“I need to keep in sport and assist develop the sport in no matter capability that appears like,” she mentioned. “I’m hooked on teaching for the time being, I’ve discovered that improbable. That’s one thing that I do need to transfer into sooner or later – and clearly I’ve been doing loads of work within the media. We’ll see what that brings sooner or later.”
A winner of 4 main trophies whereas at Manchester Metropolis, throughout which period she was named because the 2016 PFA Participant of the 12 months, Christiansen is aware of ending her profession again on the Academy Stadium on Saturday is particular timing, however insists she doesn’t need a guard of honour.
“My time at Man Metropolis was positively the most effective of my profession,” she mentioned. “It looks like a very becoming ending that I’m going to be ending my profession on some grass that we had so many fond reminiscences on.”
Evaluation: Probably the most influential WSL stars bows out
There was a time when Christiansen was thought of the most effective participant within the WSL and her contribution to Manchester Metropolis’s title-winning season of 2016 – nonetheless the one one they’ve received – got here when she was arguably on the peak of her powers, revered throughout the game.
She additionally scored the winner within the ultimate when Metropolis lifted their first main girls’s trophy, within the 2014 League Cup, and was a part of the squad for Birmingham Metropolis’s solely FA Cup triumph, in 2012, leaving an indelible mark on the historical past of each of golf equipment.
It was her excessive requirements on the coaching floor and away from the pitch that helped her earn the respect of her friends. Arsenal centre-back Jen Beattie, who beforehand performed alongside Christiansen at Manchester Metropolis, added on the identical podcast: “You’ve at all times taken care of your self when it comes to coaching and gone above and past to be the skilled and the participant that you’re.
“You set the instance for what being a Man Metropolis participant was – you took your diet so severely, you had been learning off the pitch. You went above and past to be the participant you might be. That is credit score to you as an individual and a participant.”
Christiansen, with 156 WSL appearances forward of Saturday, is seventeenth on the league’s all-time look checklist.
