If you read Mary Earps’s explosive recent autobiography, you would be forgiven for thinking that Sarina Wiegman’s England squads were picked entirely on the basis of behind-the-scenes back-biting and in-camp politics.
On Tuesday, as the Lionesses boss spoke for the first time since the book’s release, she hit Earps with a reality check: “I made the decision to win.”
Earps had accused Wiegman of “bullshit” and dishonesty when she replaced her with Hannah Hampton as No 1, claiming Hampton had a bad “attitude” and effectively made her retire from international football.
Wiegman’s version of the story is a little different – and infinitely more professional. She had two top goalkeepers, vying for a place in a competitive environment. She picked the one in better form, with Earps also recovering from a hip injury at the time and making a number of howlers.
In response, the PSG ‘keeper quit weeks before Euro 2025, leaving England with two back-up goalkeepers who had never made a senior appearance between them. They went on to win it regardless, thanks in no small part to Hampton’s penalty saves.
Asked if she would have done anything differently, Wiegman replied: “I would have done exactly the same thing and we kept communicating every time. As always, we try to support [players] in the best possible way and I can’t control how that comes across. There are always learnings but I don’t think in the bigger picture I would have done things differently.”
Of course there were tense conversations between player and manager. But Wiegman refused to disclose what they were, even under repeated questioning, because she insists those matters should always be kept “private”. Crucially, she does not have a book to sell but it is also how she has always operated – she will never throw anyone under the bus in the way Earps has done.
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Throughout her time in charge, Wiegman has faced questions over her “blunt” persona – she insists it is just “Dutch” – but has never faced such stinging criticism as she did in Earps’s pages.
It put both Wiegman and Hampton in an unenviable position; the latter is not in the Lionesses’ current squad due to injury, so she has at least been able to escape the harsh spotlight under which her predecessor has shoved her. Her club manager at Chelsea, Sonia Bompastor, spoke up for her by suggesting Earps lacked “class”.
Wiegman did not say as much but let her composure do the talking. She closed the door on the matter and then she was onto other things: the inclusions of youngsters Sophie Baggaley, Anouk Denton, Grace Fisk, Taylor Hinds and Lucia Kendall. England are looking to the future – Earps has resigned herself to the past.
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