By her own admission, Emma Hayes did not believe that her Chelsea side would be able to secure a fifth consecutive Barclays Women’s Super League title after defeat to Liverpool less than three weeks ago.
A fortuitous set of circumstances, including Arsenal’s last-gasp win over Manchester City a fortnight ago, granted the Blues a lifeline. Hayes’ side grabbed it with both hands, ripping apart an already-relegated Bristol City side before putting six unanswered goals past Manchester United at Old Trafford on the final day of the season.
Speaking in her post-match press conference after addressing the sizeable travelling contingent, Hayes admitted that ‘I’m so tired. I mean it, I’m exhausted from twelve years – not just 90 minutes of football.’
Embed from Getty Images‘I don’t know how I’ve done it for 12 years but I think I’m always so grateful for the players, what they’ve done for me and the club. I’m so relived it’s over.’
‘I have such high standards for myself. I think maintaining that has become impossible. I’ve found that to be gruelling this year.’
Hayes will fly to the United States next week to commence her role as USWNT Head Coach, and she expressed that ‘it’s not tiring thinking about going to the Olympics. There’s a different energy, I’ll feel reinvigorated and reenergised with something else.’
‘I find some of this [Chelsea] job really really hard because I just want a quiet life. That’s what I’m most looking forward to: being out of the British media, having a different life and having a situation where I only have to do this and games every 6-8 weeks.’
‘How could I have even dreamt about that [being a professional player] when I was 10?’ quipped Hayes after being asked about the importance of role models in women’s football.
‘We’ve all been told the boys come first, we’ve all been told it’s a men’s game. The crap we have to put up with year after year has definitely taken its toll on me... why are we always so negative about investing in women?’
‘I think women’s football is going to explode… that’s all I wanted.’