During her seven years at Arsenal, Emma Mitchell – now Emma Mukandi – won every domestic trophy including three League Cups. The Kirkcaldy-born left back both enjoyed and endured life during her spell in north London.
For “Mitch’ (“I will always be Mitch,” she assures us), the friendships she made at Arsenal count for just as much as the medals. However, Emma doesn’t really remember how or why she caught the football bug growing up.
“I grew up with three sisters and none of us were that sporty. I wasn’t surrounded by football at home. I was a bit of a tomboy and I always played football with the boys in the school playground. I don’t really know where it came from!”
Mukandi happily played on boys’ teams, largely for fun, until she reached a crossroads at the age of 12. “There were no girls teams so I played for a local boys’ team but I never really took it that seriously. I was the only girl that was playing and I didn’t think it would go anywhere.
"I played for a boys' team until I was 12 and then you're not allowed to play with boys anymore, so I had to go and find a girls' team."
Emma talks a lot about friendships and relationships, and she met a future Gunners team-mate early in her journey: “I went and played for St Johnstone when I was 12 or 13 and that was where I met Lisa Evans.”
Glasgow City were the dominant team in Scotland at the time and it wasn’t long before they enlisted both players. Playing for Glasgow City convinced Mukandi that a professional career was possible. “I went to Glasgow City at 15 or 16 and they were playing in the Champions League, and that made me think there were opportunities to go and play professionally.
"Lisa went to Germany to play for Potsdam and I thought, ‘Maybe I can go and do this?’ I ended up going for trials in Denmark, Sweden and Germany.” Eventually, Emma joined Essen in the Frauen Bundesliga but she found the experience difficult.
“I went to Germany thinking I would be in a professional league, but we only trained in the evening, so the whole day I was sitting by myself. I shared a flat with a Portuguese girl who didn’t speak English. I was only 19 and very isolated.
"Then Arsenal came in and I just thought that would be much better for me.”
At this point, the WSL season ran from April until October. There was a break for Euro 2013 during the summer, after which Mukandi joined Arsenal. Scottish coach Shelley Kerr had just taken over as manager and Mukandi arrived alongside international team-mates Caroline Weir and Christie Murray.
“I knew Shelley because she coached me in the Scotland under-19s,” Mukandi remembers. “I didn’t know Caroline was signing until I came down. We ended up sharing a flat in London Colney.” However, it proved to be a transitional time for Arsenal and new WSL salary cap rules saw a number of players leave for other WSL clubs.
“I remember when I signed, Kimmie was there, Ellen White and Steph Houghton were there. Then they all left at the end of that season. When I signed I saw all these big names but then lots of players left.
A lot of younger players came in and we won the FA Cup in 2014, but it was strange because I signed thinking we would be really successful and it turned out to be a massive transitional phase. But I didn’t really think about it too much. I was young and didn’t really get involved in the politics of football, and it was still really enjoyable for me. I was having fun!”
Emma struck up friendships with the likes of Katie McCabe, Emma Byrne, Fara Williams and Vivianne Miedema that endure today. “When I think about my career, my time at Arsenal was when I was happiest. The majority of girls who have played for Arsenal would say the same.
"I speak to players who are still there and they still have that family feeling and togetherness. Nearly everyone lives in St Albans and everyone looks after each other. When I look back I remember the times off the pitch as much as on the pitch. Obviously there were big games and trophies, but I think about the relationships and the memories we created and friendships I have for life.
“Now women’s football is so, so big, I do wonder whether players still have that to the same extent. I think the girls who have been there for a long time will, but I wonder how much more the game has become a job.”
The 2016 FA Cup final victory over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium was one of the most memorable occasions Emma was involved in, the last time (for now!) that the Gunners won the competition. “I remember being really excited. Even though I’m Scottish and I’m not as fussed about Wembley because it’s not my national stadium, I felt excited because I know what a big day it is for women’s sport.
“Growing up it was the only women’s game you saw on the telly. We were underdogs and we put in a great performance. But we had some brilliant players in that team. It was a joyous occasion and Dan Carer still dines out on the goal she scored!"
