Here we are back with another 'In conversation piece' but this time it is a little bit more special as it is with our first full professional footballer and it is a player we have enjoyed watching in the WSL. Just before the start of this season we were given the amazing opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Everton's Emily Ramsey. 

In the chat we got to know more about her experiences growing up and being a part of some of the big clubs from a young age. It was great to get to know about a player who has a lot of potential in the future and is putting in some great performances even at a young age. Ramsey is only 23 years old but has already played and trained along side some brilliant players whilst also seeing first hand how the women's game has developed since she first signed a professional contract. So here is how our chat with Emily Ramsey went...

EOTA : What made you want to be a keeper in first place, it's obviously not many peoples 1st pick for positions?

ER : Yeah I always just had a love for it from when I was really young and I used to play with my dad & my brother. I used to play with like the little sponge ball when I was tiny (about 4 or 5). 

When I decided I wanted to play for a team so went down to the one my brother used to play for (Deans),  it was a boys team who were a year old than me and they basically said I couldn't play unless I went in goal. I already kind of liked it so I thought OK why not I'll give it a shot & loved it. I was in net again the next year and then year after I went to United as a 'keeper and literally never looked back.

EOTA : So typical case back then of the only way of being on the boys team?

ER : Yeah shoved in because I am a girl but it worked out though

EOTA : With Mary Earps being in the news more often do you think it is going to spur more girls on to start taking that path of being a 'keeper?

ER : Yeah definitely I think Mary's been a massive role model for me and a lot of young 'keepers. I think we've really seen it over the past couple of years with the success shes had with the lionesses and with United you really see people coming down to games with an Earps shirt on and as a 'keeper its rare that happens, your family might wear a goalie shirt but they are normally the only ones. 

But I think that its really inspiring to see that Mary's really caught the attention of young girls and she is going to bring a next generation through that are going to want to be goalkeepers. Like I just said about me it was more I got shoved in net and found out that I loved it, it wasn't a decision on I am going to be a goalkeeper and my role models were all male and I think it is just really inspiring for those young girls to have role models like Mary and the other keepers coming through that they can look up to and try follow in the foot steps of. 

EOTA : Obviously you've been at big clubs like United and under great 'keepers like Earps & now Brosnan what sort of things do they teach you?

ER : I think it is really important for me like especially throughout my career to take little things from everyone that I have worked with and just sort of be a sponge and soak up information. Obviously it is important the coaches you work with too, I've worked with a lot of really good goalkeeper coaches and taken a lot from them and I sort of found my own style from blending different things and trying different things . 

The first big goalkeeper I worked with was Siobhan Chamberlain and I learnt a lot from her, a lot of things that worked for me and a lot that didn't, its sort of a trial and error process. Then obviously working with Mary under Wilko (who is the goalkeeper coach at United), he is brilliant. Then you find out other things too, like as a goalkeeper everyone is different with different styles, I have a different physique to some 'keepers so what works for Mary might not work for me but just sort of watching things in training more than anything asking questions, I am not afraid to ask questions in training but I think just when you are rotated out and just watching seeing what they do and trying it for yourself helps. Same with Courtney now I think we are very open and honest in training with our discussions of well I did this and it worked for me and in this situation this is what helped me to make that save etc... and I think that's whats really put us both in a good position of last season of both playing well and getting the success because we were so open in terms of how we were going to improve.

EOTA : Obviously there is always talk of the goalkeeper union, that must be like a little pact you've got going on?

ER : Yeah it is true like you spend every day as a small group of people they may just be 3 or 4 of you every single day on the training pitch and you've got to learn how that dynamic works and I think it creates this little bubble of we are friends, yeah we are competing against each other but we are also friends and we are going to find out what makes the environment so successful, how we can improve it and how we can keep that intensity in a session. So you've got to get on with your 'keepers and look out for your 'keepers and I think that is really important. I have trained on my own before and it is rubbish so its important to have those people around you.

EOTA : You've signed now for Everton full time what were the thoughts behind that leaving United and moving across?

ER : I wanted to play, I think realistically looking at United with Mary I wasn't going to get the opportunities I wanted so I knew from last season that wasn't maybe the path I wanted to go down. Then obviously I had a really enjoyable year last year with Everton, played a good amount and was hoping for more but unfortunately I got an injury. But I think I really found a level within myself that I was happy with and I was performing well. I got called up to England and I felt happy in the environment too, it's such a welcoming club and with the new manager the ambition of the club is really good and I just felt that the direction we were moving in off the back of last season into this season was just really positive and I wanted to be a part of it and try for this season to be more successful. 

EOTA : Obviously Everton have had a dip in recent seasons but are starting to rise back up again what do you think your addition can bring to the club?

