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Julie Fleeting’s journey began in her back garden and ended in the record books as Scotland’s all-time top scorer.

Brought up in a football-loving family, with dad Jim a former Ayr United player and Kilmarnock manager, Julie was encouraged by her parents from the start. She played in boys’ teams, stepped up to Ayr United’s women’s side, and looked set for a steady life as a full-time PE teacher and part-time footballer. Then she took a risk that changed everything.

Fleeting crossed the Atlantic to join San Diego Spirit in the WUSA, the world’s first professional women’s league. Nicknamed Air Scotland, she fired Spirit to the play-offs in her second season. But defeat in the play-offs was soon followed by the league’s collapse and a return to Scotland, where she began her teaching career and joined up with boyfriend Colin Stewart at Ross County.

However, Julie headed south when Arsenal came calling, but just at the weekends. During the week, she carried on teaching in Scotland, with weekends spent travelling and playing for the Gunners. A hat-trick in her first FA Cup final set the tone for a glittering spell packed with goals and silverware. The pinnacle came in 2007, when Arsenal lifted the Uefa Women’s Cup, becoming the first British women’s side to conquer Europe. Fleeting kept playing even after starting a family, collecting 17 trophies in total. She eventually returned to Scotland after having her second child and finished her career at Glasgow City.

In recent times, Julie and her family have faced their toughest time, as Jim was diagnosed with dementia, before sadly passing away in March 2026.