Amy Andrews: "It's very important to show your personality"

Football is not played by robots. Or at least, last time I checked it’s not.

It may sound simplistic, but when we watch footballers we watch human beings. That’s what makes the game so fascinating. Real people, real drama.

Their game is their expression. And there is no better moment to showcase themselves than when play stops for a goal celebration.

Don’t take my word for it. Trust someone who knows a bit about banging in goals, and being themselves in the rapturous aftermath.

“I think it's very important to show your personality [on the pitch],” Durham FC forward Amy Andrews said, speaking to Squad Depth via video call.

“What's also important is the celebration. I know it sounds cringe. But that helps get your name out there, and it helps make the game more entertaining. And we need to do that, as women. More celebrations. I will, the higher I go.”

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The 24-year-old Andrews is in her first season as a professional in the Barclays Women’s Championship, the second tier of English football. She’s netted four times for seventh-placed Durham in 843 minutes (0.43 p90), nine starts, and 15 appearances.

In the league, those four goals account for 27% of the Wildcats’ total striking output (15), whilst she has also added another two goals in the League Cup. The Englishwoman also boasts the highest xG p90 (0.55) of any forward in the Women’s Championship with over 500 minutes (per Wyscout). And that’s without taking any penalties this season.

Andrews’ bread and butter has been finishing goals in one-on-one quick-break situations. Especially late on in games. When fatigue sets in all around, the Birmingham-born forward can still find speed, strength, and poise,

Two goals in particular have caught the eye. Her match-wining goal in the 96th minute against Southampton, which was also nominated for the January goal of the month.

It was the second time she had been in the difference in a one-goal game for Durham, after she scored the only goal of the game in stoppage time against London City Lionesses back in September 2023.

Beyond delivering three vital points, what links the two strikes is Andrews’ cheeky celebrations. With the net still rippling she brings her index finger to her lips. Keeping the after-burners on, she glides in front of the fans and shushes the world.

“It was the shush against London City because we were coming off a terrible performance and result in the game before (a 9-1 defeat to Crystal Palace). So it was like we were shushing everyone that was laughing at us. Just everything that had gone against us. That was important and I think pretty badass.

“I did the shush [the second time], and then I did the Bellingham one [standing statue-esque with both hands aloft and wide]. I just thought: Legendary, we scored last minute, we won the game. Like, everyone could shut up now. We just beat Southampton. Which is a team, both teams, that were originally going for promotion, like you'd put them both up there, competing, like right at the top. So to do that against both of them, unreal,” she explained.

And if you thought the celebrations would stop for early goals, then you’d be wrong. At the weekend, Andrews opened the scoring, with a spry angled finish, against Sheffield United.

After that goal, in the 10th minute, she dipped into her bag of jollifications and produced a bow. As if she were an actor after appearing to her audience after the final curtain had gone down. “You should always bow after a performance,” Andrews joked about her celebration.

Disappointingly for the striker, the match finished 5-2 to the Yorkshire side.

“I'll keep doing it no matter what. Because I think it's funny. And it makes people like you and want to watch you more because they’ll like it when Amy scores. I want to see it or whoever. Like Chloe Kelly and ‘Bunny’ Shaw are doing it a lot now. And we want to see that. Yes, they're loving it. It's how it should be.”

Andrews also knows what it is like to be on the other end of a wind-up. In 2019, she confessed that she was “literally fuming” after Alex Morgan did the ‘sipping the tea’ celebration after she scored against England at the World Cup.

But not long after she realized that what she was feeling was exactly what makes football, big goals, and goal celebrations so huge for the game. You feel something. You remember that feeling. You connect. And then, you want some of that too.

“I love it. It's cheeky, and I don't blame her and yet it did infuriate me. It really did. I wanted to jump through the screen. But looking back I think it's absolutely amazing that she did that. She's very brave to do that. And I think that even gave her a bigger name than what she already had.”

During a five-year stint playing football in the United States, Andrews started doing the ‘sipping the tea’ celebrations herself. As an Englishwoman abroad it became a bit of a trademark move. The fuming had become the fumee.

And, of course, after scoring 51 goals in 84 matches for Western Illinois, in the NCAA, and Tormenta FC, in the USLW, there was plenty of practice for celebrations.

Catching up with Andrews, the biggest takeaway is her ambition. She’s hungry. Her unique journey to being a footballer has taught her to fight and never stop working hard. The forward isn’t shy to say aloud that she wants to play for England, play in the Women’s Super League and the NWSL in the U.S. one day.

Massive aspirations, but ones that feel attainable for a ‘massive-moments’ player.

Brace yourself for more goals. And more trademark celebrations.

You can listen to the full interview with Amy below: