England's record cap holder, Fara Williams, has weighed in with her opinion on Mary Earps, after the former Lionesses No.1 made comments claiming successor Hannah Hampton was rewarded for "bad behaviour" when Sarina Wiegman restored her to the squad. The former midfielder accused Earps, who retired just before Euro 2025, of lacking respect towards her team-mate and manager.
Williams: Earps should have provided detail
Recalling being asked to write a book of her own, Williams explained in a column for that Earps must have known that the comments made about Hampton would have generated headlines, but the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper has hit out at the situation.
Williams called on Earps to be more specific if she was going to bring up Hampton at all: "If Mary is going to be open and honest about the situation, she needs to go into more detail about the supposed bad behaviour rather than leave it up in the air.
"I personally don't know if there was bad behaviour from Hannah, but even if that was the case, she served her punishment after being left out of the squad. If you look at Hannah's career from that moment onwards, I feel she has shown great growth, reflection and development to bounce back."
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport'Baffling' to see Earps talk publicly about a team-mate
Earps has admitted wanting to retire upon finding out that Wiegman was planning to make Hampton England's new starting goalkeeper for the Euros. She was initially persuaded to stay, but given the very sudden nature of her eventual decision and announcement, Williams suggested it was inevitable that something would eventually come out about how it happened.
But now that Earps has gone public, Williams said it lacks respect: "I honestly didn't like Mary’s comments about Hannah. It's quite baffling to see Mary come out publicly and talk about a former international team-mate in this way.
"Looking back at the way her retirement played out, I was expecting something to come out eventually. It was bound to happen when you consider a player as popular as Mary to retire on the eve of a major tournament, although I couldn't have predicted Mary to talk about Hannah in the way she did, because you need to respect your team-mates whether you like them or not. The extract from the book has confirmed my initial thoughts because she described that an uncomfortable environment in camp led to her decision."
How can a player question Wiegman?
Williams said that Wiegman even discussing her intention to bring Hampton back to the England squad following a brief spell out of favour was more than she ever got from a manager. The Dutch coach has won three back-to-back European Championships with two different countries and has led to teams to each of the last two World Cup finals. For those achievements and her known player management skills, she commands more respect than most in the game.
"Regarding her comments about Sarina, the fact that the England boss sat her down to explain the reasons why she was bringing Hannah back shows the respect she has for Mary," Williams continued. "I was in the England set-up for around 19 years and not once did a manager tell me that they were thinking about bringing a player back into the fold – it just doesn't happen.
"Sarina is a three-time back-to-back-to-back Euros winner and reached the World Cup finals for the last two tournaments – how can you as a player question her decision-making given her achievements? Mary also revealed that she was unhappy after Sarina didn't watch one of her games for Paris Saint-Germain. Unfortunately for her, the French league isn't as televised as the WSL, so if she wanted Sarina to get a closer look at her performances, maybe it would've been better for her to stay in [England]."
Getty Images SportEarps needs to 'own' what she wrote
Earps has been accused by Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor of lacking class and Williams rounded back on the idea that Earps, for all her protestation this week, must have known the impact that the book and subsequent comments made in the press while promoting the release, was going to have.
"She will have to deal with the backlash because she decided to put these comments out in public, so there are going to be opinions," the pundit said. "It's time for Mary to own what she wrote in the book because if she tries to backtrack from them, that's not a good look. Mary is a very smart person and, for whatever reason, she must've known that her quotes on Hannah and Sarina would make the headlines.
"I'm sure the book contains more details about her journey in football and the difficulties that she had to overcome to become England No.1, but those comments about her former national team manager and international team-mate have become the biggest story."
