Houghton’s maiden milestones | OneFootball

City colossal former captain Steph Houghton has continued her trend of reaching impressive milestones after returning to the Club.

Following her retirement from playing at the end of last term, she has now returned to the Club as both a Project Officer and an Ambassador.

In the former, she will gain precious experience across a number of footballing departments – while the latter makes her an official representative of the Club.

By doing so, she becomes our first-ever female ambassador, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mike Summerbee, Joleon Lescott and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

This isn’t the first time Houghton has broken new ground at City.

Here are some of those achievements…

CENTURION

After becoming one of City’s first signings after our professional relaunch in 2014, Houghton immediately established herself as a central figure in the team.

Due to her outstanding commitment and professionalism, she became the Club’s first player to total 100 appearances in all competitions during our professional era.

She earned ‘centurion’ status in a 3-0 triumph over her first club, Sunderland, in January 2018 – helping the Blues to a clean sheet to boot.

After reaching the milestone she said at the time: “When I came to this Club, I wanted to play as many games as I possibly could.

“To play 100 is a massive honour and it was topped off with a win, a few goals and a clean sheet.”

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DOUBLE CENTURION

Remarkably only three years later, Houghton had racked up another 100 outings – making her City’s first player to reach 200 appearances.

She amassed the tally in March 2021 in a 1-0 success over Everton where she was, once again, crucial to a shutout for Gareth Taylor’s side.

“To play 200 games for this Club is a huge privilege and the fact I’ve been here from the start makes it even more special,” she reflected at the time.

“I feel I’ve given absolutely everything - 110% - every single day to be the best professional and best captain I can be.”

TROPHY

Houghton’s illustrious decade at Manchester City saw her captain us to eight major honours which included the 2016 WSL title.

But the first honour she led us to was the 2014 League Cup after we progressed to the showpiece following our progression from the group stage before beating Chelsea 1-0 in the semi-finals.

We then met Arsenal in the final where Izzy Christiansen’s goal helped us to another 1-0 success, this time at Adams Park, as Houghton lifted our maiden trophy as a professional outfit.

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WINS

In September 2020, Houghton set a new WSL record by becoming the first player to register 100 wins in the division.

It came after we opened the 2020/21 season with a triumph over Aston Villa on what was also her 100th appearance for the Club in the competition.

Remarkably, she reached the century of victories in just 140 WSL outings after also featuring in the league for Arsenal.

WSL

Shortly after reaching 100 wins, she then went on to total 150 WSL appearances, becoming the first player to do so in the competition’s history.

The feat perhaps couldn’t have arrived in better circumstances either as City recorded a 7-1 win over Brighton in January 2021.

The defender starred on the south coast, scoring in either half which contributed to our biggest away league win at the time.

CLEAN SHEET

As one of the original members of our professional team since its inception in 2014, Houghton was a mainstay in our side who looked to navigate a maiden season in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

After a difficult start in all competitions which saw us win one of our first five games in all competitions, a first clean sheet arrived in matchday six as we hosted Everton in the League Cup at the Etihad Stadium.

In a closely contested encounter, Natasha Flint’s strike secured a narrow 1-0 win with Houghton featuring and contributing to our first professional shutout.

MAGAZINE

Houghton’s impact on the pitch has also transferred off it too.

She was awarded an MBE in the 2016 New Years honours list for services to football, but before that she became the first female footballer to star on the cover of Shoot magazine.

In October 2014’s edition, she appeared on the front and also had a Q&A session with the publication.

At the time she said: “I’m over the moon. I found out on Wednesday night and I was a bit surprised as I’d done the interview, but I didn’t realise I would be on the front cover.

“It’s a bit weird because I always used to get the Shoot annuals for Christmas from my mum and dad! A few people have asked to see this one - including my grandma!

“It just shows how much the women’s game has progressed over the last few years.

“It does feel a bit strange but I’m absolutely honoured.”