Steph Houghton offers advice to UCFB students wanting to go into punditry

Lionesses legend Steph Houghton spoke to UCFB to look back on some career highlights, her shift from playing to punditry and offering advice to students wanting a career within the industry.

The former England captain joined UCFB for our annual Future Leaders Conference, where students get the opportunity to visit the home of England, St George’s Park, and network with professionals across the football industry.

During her visit to the UCFB Future Leaders Conference, Steph answered some questions about her life in the game. Here’s what she said…

Speaking about the best moment of her career, she said: “Probably captaining my country.

“I think I’ve been fortunate to have so many amazing moments, but I think if you think all the people that have done it before and there’s not many people get a chance to do it, so to be one of those people is a very special moment.”

She then went on to talk about the best thing about working in football, saying: “Whilst playing, it was just that competitive element in terms of always wanting to be the best, always striving to be better.

“I think working in the media and the punditry side of things in football now is the people that you meet. I think I’ve met some amazing people that generally want you to do really, really well.

“And of course it’s competitive, but ultimately everybody wants the show or whatever we’re doing to be the best that it can be. So, the only way you can do that is to support each other. So yeah, I’m very grateful for the people that I work with.”

Going from playing to punditry, Steph said: “When I was playing, I had one eye on the media just because it was an interest and also I love watching football.

“And from a coaching perspective as well, I think it’s good to be able to analyse game and break it down. So I felt it was going to help in both paths in my coaching kind of role that I went down, but also for the media.

“For me and my lifestyle that I have now, I think punditry was one thing that I can kind of have my own schedule and I’m fortunate enough to be able to do that.”

She finished by offering advice to UCFB students wanting that dream career in football, whether it be in coaching, media or elsewhere throughout the industry.

“Work as hard as you possibly can,” she said. “I know it probably sounds so simple, but I think if you have that discipline, that commitment and that enthusiasm to achieve something, you really will

“Also, like don’t be scared to ask questions. I think the more inquisitive you are, the more that you’re going to learn and the more that you’ll probably achieve.

“And most importantly, enjoy the journey.”

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