Euro 2022 England win: Fran Kirby's former coach reveals what she was like growing up

Fran Kirby's former coach has revealed what the football champion was like growing up.

England's women won the country's first major trophy since 1966 on Sunday night (31 July) as they took on Germany in the Euros final at Wembley.

Darren Randall was Fran's former coach in Reading and says her future playing for England was something he could see coming.

He said: "I always knew that Fran was a hell of a good player and I did mention to a few people I thought she'd go on and play for England but it was the whole idea of the National anthem, 90,000 people at Wembley, never thought that in a million years no."

Speaking to ITV News Meridian, Mr Randall said the win was "absolutely fantastic for the girls' game".

"I don't think most of the girls would have ever dreamt of the position they were in last night because the game just moved on overnight it seemed," he added.

He described coaching a European cup winner as "surreal" adding: "I think it's amazing and it just shows you what people can do.

"From a very young age, living on the local estate, playing football with her friends with her brother and it just proves that with hard work you can get somewhere. We all saw that last night."

When asked what she was like growing up he explained: "She was very encouraging towards the other players that were most probably not quite on the same level as she was but not once did I ever hear her be negative towards them - always fantastic."

Following the Lioness' success, he thinks more needs to be done to support women's football including bringing local players into schools to act as role models to the children.

He added: "I think what it needs is advertisers to get more heavily involved and people to make a commitment. The attendance last night proves the audience is out there and it's now for the game to move forward."