Roebuck and Bardsley discuss crazy 2019, Toxic Tuesdays and more

Ellie Roebuck and Karen Bardsley’s goalkeeping journeys have been intertwined for nine years and today the Lionesses legend spoke of ‘the real joy’ at seeing her former team-mate shining for club and country.

Roebuck was one of the 45,619 fans who watched England Women’s first standalone game at Wembley Stadium back in 2014, with the Sheffield native describing seeing Bardsley and the Lionesses playing Germany as a watershed moment in her life, when she realised becoming a professional footballer was a realistic possibility.

A year later, she watched on television as Bardsley and England finish third in the 2015 Women’s World Cup before going on to become Manchester City and England team-mates.

The 2019 World Cup saw the pair room together in France and now, with Bardsley since hanging up her gloves, she is out in Australia working for the BBC and appeared alongside Roebuck on the latest episode of Lionesses: Down Under connected by EE, which is presented by another of their former City and England team-mates, Jill Scott, and Kyle Walker.

“We were actually roomies at the last World Cup in 2019!” Roebuck revealed.

“It was crazy. I remember watching the 2015 World Cup and then being able to be a part of the 2019 World Cup, if you had asked me if I would be rooming with KB at the next World Cup… it was crazy.

“It has been special and she pushed me every step of the way. It was great.”

Bardsley continued: “I remember when you came in at City, Ellie was working with Chris, the goalkeeping coach, before you came into the first team and Chris was always coming in and saying ‘we have this great young goalkeeper that has loads of potential’ and I was like ‘I better buck my ideas up here!’

“But you could see straight away that you were so carefree, so confident and so up for learning. You were absolutely fearless – and you still are – and I absolutely love that.

“You take on all the information, you are brave, you have the ball at your feet, you distribute like you are Keira Walsh – well compared to me anyway! 

“It has honestly been a real joy to see you take the opportunities and grab hold of them.”

Both Bardsley and Roebuck praised the impressive performance of Mary Earps during England’s 1-0 draw with Haiti, as the Manchester United goalkeeper made some excellent saves, with one attracting a lot of attention.

Bardsley said: “I was doing the co-commentary for BBC 5Live and I was like ‘O what a huge left foot, wow, my God, that was incredible!’ Because goalkeepers do not get enough love.”

Roebuck added: “It was such an important time in the game and that type of save is such a hard save to do because it is all about timing. I think it goes under the radar.”

Hearing goalkeepers speak so positively about each other is hardly surprising, considering how tight the ‘Goalkeepers’ Union’ is.

But Bardsley revealed the England goalkeepers are not always nice to each other, recalling an anecdote where she visited Lionesses’ training before the Arnold Clark Cup and the goalkeepers were ‘banging in shots and going ah there’s one’.

Roebuck explained: “Yeah, we have Toxic Tuesdays. It is when we go in on each other to try to bag top bins and you have to be on it otherwise you are sinking!”

You can see hear more from Roebuck and Bardsley in the full episode above and don’t miss Lionesses: Down Under connected by EE on our YouTube channel and at EnglandFootball.com each day.