In the old days, the prospect of Leeds United and Arsenal meeting in an FA Cup Final would conjure up bitter images of Bob McNab and do-it-yourself skin grafts. It may be a sign that the women’s game is more enlightened that leading players in today’s showpiece buried their differences to get together for a motivational talk from a double Olympic champion.

Dame Kelly Holmes “loved Ian Wright” and is an Arsenal fan. Before today’s final between Leeds and Arsenal, Holmes was invited to speak to Hope Powell’s England squad and she left all in no doubt that they need to do more. The women’s game may be on the up, with England’s World Cup display last year matching that of their male counterparts a year earlier and tickets selling fast for today’s match at The City Ground, but anyone feeling self-satisfied had their smiles erased by some Holmes truths.

“I got them up to talk about their ambitions and every single one said they wanted to be a World Cup-winner,” Holmes said. “But that’s just saying it. Do they absolutely have that in the pit of their stomach? Do they crave it? I don’t always see enough passion from people competing for their country.”

Holmes has never suffered fools and her belief that today’s final will be played largely between 22 pairs of ears is intriguing. She has long felt it is attitude that has damned many an English sportsman, from football to athletics, and is developing a trust to mentor and motivate fledgeling stars. Fabio Capello could do worse.

Her words might be of better use to Leeds today as they begin the match as long shots. Arsenal are the dominant force in the women’s game, last year’s 4-1 FA Cup final win over Charlton Athletic clinching the quadruple for Vic Akers’s side. This year has been tougher but they are still a massive 25 points clear of Leeds, who are third, in the league.

“We hope that the Cup Final will be our chance to prove to everyone that we’re still the same team we were last year,” Rebecca Spencer, the Arsenal goalkeeper, said. “The World Cup [in China last September] has played a part in us not performing as well as we would have liked.”

Powell agreed that there has been a World Cup hangover. “There’s no time to grieve,” she said. “You just want to go, ‘God, I need six months off.’” That was why she brought in Holmes. The 800 metres and 1500 metres Olympic champion has suffered more than most in her career: near-death experiences on mountaintops, chronic fatigue syndrome and, when depression kicked in, self-harm. Leeds, thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal in the FA Cup Final two years ago, might take note. Although Arsenal have won six of the past ten finals, self-belief could bridge the gap, according to Holmes.

“I showed the players a freeze frame of me before the 2004 Olympics,” Holmes said. “Nobody apart from my very close team thought I had a chance. I was 34 and always been nearly there. It’s a question of what you want. I know there’s a group of people that will be just glad to get on the Olympic team this year. Now that’s a bloody good achievement, but the problem is it puts a limitation in your head. As soon as you’re just happy to be there, you’re going nowhere.”

It is the same for those who think that England women have arrived after making the quarter-finals of the World Cup. “Are you happy being in the qualifying rounds?” Holmes asked. “You should want more, but people get to that stage and switch off. I’ve told the England players that they are all really good, but until they win something people won’t open their eyes.”

Sue Smith, the Leeds captain, is well aware of the effects of negative thinking, even from close to home. “The women’s game has a tough enough time being respected as it is,” she said. Smith said her father revealed that he had expected her to miss her match-winning penalty against Everton in the semi-final. “You had a bad knee and left-footers are prone to missing them,” he told her.

Holmes knows all about being written off, too, and it remains to be seen whether her rallying call has any impact on a side beaten 4-0 by Arsenal in March. “If you want to put yourself in the sporting elite, you have to believe it, dream it,” she said.

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