MY ACCOUNT
Emma Hayes can add more silverware to her collection when Chelsea take on Arsenal in the Women’s League Cup final on Sunday.
The long-serving manager will be looking to land the first of a possible Quadruple this season, with the Londoners competing to win honours on four fronts.
The success of the 46-year-old during her time in West London has led to speculation that she could one day make an unprecedented move to the men’s game.
Ahead of the clash at Selhurst Park this weekend, we take a look at her remarkable managerial career.
Quadruple hopes
Since becoming manager in 2012, Hayes has seen her Chelsea team win 11 major trophies.
If the Blues beat Arsenal on Sunday, it will be their third League Cup win after triumphing in 2020 and 2021.
They are also through to the quarter-finals of the Women’s FA Cup — a competition that Hayes has won four times — where they are expected to progress against Reading.
In the Women’s Super League, Chelsea are battling to win their sixth title under their manager.
The Blues currently sit second in the table and trail leaders Manchester United by a single point with a game in hand.
Then there is the Champions League, which is the only major trophy to have eluded Hayes. Her side will meet the holders Lyon in the last eight later in the year.
Wimbledon link
Should Chelsea win the Champions League, then Hayes will have achieved all that she can at the club.
Naturally, she has been linked with an eventual new challenge and the possibility of a groundbreaking appointment within the men’s game has been mooted.
The profile of Hayes has risen alongside the growth of the women’s game, while as a television pundit she has demonstrated that she has more tactical knowledge than many of her male contemporaries.
In 2021, she was reportedly on the shortlist to become the next manager of League One AFC Wimbledon. Responding to the speculation, the coach revealed her dedication to the women’s game.
Hayes said: “Women’s football is something to celebrate, and the quality and the achievement of all the females I represent.
“It’s an insult to them that we talk about women’s football being a step down, with the dedication and the commitment and the quality they have.”
Responsibility
These comments were presented as an attack on Wimbledon when Hayes was merely making the point that the standard of women’s football means that a move to the men’s game is not necessarily desirable.
She has spoken about how her father stressed the importance of growing women’s football and the responsibility she must take.
Hayes said: “In the mid-1990s, as a father of three in the middle of Camden Town, he told one of his daughters she’s going to change the face of women’s football and it’s up to me to do that.
“He was adamant it was my job to blow it up and said, ‘You’re the one who’s got to speak about the officials and administrators. You have to set the professional standards and expectations.’
“But if you speak up as a woman you’re ‘outspoken, difficult, prickly’. I had to take some abuse.”
England hopes
Hayes is certainly not scared to talk about the changes she would like to see in the sport.
She has spoken about the need for a more diverse Lionesses team and also how she would like to see the Premier League wrestle control of the women’s top flight from the FA.
In both instances, she has risked irking the very organisation that could offer another job that Hayes has often been linked with — the position of England manager.
When quizzed on whether she would like to manage the Lionesses in the future, her enigmatic answer suggests that she perhaps does not expect to be asked any time soon.
She said: “I’ve enjoyed watching England as a fan and as a club manager and the older I get I think it’s best to never say never about any of these jobs.”
For all the speculation surrounding other positions, the good news for Chelsea fans is that Hayes seems totally focused on her current role.
