Toni Duggan Quotes

We are getting to the point where, like the men's game, playing football is not only a legitimate career but enables you to live really well and can perhaps even set you up for life. It will allow little girls to tell their mums and dads they want to be professional footballers and not have their dreams dismissed so easily.

I hope we can get to a point where women players are being paid properly all around the world so the only thing they have to worry about is playing football and playing football alone.

There's a tacit understanding among clubs that a good player shouldn't miss out on the big break of his career or a chance at exponentially improved earnings.

I like to read the papers. I make my living from football, and I like to know what's going on.

There are really good reasons to leave the workforce or work less or take a different job when you want to be with your children. I just want women - and men - to make that choice once they have the child. Not years in advance, because... they don't get the right opportunities. They give up before they even start.

People always ask me, 'Why did your wife take that extra job?' What they don't know is that four out of five days a week she's going to be home having dinner with us by five o'clock.

Many women assume they can't be good mothers and have challenging careers at the same time, so they might give up trying to do both as they get to a crucial point in their career. Although it can be hard at times, it's important for women to recognize the benefits of working outside the home.

I hate the school of thought that says work is work and that you have to be unhappy at work because that's what work is. I totally respect the fact that not everyone has the choices that I have, and that some people have to work jobs that they don't like because they don't have any other options.

I would advise that if you can get out on loan and play football, it is the best path to go down.

I always urge women to aim for the highest job they can get because you get more money and you get more support and you get more control, and those are the three things that actually make life easier.

With the big clubs embracing women's football and the professionalism you see at the likes of Liverpool, Birmingham, Arsenal and my club Chelsea, it's really impressive. We're making great strides.

It's hard to compare the faith of Gareth Southgate and Roy Hodgson and my lack of chances at Chelsea because it's such a big club.

I never thought about money; otherwise, I would have left aged 26 when Real Madrid and Barcelona wanted me.

In the end, we should not forget that playing football is our job. So people should accept that wages will always play a role in a player's decision-making.

Football is something I enjoy doing, something I'm well-paid to do, and obviously that's a great privilege, but I'm just trying to be happy, and if there's an opportunity to do something fun, then I'll just do it. I don't hold back; I just want to be a regular guy.

For me, I want to put football in the best possible way: where the girls play professionally, get the sponsorships they deserve, and set themselves up after football so that they're not struggling and asking themselves what they're going to do.

You never know: there is a lot of movement in football. You can never predict where you're going to play.

Thanks to football, I live a decent life.

It is hard if you have got family and kids and you have to leave them on Christmas Day to go and train but listen, we are a small minority of lucky players. We have obviously worked hard for this, but we are lucky enough to have the ability to play in the Premier League.

I'm always a realist, and I know the world of football is fast-moving.

There may be many benefits to working outside the home for wages, but it's certainly not been done as an act of liberation. It's an act of economic necessity and has been since the beginning of time.

You don't have to give up your dreams in order to earn a living - they can go hand in hand.

I think Together #WePlayStrong is a big step for football. This project is about building interest and professionalism and making younger women want to play football at a high level.

I've picked up quite a few yellow cards in the last few years - a few reds, too. That was the case as a youth player as it is now. But I don't see it as a problem. That's how I play. If you take that away, then I wouldn't be where I am now. So I don't think the yellow cards or the red cards are too big of an issue.

My husband and I had a very pragmatic agreement right from the start: whoever earns more works full time. So we switched the classic roles.