My Life in Cars: Beth Mead

My first car was a Seat Ibiza which I ended up writing off trying to avoid a deer. That wasn’t ideal. I worked a job waitressing and pot washing to save up and buy it myself. I was proud of the accomplishment at a young age and I used to drive it into Sixth Form and think I was the coolest thing ever. Clearly not, but we can always dream.

Anyway, I travelled quite far for training as I was playing for Sunderland at the time, so it was late when I was on the way home and the deer just jumped out in front of me. I swerved and managed to miss it, but I hit the grass and it made the Ibiza spin and then roll three times. The worst bit though was that while I was spinning I took out the sign that warned you to watch out for deer.

Two days later I scored a hat-trick against Chelsea and we won. Despite the size of the crash I only had a couple of bruises on me from where the seatbelt pulled across me. Sky Sports then ran a story about it after the game and a company from Newcastle reached out and said they would sponsor me a car until I got back on my feet. They sent me a DS3 and it said ‘Sponsored by Croxdale for Beth Mead’ on the side. They were great with me even though sponsor cars weren’t the done thing at the time.

I bought a BMW 1 Series after that. My younger brother and my dad are very much into cars and they both drive BMWs. Although even though my dad is a fan he didn’t always have the nicest cars in the world. The first one I remember was a Citroen Saxo.

After the 1 Series I got an Audi Q5 and I’m actually on to my second one of those now, but I’ve just been out for a spin in an Aston Martin DBX 707 and I’ve now got that for a week to ride around in so I’m certainly not complaining. 

I love driving, I think it's a little bit like my football in that it’s a space for me to switch off. I actually learnt in my gran’s Hyundai. I couldn’t get my biting point right for the life of me. I used to run up and down the road – terribly – until I got it right. But where we lived there was a lot of hills so you had to get used to it. The test centre wasn’t in the ideal place either. As soon as you left there was a very steep hill and if you rolled back you’d failed before you’d even started. I passed first time though – came away with two minors so I like to think I’m a good driver. 

There’s not too many of us at Arsenal into cars. Katie McCabe has a Mercedes GLC. The club actually provides a lot of cars though, particularly to the foreign players who are given a Peugeot 208 when they sign. 

The team bus has changed a lot over the years too. When I was at Sunderland it was just your regular bus and we’d squeeze into the seats as best we could, but we’re a bit luckier with the luxury these days. We’ve got tables to sit at, card games going on and a kitchen on the bus. There’s always a football match on the TVs too. It’s a lot more comfortable than it used to be. 

Beth’s dream three-car garage

Lamborghini Urus
The Urus would be my practical car, although you’d have to be pretty special to get a lift.

Bentley Continental GT
A bit of a dream car for me, although I do now only live five minutes from the Arsenal training ground.

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition
Not the most practical thing, but I’d have to have an Aston Martin in my dream garage.