a couple of the foreign girls have just discovered her, so they're really kicking on with that.”

She added: “I'd have a real dance act in there, like an old school disco, and then I don't know, like, the Spice Girls or something, just for a little bit of team cohesion.”

Regarding who has jurisdiction over the changing room playlist, Leah said: “It's me actually. Sometimes it gets dished out.” 

Leah made her senior team debut for Arsenal the day after her 17th birthday, and has played for Arsenal for her entire professional career. She captained the England squad which won the UEFA Women's Euros in 2022 and was awarded an OBE in that year’s New Years Honours List.

“If you'd have told me we were where we are now, two years ago, I wouldn't have believed you,” she told Chris, when talking about the progress the women’s game continue to make. 

“Arsenal play 11 games at the Emirates next season, which is just crazy to me. I didn't think I'd see that in my career. And I'm only 27, so that's incredible. But where I hope it will be is that, right now, you have a WSL, and you have the Championship, and then the leagues below it are not so well supported; the travel, the facilities, everything available to them is not where it should be, if you consider that in men's football have six tiers which function perfectly and feed feed to that top level. 

“So I hope that in five years we'll have three or four really, really strong leagues. I think that's possible. And I think it could be beyond.”

The Wonder Team And The Rainforest Rescue is out tomorrow (29th August).

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.