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After a busy summer, Arsenal Ladies and England star Alex Scott continues her regular Sky Sports column with a tribute to departed international boss Hope Powell and a look to the future

Arsenal Ladies and England star Alex Scott reflects on a busy summer and pays tribute to Hope Powell.

So much has happened since my last column. The summer's European Championship has been and gone and is now truly in the past. We will not revisit that in too much detail. I feel it is a chapter that really has been spoken about and analysed a lot by players, media and coaches. Everything has already been said on that topic and it is now time to learn from what went wrong when we finished bottom of our group and it is time to again grow as a player. My way of doing that is to make sure I am in top form for Arsenal and helping the team to hopefully retain trophies. There is still a way to go left in the season but the games are coming thick and fast and every game is a must-win game for us. One thing that is a talking point, however, is the fact the England women's team will now be under new management going forward. Hope Powell has been in charge of the team for 15 years and really has done an unbelievable job in turning the national team around. The England team were a team who never used to qualify for major tournaments and are now a team who are ranked sixth in the world. We won a silver medal and reached the quarter-finals in the last two World Cups. People will always have opinions on what they feel is right or wrong, this happens in everyday life no matter what job you are in. But there is no mistaking what an incredible job Hope has done for women's football in this country. She was consonantly trying to battle to improve its status, improve the quality and push the game to new levels. I am thankful for all the coaches who have worked with me and helped me to develop my game and Hope is one of them. Under Hope, I went on to earn 100 caps for England. This happened in the Euros this summer. I am so proud and truly honoured to have reached this landmark. As I mentioned earlier, this European Championship will not be one to remember in a lot of ways but I have to look back at reaching my 100th cap with a little smile on my face. I love playing for my country and wearing that shirt. So, the plan now is to continue to work hard on my game like always and hopefully the new England boss will have me in his/her plans going forward with the team. Up next for me there are lots of games with Arsenal to concentrate on this season. The Women's Super League season continues to be a closely run battle. I think everyone knew that Liverpool were going to be a threat this season with all the investment and all the players they brought into their team this year. I think what has been a pleasant surprise, however, is how well Bristol have done. Not only did they reach the FA Cup final but they have also been at the top of the table a lot this season. They truly have shown what great team spirit and teamwork can do. The season has been that exciting that it may come down to the last day to see which team will actually come away with the trophy. It is exciting for the neutral but I want to see the trophy back with us in the cabinet at Arsenal, of course!

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