ER : Yeah obviously a couple of years ago they had their struggles with a lot of different managers and the squad didn't seem so settled but coming in last year like we have a great environment and we are always learning & looking to improve. We obviously have the new direction of Brian Sorensen as well so it has been really positive for us and I think looking at this year its only going to go up the direction of the club, plus we've got good signings in. I was here last year so its been easy for me to in bed into it but all of the girls we've brought in have really fit in to the group well and are really good footballers but more importantly they are really good people and its only going to help our team environment. 

EOTA : You mentioned earlier about football inspirations and that they were really all male so who was your biggest footballing inspiration?

ER : It was Edwin Van der Sar, that was like my era. Growing up I loved football and as a young kid I was football mad. My family are all massive United fans so I was watching United and that is when Van der Sar was in net and he was just unreal. I remember my cousin got me a United shirt for my birthday and it was the Van der Sar shirt, the blue goalie one with white across and Van der Sar on the back. I loved it so much that I didn't take it off for like 2 weeks, I used to sleep in it and everything. I loved it because I had never had my own United shirt before either, I always just got hand me downs off my brothers and sister so I just thought it was the best thing ever. So Van der Sar was a massive one for me. I was just moving to United at the time, I was a 'keeper and I just looked up to him so much he was incredible. 

EOTA : So if you had to pick from the women's game as well do you have any inspirations from there?

ER : I think the first 'keeper I ever saw from women's football and thought WOW was Hope Solo, I remember the first world cup I ever watched was the one in Canada. Then around that same time was KB (Karen Bardsley),  as well as Shiv (Siobhan Chamberlain), who obviously I used to see and look up to and then I got the chance to play with her. But I would say first is Hope Solo but then probably KB then Shiv. 

I was still young when I got to work with Siobhan and then I got to play with Mary (Earps) and those players I will always say have a big impact on my career but from being younger and seeing it i would prob's say KB (Bardsley) is also a big inspiration.

EOTA : The women's game is not really full time at all levels yet so if wasn't in top flight and was in a lower level semi pro team with a job what do you think you would be doing?

ER : As a job on the side? I think I would probably be working in the police, because that is what both my parents did, they used to work in like CSI forensic science stuff and I always found it really interesting. So I reckon I would probably just have followed in their footsteps and gone down that path which still sounds like a pretty good job to be fair. I am glad I just don't have to explore those options right now. 

EOTA : So last question the WSL now has designated away ends. What do you think it will mean having those fans behind you if they get behind the goals each away day?

ER : I think its a really big step actually in terms of creating that fan culture in women's football. I think we've had a lot of progress with the Lionesses as it has inspired a lot of kids so you get a lot of families coming to games. But I also think that some clubs like Everton are really good too at leading the way at bringing almost the same environment as at men's football and bringing it to the women's game. The chants, competition and rivalry you see at Walton Hall Park are great... there's chants there's football songs and just enthusiasm from the fans and I think that is a big step for women's football to take as its a family sport like 'what a good day out' which is great because we get to inspire the girls but also for us on the pitch if you feel that passion from the fans it gives you something else.

I remember the first derby last year at Anfield, the Everton fans you could hear all game louder than the Liverpool fans and we went on & played great and performed on the pitch with the backing of them fans. I think it is something United are good at too with their fans, Arsenal are good too and I think it is going to create a better atmosphere for even away games as we will go to away games and you will get stick from the home fans or hear your fans backing you in a tough moment and i think its just something that for me is really exciting if women's football can develop that.

EOTA : Like you say it should pick up that atmosphere we've been to games in the past when it has more or less been silent, you can hear the players more than fans

ER : Its cos your a city fan (after seeing the signed shirts in the back ground) 

EOTA : Believe it or not its not actually City, we have United season tickets and watch anyone really (laughing) 

ER : OK I can't say anything about that then can i (whilst laughing ). The dedicated areas definitely help with the atmosphere though as it just makes the fans louder.

We then ended the conversation with a little game of this or that for a little bit of fun and this is how it went...

EOTA : Save a last minute penalty or go up and score a last minute goal?

ER : (After a bit of thinking) er penalty, last minute save. 

EOTA: Night game or early game?

ER : Early game, I don't like waiting around. 

EOTA : This seasons Everton home or away kit?

ER : Home the away outfield I am not a fan of.

EOTA : Finally plain gloves or bright gloves?

ER : Bright, I like to see my hands and feel like I look good. All whites the best though. 

So there you have it that is our conversation with Everton's Emily Ramsey, granted we have seen since this interview took place a mixed bag of fortune for Everton with them only just really starting to find their feet in the season however, we are looking forward to seeing how the rest of the 23/24 season progresses for both Emily and the club. 

Thank you to Emily Ramsey & Everton for making this chat possible, who would have thought 4 years ago when this site first started we would be getting to chat to players from the English top flight? Who would you like to see us chat to next?