Emotionally drained as ‘my teams’ Everton and Leeds secured safety - Sue Smith on Football

I had such a good time playing for Leeds and only left when they were denied the chance to stay at the top level of women’s football so I will always have a really big emotional attachment to them.

But Everton are the club I and my family have supported all our lives. They will always be number one for me.

There were different times in recent months where I thought both would be the one to go.

The hardest part of punditry is being impartial covering a team you used to watch as a kid or played for, and sometimes you over-compensate and are too negative towards them.

When Everton are in mid-table, I find it quite easy to deal with as a pundit because you are not as emotionally attached, but when both of my teams were in danger of relegation, it made for a really difficult few months.

Covering the game against Newcastle United for Sky Sports News was really tough for me because Everton really needed the points having been on an awful run and had a horrendous sequence of fixtures.

As a fan you are just watching it urging them on, but as a reporter you need to know all the details which paint a picture for the people at home who cannot see the game.

When I first started in television you were not supposed to say who you supported or say “we” or “us” but it seems to have changed. People are always looking for bias when pundits or commentators are covering the team they support – or they think they support.

When Everton secured safety on the Thursday I was finally able to get fully behind Leeds, but I worried they would lose at Brentford.

I was covering Tottenham Hotspur versus Norwich City for Sky on the final day and Spurs were soon battering Norwich so I could listen in to the reports from Brentford and Burnley.

Jesse Marsch’s team showed such character to get a result, even though Brentford finished with nine men.

So did he. It was a big risk playing 20-year-olds Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood, out of position, but they stepped up in a high-pressure game.

I felt like Gelhardt’s disallowed goal gave Leeds a real lift.

When I made my England debut there was no fear whatsoever because I was only 16 but as you get older you start thinking about the magnitude of things, you feel like you are expected to perform as a senior player and you aware of the bigger picture, like people’s jobs being at risk.

Now I really hope Leeds can build on this – not least so I do not have to go through all this again!

I think Gelhardt is brilliant and could be a key figure next season. I would definitely like to see him playing regularly.

I would expect Raphinha to leave but they need to get big money for him and use it to rebuild.

It is brilliant Brenden Aaronson has come in so quickly. I commentated on the first leg of the Champions League last-32 game between Salzburg and Bayern Munich, and with the creativity and quality he showed then, he will be a great signing.

He looked like he just needed more runners around him – not that he could not run himself, but he was most effective when he could pick the passes.

I really hope Kalvin Phillips stays and plays every game rather than go somewhere like Manchester City and be another brilliant player getting rotated, but winning league titles and probably Champions Leagues. It is clear he absolutely adores playing for his childhood club.

Being in the Premier League – not just for the money but because it is the best league in the world – is such a big deal and it will be a massive achievement if Huddersfield Town get there against Nottingham Forest at Wembley tomorrow.

I have written before in this column how much I admire all the positive things they have done to turn themselves around from fighting relegation for the last few seasons.

They have brought the right players in and play good football which suits them – and they do it as a team.

Even though Huddersfield finished higher in the table, most people have Forest as favourites but that could help Town because they have played on the underdog card all season.

I heard Jonathan Hogg saying they were just treating it like any other game.

That’s a very footballer thing to say but I bet that is what they are trying to do.

If it is still 0-0 after 60, 70 minutes will Forest start doing things they would not normally because the expectation is on them? I will certainly be tuning in to find out.