"THIS IS A SPECIAL TEAM" | Lauren Hemp signs new contract!
Lauren congratulations on your new contract extension to 2027 how are you feeling right now yeah I’m really excited um this is a special team and I really want to be involved in the squad um obviously for the next few years I feel like you can’t get rid of
me so um no but I’m really excited and I want to win trophies with this team and I know that we’re capable of doing it and we’ve not yet won every trophy that I want to win yet and I’m so passionate about this club and there’s no place
I’d rather be why did City feel like the best place for you at this moment in your career um for me it’s not just about the club like I feel home here in Manchester um and it feels so special to me and I’ve got so many friends here
and I feel like the WSL is the best league to be in and I feel like Manchester city is perfect for me and yeah I love everything about the club and it’s so special to feel involved in something that I feel like we’re capable of achieving anything and
I know we can do this with the team that we’ve got so I’m I’m very excited to keep this journey going what conversations did you have with the
were dead set anyway yeah I mean I’ve had a lot of conversations with Gareth and Neils um over the last few months especially and yeah I I feel really happy here and like I said I want to be successful and I want to take my game to the
next level and I really feel like that’s capable of of doing that here and I want to win trophies I I’ve got a sniff of it and and I feel like once you win one you want to go on and win as many as you can and that’s
what I want to do but I want to do it here and it would mean so much to win trophies here and so yeah I feel like it was the best decision for me and like I said I look forward to the next few years and I know
it’s going to be special it’s quite significant as well that it’s it’s a three-year extension it’s a a healthy chunk of career again that you you’ve committed to the club um that must be a really feeling knowing that you’ve got those few years to really knuckle down and
and Achieve what you want to achieve yeah of course obviously I’ve been here for six years already so I know what I’m getting and it’s exciting and every year feels so different and like I said we’ve got such a special Squad and I know it’s going to keep
growing and yeah I I feel our philosophy in the way that we want to play is is good and I know we’re capable of beating anyone that we want to beat on our day and so yeah for me it’s it’s having the right people around you and for
me confidence is massive and I feel like amongst this squad they’ve given me the license and the freedom to express how I want to how I want to play and yeah it’s given me that confidence and for me when I’m confident I play my best football there’s a
few other players that have obviously extended their own deals this season as well did that play into your thinking at all the fact that this squad is really stable and everyone’s pulling in the same direction yeah I think we’ve got some incredible players obviously we signed Jill last
season um she’s been massive for us um obviously unfortunately she did her ACL but I know that she’ll be massive for us in in years to come and obviously ui’s resigned as well and I think we’ve got a great core of players who who are staying on for
the next few years so it’s exciting and it’s it’s great to be a part of that and I think we’ve done so well this season and I think what’s changed for maybe a city a few years ago we bounced back after every single game whether we lose it
and I think that just shows the passion that everyone’s got for the club and we don’t just recruit people who yeah want to be here we recruit people who were passionate of the club and yeah I think that’s probably the most important thing youve talked about how we’ve
sort of responded to setbacks differently this season to others what what do you put that down to is it is it purely just the passion the desire of this team or is there just sort of maybe a switch in another way that you feel has changed yeah I
think the mentality amongst the squad we’ve got a lot of experienced players who know what knows what it takes to win but we’ve got also got a group of youthful players who come in who who are really exciting and yeah it’s great to have that sort of difference
of players and people who you can lean on and I know when I first came into the squad it was Steph Jill Demi people like that who are still here and it’s incredible to have them here and and you need people like that who knows what it takes
to win and yeah I think that’s what’s special and we know that whenever we have a setback we work hard in training we we definitely bounce back at the at the weekend and yeah that’s what’s massive for us and obviously if we didn’t do that then I’d maybe
have to reconsider but I know that yeah I’m as passionate as a lot of the girls here and yeah that’s what makes this team so special and what about the manager how important was he and your decision to extend your stay yeah I think it’s important to have
a manager who is honest um with you and who you can look to and we’ve had a lot of honest conversations over the last few years that I’ve been and I think that’s so important having a manager um someone you can go to if for me like I
said about my confidence he’s always there to sort of make me feel a lot better with him myself and he’s also the first person to tell me if I’m doing anything wrong but I think it’s great to have that balance and yeah it’s good to have managers that