In 2018/19, Mukandi was a member of the WSL title-winning team, but the season was bittersweet for the Scot. She took some time away during the campaign due to mental health issues: “I wasn’t really playing much and I was being phased out of the team.
"I think being away from home didn’t help as well. It was an accumulation of different stuff. It was one of the hardest but proudest things I have ever done to ask to step away. It’s not easy to ask for help.”
Mukandi remembers the day when she realised it was all too much. “There was a training session and I snapped and burst into tears over someone tackling me. I love a tackle so it wouldn’t normally upset me! I told the club I wasn’t right and I needed help. The club had a psychologist on hand and I ended up seeing them for about 18 months.
"The club gave me space and time and reintegrated me when I was ready. I spoke to the psychologist a couple of times a week.”
Happily, the season ended on a high for Mukandi when she came on and scored the winning goal in the 88th minute of the final game of the season at home to Manchester City, with the league title already sealed the game before. Her team-mates were so happy for her that the usually unflappable Kim Little swore on live television in her post-match interview as she described her compatriot’s goal.
> "It was one of the hardest but proudest things I have ever done to ask to step away. It's not easy to ask for help."
“I didn’t think I would get on so I thought I was just going to enjoy the day anyway. When I scored, well, I think you can see my reaction. It was overwhelming and emotional.
"I knew how hard I had to work just to be able to play football, just on a fitness basis. The reaction of my teammates shows that as well – they knew the work I had put in and that I deserved to have that moment.”
Mukandi left Arsenal for Reading in 2020. It was there that she gave birth to her daughter Innes in October 2021. (Emma and her husband Ivan have since been blessed with another baby daughter who, at time of writing, is four weeks old and snoozing in the background during the interview). Mukandi remembers having to feel her way through pregnancy and training herself.
“There were no maternity policies in contracts from the FA or PFA at that time. I got paid when I was pregnant and postpartum because there was nothing to say I shouldn’t get paid. But when I was pregnant I didn’t have much support about what I should be doing training-wise. I took it day by day.
“Post-partem I had to get my own pelvic floor physio and do the work off my own back; most clubs didn’t have that. At London City Lionesses, they had a physio called Emma Brockwell who does a lot of pelvic health work. I had a forceps delivery, which changes your recovery as well.”
While Mukandi thinks maternity policies and support for pregnant players is improving, there is still some room for development: “I still think some clubs are a little scared with policies around pregnancy. There is a PFA policy for clubs which is a basic guideline, but it needs to be built on by the clubs.
"A player at Charlton, for example, should be getting the same support as someone at Chelsea. There are so many reasons why players will have a baby and players need to be confident that if they are going to make this choice then the support will be there.”
Mukandi enjoyed a distinguished national career with Scotland too, winning 74 caps. However, she missed out on Euro 2017 and the 2019 World Cup. “The World Cup was harder to take,” she says, “that was when I was struggling with my mental health and I worked to try to make sure I was physically fit enough to go. It was disappointing because I had worked with Shelley \[who was Scotland manager at the time\] for years and she knew what I could bring.
“2017 was different. I tore my hamstring so it was easier to take because I was injured. But when I look back at my national career it’s not just the games I played – I made great memories and relationships. I travelled the world and went to places I never would have been to otherwise.” Mukandi announced her retirement from playing in August 2025.
Last May, she watched on as her former club won the UEFA Women's Champions League in Lisbon. “I was so emotional watching the final because I still know some of the girls. Especially Kim – she is just getting the recognition she deserved because she won the Champions League. She should have been winning Ballon D’Ors long before that.
"I created great relationships with some of those players and I always want the best for them."
Mukandi left the club during the Covid-19 lockdown and missed much of the current boom in attendances at Arsenal, but she has no regrets.
“It would be great to still be there and be part of the boom of women’s football, but I will never look back with any bitterness. Your time is your time and it’s just great to see what the girls have now.
“I know how hard they have all worked and the sacrifices they made. I love watching the girls now and the Emirates being full. I go to games still and I feel like a proper fan – I get the whole matchday experience and go for a pint and it’s great to experience that from a women’s football perspective. Growing up, I never thought that would be possible.”
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