LONDON — In April 2023, after her side had lost 2-1 on aggregate to Barcelona in the UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinals, Chelsea manager Emma Hayes sat in her postmatch news conference at Camp Nou and cried. The journalists gathered in the room shared a single thought: Is she done?
“If there was a little bit longer in the game, I think we would have gone on and won it,” Hayes said. “We grew into the game, we got more aggressive, and we created some good chances. It wasn’t quite enough, and I’m stood here now just absolutely gutted to be totally honest.”
Having spent a period of the 2022-23 season away from her day-to-day duties following a hysterectomy, Hayes admitted she was mentally and physically exhausted, but that she had to keep pushing with several games of the Women’s Super League (WSL) left. And push she did; seven wins from the last seven games was enough to seal the title by two points from Man United, while also grinding out a 1-0 win over them in the FA Cup final — a win she dubbed “a victory for grind” — to seal the double.
But after winning the WSL for a fourth-consecutive time, Hayes’ demeanor suggested something was amiss — most notably in how she joked she would celebrate by sitting on a park bench drinking gin.
“I feel relieved it’s over for lots of reasons,” Hayes said. “I think it’s a victory for the team because my backroom staff have carried me in so many different ways this year … I just feel like I’m surviving, like I’m keeping my head above water while everybody is chasing. I’ve got 1,000 tasks; 1,000 interactions in a week. I’m just surviving. And guess what? I survived this week.”
It was clear that Hayes was tired. Though many thought she might not stay on for the season, she took to the sidelines for 2023-24, but some shock news was to come in November when she announced that she would be taking over the biggest job in women’s football: replacing Vlatko Andonovski as manager of four-time world champions, the United States, on a reported salary of around $2 million to make her the highest-paid women’s football coach ever.
Sources told ESPN that Chelsea’s players were shocked and surprised at the announcement; they only found out minutes before the news broke, in the changing room at Bescot Stadium after defeating Aston Villa 6-0. But it made sense.
A source said that Hayes was in brief talks with League Two men’s side Crawley Town in 2022 — though wanted to take charge of a team higher up the pyramid — but with less games, player interactions and more time for family, a job with a national team offered a better balance. It was also the chance to realise a childhood dream by taking on the challenge of the USWNT.
However, as she had announced her exit so early, the spotlight was on Chelsea more than ever as they attempted to give her the perfect send-off after 12 glorious years in charge by winning a quadruple of trophies.
This is what USWNT fans can learn from Hayes’ last season at Chelsea as she prepares for her U.S. debut game on June 1.
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A few weeks later, Hayes and Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall engaged in an altercation on the touchline with the Chelsea boss shoving her opponent. After the fact, Hayes slammed the Swede and accused him of “male aggression.” She was heavily denounced for the comment but, rather than apologising for her remarks, Hayes doubled down and bizarrely recited a section of the 1916 poem “Choose Something Like A Star” [“So when at times the mob is swayed, to carry praise or blame too far, we may choose something like a star, to stay our minds on and be staid.”] in an attempt to deflect attention, which again garnered negative attention.
Being away from the day-to-day of club football, with less media responsibilities for the USWNT, may give her more time to craft her communication skills. Hayes also deleted her social media accounts in May, having spoken to Liverpool men’s manager Jurgen Klopp for advice, and stated that “the volume of abuse you have to tolerate is unacceptable.”
Because of her profile, Hayes has been the spokesperson for women’s football in England, meaning everything she says is used and anything she does attracts far more attention than her counterparts. Sources told ESPN that British newspapers are far more receptive to her comments than those of other WSL managers. She will find the American media to be a little different — certainly in tone, access demands, and adhering to its own set of rules — but the media spotlight could shine on her brighter than ever. This season, she could not hide in the shadows when things began to fall apart at Chelsea and there will be no respite with the USWNT either.
