Leicester City captain Sam Tierney has avowed that she is ‘very proud to play for Leicester’ following a difficult twelve months for the club.

Last season the Foxes were relegated from the Barclays Women’s Super League for the first time, ending a five year stay in the top flight. Narrowly defeated in the promotion play off against Charlton on penalties, Tierney’s side will look for an immediate return to England’s top table.

Tierney remains optimistic about the future with Leicester as they look to take on the WSL 2 and challenge for promotion. Ahead of the new season Tierney sat down with The Halfway Line at St George’s Park to talk all things Leicester City.

Sam Tierney affirms ‘I’m not the type to jump ship’

This summer has seen much of the club’s top flight talent move on, players like Naomi Mouchon, Janina Leitzig and Ash Neville have all moved clubs in order to remain in the WSL. However perhaps most important of the summer business was that club captain and longest serving player, Sam Tierney re-affirmed her commitment to the Foxes by signing a new two year deal.

Tierney was asked what motivated her to sign a new deal and if the club had given her any assurances to do so,

“I think the older I get the more thought goes into a contract” came Tierney’s considered response. “I think when you’re younger you may not have as many ties with family and all kinds of stuff.

“Your priorities are different and you can move quite a lot. I’ve obviously been at Leicester for six years now. I’ve seen everything coming from the WSL 2, getting promotion, having different managers and different directors.

“The type of person I am means I’m not happy if I don’t feel like I’m finished somewhere. I’m not the type to want to jump ship, let’s say. Since I’ve been at Leicester, I’ve created a genuine connection with the club.

“I wanted to succeed and we’ve had a good number of years where’s it’s been up and down. But I feel like now we’re at a point where we can rebuild. I have never listened to promises or anything like that because things change so quickly, but the direction that [director] Lee [Billiard] and the club want to go in and the change that needs to be made to do that, I’m on board with.

“Ultimately, my biggest thing is to make sure people feel the same connection that I have to that club, that they want to be at the club and they want the club to progress. The moment that I leave the club, I will just want it to be in a better position than when I started. That’s my thought process behind saying ‘yeah’.”

‘It’s time to change the narrative on Leicester’ declares Foxes skipper

Despite seeing a number of key players leave, Leicester have also brought in some promising fresh blood. Irish duo Jessie Stapleton and Jess Ziu arrive from West Ham while Sarah Mayling made her loan move last January from Aston Villa permanent.

Tierney spoke on the changes at the club since relegation in May,

“I think first of all the start that we’ve had coming back in pre-season, I have felt that [positive] change” Tierney said. “I feel like it’s a good environment and we’ve got good people.

“You can see there’s been a reflection period, there’s been a review and you can see the direction we want to go in. We can feel that. We’ve changed. Players change all the time, every team goes through a change, but it’s just important that everyone coming in has the growth mindset and has the same drive and desire to commit to that.

“I think we’ve got those people and it has been quite refreshing. It is obviously very different. We’ve spent a couple of years fighting in and around the bottom of the WSL – which is getting harder each year – and the teams in the WSL will find that again this year.

“We want to be a different Leicester and I think it’s a time for us to change the narrative on who we are as a club and how we’re seen.”

‘I am very proud to play for Leicester’ says Sam Tierney

Sam Tierney has seen it all at Leicester, from the lows of relegation to the highs of promotion and the Adobe Women’s FA Cup semi final. The Halfway Line asked Tierney what it means to her to wear the Leicester City badge,

“I think it’s difficult because Leicester, at the minute, gets a bit of a bad rep” said Tierney who has now featured more than 150 times for Leicester. “The club is fantastic and so are the people there. I’m from Yorkshire so I know hard-working people and we would do anything for anyone.”

“It’s a family kind of club and we’re obviously just going through a change. I am very proud to play for Leicester. It’s given me a lot of opportunities I never thought I’d be able to get.

“When I first joined Leicester, we were training on one of the local parks. We weren’t at Belvoir Drive where the men were. The progression is incredible. With the fans, the connection that I’ve built with them, obviously they’ve been there for the whole time.

“Especially last season, they really helped me. It was a tough year and they were incredible to support how they did. Being the captain, of course I’m proud, but it’s not about me.

“If I could never be the face of something, I would hide in the background because I just want other people to be the best version of themselves. I just want to make sure that people want to play for Leicester.

“I want people to stay at Leicester. I want people to be jealous of Leicester. I know that’s the potential of this club and hopefully we’ll get that.”

Sam Tierney’s Leicester City side kick their season off with a trip to Brammall Lane to face Sheffield United on Saturday 6th September.