Christine Lampard says son Freddie is obsessed with football but won't wear Chelsea or England kits

Christine Lampard, Kelly Cates and Hayley McQueen will talk about a life in football for new podcast

Christine Lampard has revealed her son Freddie is obsessed with wearing football kits, choosing different ones to wear each day but mainly loving the Northern Ireland one at the moment. It won't come as a huge surprise Freddie is football mad, given his dad is Chelsea legend Frank Lampard, but his choice of kit isn't his dad's favourite right now.

Christine says: “My little boy's obsessed with kits and at the moment he wants to wear them every day. At the minute he loves the Northern Irish kit which is obviously all green. "He’s got the new England kit actually, his aunt bought it for him recently, but he doesn’t want to wear it.

"He comes downstairs and Frank’s like 'do you know what you did?' And I get a little kick out of that!"

Christine, who grew up near Belfast, made the revelation as she chatted with two friends as they prepared for a new all female football podcast about being wrapped up in the game, via your family at first. Following the successes of The Overlap and Stick to Football podcasts, Not Just Football will consider topics surrounding the sport from a new perspective. Christine, alongside Sky Sports hosts Kelly Cates and Hayley McQueen, will make up the team on this new weekly series.

Christine is of course married to ex-footballer and manager Frank, Kelly's dad is Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish and Hayley's dad was Manchester United hero Gordon McQueen who died last year. Kelly, who fronts many Premier League matches on Sky, says: “We are all women of a certain age. And yet we're all still to an extent, defined by our relationship to some of the men in our lives.

"There wasn't a role in football broadcasting unless you had that background, luckily that has changed and isn't the case anymore, but I think it was felt that we were relatively low risk." Hayley adds: “It was the kind of nepotism thing. But, I was like, well, I do know things because of my dad, because I grew up loving, living, breathing every little thing that he did.”

They all remember how match defeats could affect the mood of the house for a while after the full time. Hayley says she was lucky in a way because her dad might have gone to the pub after a match in the Seventies. But Christine admits: "Frank is a thinker anyway, so he can't just dust himself down and get back to it. It really matters a great deal in fact. He needs to have a good chat about it and processes it and then he comes out the other end. But it absolutely affects the mood. "And now after all these years I know how to work around the mood, that is a skill in itself to be honest."

Christine, who married Frank in 2015 after the pair met at the Mirror's Pride Of Britain Awards in 2009, also recalls first being involved in the game when Frank was still a Chelsea player when they met. Christine says: “I remember when Frank and I started going out and he said, look, I want you to come to Stamford Bridge. And I said, okay, of course. But, I don’t want to go in a posh box or anything. I want to go where the proper fans are. So, anyone that knows Stamford Bridge will know that is of course, The Shed End. And so, I remember going into The Shed End with a couple of his friends, and I was doing The One Show at the time, and they all started to sing ONEEEEE.

“I just got it straight away and loved it. And then I went every single week. I don't think I ever missed a home game. I have football on at home now, even when Frank's not in the house. Like, I'll have it on all the time, all weekend, and I'll know everything. And that's me wanting to do it just because I really enjoy it. There's something about it. I just got it straight away. I understand why this consumes people's lives."

Hayley was going to games from a much younger age as a child. And dad Gordon, who won the league and FA Cup, played for a number of clubs, including Leeds, Manchester United and Seiko in Hong Kong, which meant she also transferred around when it came to schooling. She reveals: “I went to 11 different places of education. This was from nursery right up until uni. I lived in Manchester, Teeside, Scotland, two different areas of Scotland, Hong Kong I lived in for 18 months with my dad. Then Teesside and moved down to London. I mean we moved around an awful lot, but you just became adaptable."

On the new podcast venture, she added: "I did a podcast for 10 years and I really missed it so this is great and like a new era. It feels very equal and shared, dipping in and out of each other's experiences. People will get to know us and we will get to know each other more as the season goes on in football."

And Kelly adds: “Ever since I was a young girl, football has been at the centre of everything I do, it's what I grew up with and what I’ve always loved. "Joining this show is incredibly exciting because it gives me the opportunity to share my stories and experiences that I’ve gathered from being so closely connected to the game all my life. I can't wait to get started and find our groove.

"It's finding that balance between football and real life. Football is the peg, but real life is what we are talking about and those family connections. Whether it is my dad, Hayley's dad or Christine's husband. It's about our insight. It is sort of a life in football from every angle." Kelly also says the trio will aim to get in guests who can bring real knowledge and have "actual expertise" in sport as well as being entertaining.

In the first episode launching later this month, the hosts will be joined by Premier League legend, David Ginola, who will be discussing how the game has changed in the last 20 years, how he approaches life differently after suffering a cardiac arrest and all things 'Not Just Football'. ITV star Christine, who is used to all female panels, adds: "Football is such a big part of my life, but that doesn't necessarily fit well on a Loose Women panel. It's nice to find a space where it is all natural and feels comfortable. And it is nice to push yourself with something different."

* Not Just Football, brought you by Sky Bet, is coming soon in October via The Overlap YouTube channel.

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