Wolves Women defender Beth Roberts shares her matchday routine and superstitions.
First thing
The main routine for me, really, is my eating. I wake up at different times depending on who we've got. If we're at home, I'll wake up a bit later, if we’re away, I’ll obviously get up earlier, but as soon as I get up, I will always have three scrambled eggs on toast and a cup of tea.
Food and drink
As well as the tea, I'll drink loads of electrolyte water, then about 11am, I'll have two bananas and a little pot of rice pudding and then that's me for the morning. This routine has changed a bit over time, but I feel like I've finally found the perfect combo. Last season, I was doing four pancakes and honey because I saw Declan Rice do it, so I thought I’d give that a go, but I just felt so heavy and stodgy.
On the headphones
Whether I'm on the way to Telford or Wolves, I’ll always have some music on in my car. Usually, it’s chilled country music because I find that relaxes me, especially with there still being quite a few hours before the game. I don't want to get too hyped up just yet. When we’re in the changing room, it's all songs that the girls have put into a playlist, and they're quite upbeat, which gets me hyped. I took on the role of DJ last season as Beth Merrick did it for ages, but when she left for a few months and before she came back, I just picked it up. It’s a job where you can't please everyone, but I feel I know people's music tastes now, so I've got a bit of everything in the playlist.
Talking a good game
When we get to Telford for a home matchday, I sit on a table with Amber [Hughes], Char [Greengrass], Ando [Becky Anderson], Beth [Merrick], Morph [Anna Morphet] and Thommo [Bec Thomas], and they're the people who I tend to talk to ahead of the game. It’s not always about football, it’s usually more general stuff, just talking about life, and we tend to talk about football more after the game. In the mornings it’s a lot of random chat. I can’t even think about some of the stuff we talk about because it’s so random.
Bus buddies
On the bus, if we’ve got a long away game, I’m usually sat with the same people. But it was quite good on the way back from Sudbury the other weekend as we were playing musical statues, which was pretty funny. This won’t come as a shock to anyone, but it was Abi Loydon’s idea. Alex [Brooks] was on the music and Abi and Chloe [Williams] were the judges. We’d stand up in our seats or in the aisle and when the music stopped, we’d have to pause. But obviously it didn’t end well and most of the girls just kept dancing.
At the ground
The first thing I do when I get to a ground is go in the changing room, go to where my spot is, put my bag down and get my boots and my shin pads out so my station's all set up and ready to go. I always like to go and take a look at the pitch, regardless if it's astro or grass, and have a good look at it. If it is grass, I always wear studs, so it’s not like I’m checking the pitch, but I’m superstitious with wearing studs, But once I’ve done that I’ll go back to my station and try to relax.
Game mode
I try not to think about the match too much. I enjoy a bit of a joke with the girls and just have a chat to them as that seems to get me in my best headspace for a game. But as soon as I start getting ready and put the kit on, that’s when I get a bit of a buzz, especially with the music on, and everyone else is getting ready. That’s when everyone begins to get very serious and locked in, so everyone's on the same page.
Post-match plans
I’m always starving after a game. As soon as it’s finished, the moment the whistle is gone, I’m always so hungry. If there’s any Wine Gums left or cereal bars, I’ll have one of them. But once we get back in the changing room I’ll always have a shower, wash my hair, have a protein shake and then go and run to the post match food because I’m so hungry. At the moment, Sunday for me has turned into a bit of a fish and chips day. Me and my boyfriend have fish and chips every Sunday, but a lot of the time I’ll still have the post-match food. They do a lovely lasagne at Telford, so every home game we’re always hoping it will be the lasagne.
Switching off
After the game, you’re always just thinking about what’s happened. I like to talk about it to people, look back at how it's gone and just try to process what's happened. But then as it gets later on in the night, I just try and switch off, whether that's watching telly or doing something else. I'm a lot better at switching off now than when I was younger, because back then a bad result would ruin my night and ruin my week, but now I just try and think about what I can control, try and look forward to the week ahead, and just try and stay positive. However, if it’s a night game like Stoke, I’m really going to struggle switching off because I literally won't get to sleep until 2am, but with the earlier games on a Sunday, I do feel like I have the time to process it and try to forget about it.
This article originally featured in Wolves' official 2025/26 matchday programme. Last season's programmes are still available to purchase online through retailers Curtis Sports.
