PLAYER INTERVIEW: Ruby Mace, Manchester City/England Devt Phase Squad (from #SK69)

To celebrate the first team appearances and current form of Manchester City's young defender Ruby Mace, we thought we would share this feature which first appeared in issue #SK69 (OCT/NOV 21) of our magazine, shortly after she signed for the club. It will help you get to know a bit more about the England Development Phase Squad (U19s) player.

Take a breath… Imagine debuting for your childhood club, captaining England U17s, heading to a new city and scoring your first WSL goal – a sweet stoppage-time effort that helped stave off relegation – then signing a professional contract in a summer-time switch to a title- challenging outfit, in a new part of the country. Oh, and all of this happens in under a year, and you’re not even 18 yet. 

INTERVIEW: Jen O’Neill IMAGES: Manchester City FC, NurPHOTO/Imago & Kunjan Malde for The FA 

Aside from her obvious natural potential, Ruby Mace’s rapid progress in the game has been borne out of making important decisions and changes, support from family and coaches, but most crucially and above all: her hard work and dedication to her dream. 

We grabbed a chat with City’s talented teenage recruit to find out more… 

SK: When you signed for City, you said they were the best club for you to help achieve your dreams. What are those dreams?
RM: I want to lift trophies and be a part of a winning environment. I’m young, so I’ve not had that experience yet, and I feel like this is the best club for me to do that. 

SK: How and when did you find out the club were interested in signing you?
RM: Me and my mum actually used to sit in the car and say, “One day you’re going to be playing in Manchester. One day, we’re going to be far away from each other.” My agent messaged me around May time, with the clubs that were interested, and I saw Man City at the bottom. When they asked which I’d most like to go to, I was like, “Man City!” I had some Zoom calls with Gareth and with the assistant coach, just saying how much they were interested in me, which really made me happy, and how they see me as a centre-back. 

SK: What factors did you have to consider before you made the big move?
RM: It was a tough decision because obviously I’d been at Arsenal since I was six. I watched Arsenal win the league in 2019, and back then, I was thinking I wanted to do that for Arsenal. As time goes by, you think of different things and that maybe you need a different way of living, a different team and a new environment. I spoke with my family and the plan that Man City had for me for my development over the next few years was important, too. The club have given me an amount towards an apartment, rather than just placing me with a host family – which was my choice – and my mum lives with me now and then. She still works in London, so sometimes through the week, I’m on my own. I’m decent at cooking and making the main stuff like pasta, and then when my mum comes up at a weekend, I just put my feet up! [laughing] 

ON WHAT GETS THE BEST OUT OF HER AS A PLAYER: WHEN PEOPLE BELIEVE IN ME AND WHEN THEY ARE HARD ON ME. I’D RATHER YOU TELL ME THAT MY PASS WAS RUBBISH. JUST SAY IT HOW IT IS BECAUSE THAT’S ONLY GOING TO MAKE ME A BETTER PLAYER.

SK: What’s it like being a full- time footballer?
RM: It’s a lot harder than I thought. Moving from Arsenal to Manchester City is the same level but they do things in a different way. With Arsenal, I was in 10am- 2pm; here, it’s 8.30am until 3pm. I’m enjoying it. I knew it was going to be hard and they’re the challenges that I want to face. 

SK: So much has happened for you in less than a calendar year, how do you feel you’ve changed as a person in that time?
RM: I feel like I’ve got a lot more mature and ‘settled down’; I didn’t used to be loud but you would know I was there. My mum says that she feels like she’s lost her little baby – though she still thinks I’m a little baby! 

ON LIVING IN MANCHESTER COMPARED TO LONDON: MANCHESTER IS STILL BUSY BUT IT’S SMALLER AND IS EASIER TO GET ABOUT. THE CLUB HAVE BEEN PUTTING ON TAXIS FOR ME TO GET TO TRAINING, THOUGH, BECAUSE I HAVEN’T GOT A CLUE HOW TO USE THE TRAM YET!

SK: Winding it back a bit, how did you get into football in the first place, and do you think of yourself as a centre-back now?
RM: My dad [Colin Mace] used to be a professional footballer at Charlton. My brother, who is 26, was a winger or striker for Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, but he never actually made it out as a footballer; he’s a soccer coach in California now. My dad was a right-back and I started out at right-back in the boys’ team I played for, but then at Arsenal in their U9s, they don’t really stick to positions, so I was everywhere; striker, left-back, right- back. I played a bit at centre-back, but then the coach in the U21s said I was a number six, a holding midfielder. At that time, I really wanted to play that position, though at England and then at Birmingham, I was at centre-back again, and it has grown on me so much. You have so much of the ball; that’s where I want to be. 