truly believe in you are there any particular methods or things that he has that you feel really bring the best out of you because I mean your growth and potential as a player has just skyrocketed over the last few years yeah we’ve definitely got a style of play
and I think that’s what’s so special about city is we have a way of playing and we want to we want to use that to try and win and yeah I mean Gaz is a great manager and he’s got a lot of out of us over the last
few years and it’s nice to know what he’s doing as well and what you’re going to get like I said um being at city for the next few years so yeah it’s it’s good to have that and I think he also gives me the license and freedom to
go on and be myself and play the way that I want to play and like I said that that ends up getting the best out of me absolutely um looking more sort of long term what what do you feel this team can achieve not just this season but
beyond over the next few years yeah I think we’ve got an exciting few years um I mean especially this season as well we’ve got a league that we’re competing for and obviously my full focus is on that and that’s so exciting to be involved in and like I
said that just makes you more hungry to want to keep going because I feel like through the last few years we’ve come close but we’ve not got there yet and I truly believe that this season we can do that and obviously I want to be involved in the
Champions League and yeah that’s a special tournament to be a part of and yeah I want to do that and I want to go on and win that as well I feel like I’m I’m a very ambitious player but I also think we can do that here at
city so yeah I hopefully look forward to being in that competition next season um and yeah I think this this team don’t probably realize how much they’re capable of and yeah I think that over the next few years that that’s possible and the first game that’s going to
be played after your extensions announced is Bristol city which is kind of Full Circle almost where you obviously started your career does that feel quite special to be going back somewhere that obviously was very important for you in your early career yeah definitely um obviously Bristol have a
special place in my heart as well um it’s where I first got given opportunities and the exposure to professional football um and it gave me that that hunger to one and go on and Achieve special things in my career and so yeah it’ll be nice to go back
and see some old faces uh but yeah obviously my full focus is on winning that game and getting as many goals as we can do um to put us in the best stead for winning the league but it’ll be so nice to be able to go back back
to and sort of Reminisce over the special times that I spent there I know it’s obviously always the focus is on the next game making sure you get that win but as you’ve said this has the potential to be a really special season what’s it like for a
player in in a situation like this where there’s something that is so close but there’s so much work that has to be done to to get there if that makes sense yeah I mean as a player it’s so exciting it’s obviously a little bit nervous at times um
I think because we’re all so desperate to win naturally comes with that as nerves um but I feel like we’re all we’ve all got experience in winning in some shape or form and we all know what it takes and yeah I mean for me as a player it’s
it’s the games you want to be involved in it’s the ones where you need to win um and the ones that are going to be the hardest so at the end of the day pressure should be a privilege so yeah I think for all of us we’re just
really excited to at the thought of winning the league but obviously we want to make it it’s special and we want to make the dream become a reality really so yeah we’re all really excited but obviously a bit nervous as well well hopefully we’re talking about a WSL
title at the end of the season but more generally how important was it for for you to to stay in the WSL CU this feels like a league that’s developing massively every single season yeah I think the League’s growing year on year and it it’s so nice to
see and yeah women’s football as a whole is growing um rapidly as well um so it’s an exciting time to be in the WSL and I know that next year there’s going to be it’s going to be even bigger um which yeah I mean it’s it’s where I
want to be it’s what I want to be a part of you there’s no easy game in this league um so yeah you’ve even seen with the title race it could have gone anywhere um also down the bottom of the table as well um so yeah you don’t
the thing is with this league is anyone can take points off anyone and that’s what makes every game so much more harder and it makes it so much more to want to be a part of so yeah it’s definitely the best league just finally I’m sure I speak
for every single City fan out there it must be absolutely buzzing that you’re you’re extending your stay do you have a message for the city fans now that the news is out uh uh I’d probably just say thanks for holding on um yeah obviously I I love this
club I love playing for it and I mean I’m speaking on behalf of all the players as well we can’t thank you enough for all the support you’ve given us this season um and yeah long may that Journey continue um and I’m excited for the next few years
staying in blue well Lauren thank you so much for your time again and once again congratulations on your new deal thank you