SK: When you signed for Birmingham, you said that you had worked so hard when you were young for this. In what ways?
RM: When I was young, I used to really enjoy being with my friends, but so often I had to miss that and choose to go training. All the way through secondary school, I used to train in the morning, one-to-one coaching from 7.30-8.30am, then home, breakfast, shower and at school by 9am. Sometimes we would have lunchtime sessions too, then I’d train after school with the club, and next morning I’d be up training in the morning again. I’ve done a lot and my mum’s driven me everywhere, sometimes for two hours there and back, just for a 45-minute session, so she’s really helped me so much. 

SK: Was Louis Rodriguez the coach that you worked one-to-one longest with?
RM: Yeah. When I was nine, I saw Louis taking a session at a five-a-side place where I was playing with friends. I looked over and thought ‘this coach looks really good.’ So me and this boy I used to play football with went over and got his number. Louis is Portuguese [he’s worked with Ronaldinho and many top male professionals], and so when I turned up, he was so surprised; he thought it was the boy who was coming! 

SK: You attended Gemma Davison’s soccer schools too, didn’t you?
RM: When I was younger, yeah. In fact, I feel like that’s where I started, at Gemma’s soccer schools. I found it really good because she used to teach us all of the technical stuff. Lucy Bronze was one of the guest coaches too [Gemma and Lucy played at Liverpool together at the time] but I don’t think she’ll remember me. 

SK: Why did you decide to change secondary schools?
RM: I’m the sort of person who would always hang around with the boys, because they’re sporty and I enjoy their company. Then this one time, about two o’clock in the morning, my phone was just pinging and pinging and pinging. The girls were asking,”Why are you always at football, why do you never come out with us?” It had been going on for around six months, and when I was younger, I would worry that I should be spending time with the girls, rather than training. I said to my mum, “I don’t want all of this drama.”
So I changed to a new school, which was more of a sports academy and had sports pathways. They gave me less subjects to do, down from eight to four, and supported me. I’m not very academic, but I no longer felt like the odd one out, so that change worked for me. I left the drama and the stress behind me and started afresh. My mum says it to this day, that it’s the best decision I ever made. 

SK: You accepted the request to go from Arsenal to Birmingham City last season, too. What did you get out of your time with the Gunners, and your experience of going to Blues?
RM: I went up to the first team at Arsenal at a young age and was in that environment for two years. When I first went there, I was a bit in my own world, just dotting about, but then as I trained with them more regularly, I picked up the pace of the play and fitted in better. Training with them and being around that environment really brought me out as a player. I’m really grateful to Joe Montemurro; he always wanted me to do well. He gave me the chance to get on the pitch and be noticed, and so if it wasn’t for him believing in me, I wouldn’t be in the position that I am in today.
At Birmingham, I learned what it’s like playing at the lower-end of the table against the top teams, which was actually very challenging for me. I was up against some of the best players
in the world; I had to try and fit into an environment where I didn’t always have the ball and couldn’t always make successful passes. I learned so much from playing against players like that. 

SK: Scoring your first WSL goals was another major milestone, tell us about the two you bagged for Birmingham.
RM: My best one was in the West Ham game, because it was stoppage-time and everyone’s heads were going down. I remember the coach on the sideline saying, “Step up! Step up!” I was thinking ‘I’m just gonna run’ and then the ball literally landed at my feet. To this day, I still wonder ‘how did I touch that so perfectly?’ It could have gone wide or over. The pitch wasn’t that good, so I couldn’t slide! I went on my knees and stopped, and everyone crowded and came around me. It meant a lot to everyone. My parents were actually allowed in a few times at Birmingham, and so my mum was there for that goal; I think she was crying in the stands! 

SK: Your family are understandably very proud of you but what are you like as a daughter and sister?
RM: My family love me so much and I’m so thankful. They say that if you’re trying your best, then that’s all they can ask for. My brother and sister are always there for me if I ever need anything; even though my brother’s in America and there’s a time difference, if I’m playing at ten o’clock, he’ll be up at 3am watching the game. 

SK: But are you sometimes an annoying little sister?!
RM: Yeah! My sister’s 13 years older than me, and every morning at seven o’clock or something, even when she’d just had a night out and had a hangover, I used to bang on her door: “Can you be the goalkeeper in the garden?” And I’d just smash balls at her; she was not good in goal at all. Quite recently, she said she remembered a time when I hadn’t knocked on the door, she looked out of the window and I had placed a plant pot in goal instead! The plant pot was better than her, but my mum wasn’t happy, because it got broken.● 

The above interview first appeared in our Oct/Nov 2021 issue, #SK69.

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