Saturday was a standard day at the office for Chelsea and Emma Hayes. Coming up against an Aston Villa side that took the Women’s Super League by storm last season, the Blues were ruthless in a 6-0 thrashing that took the Blues to the table’s summit. Fran Kirby was outstanding as she continued her comeback, Niamh Charles maintained her impressive early season form and Chelsea kept its unbeaten start to the season intact. And then, just over 30 minutes after the full-time whistle had blown, the news broke.
“Chelsea FC can today confirm that highly decorated Chelsea Women’s manager Emma Hayes OBE will depart the club at the end of the season to pursue a new opportunity outside of the WSL and club football,” a statement read. It sent social media into an absolute frenzy. That wasn’t the end of it, either.
Within minutes, there was more, with report after report after report all-but-confirming that her next destination will be the biggest job in the women’s game: Head coach of the United States women’s national team.
Hayes has been in charge of Chelsea for almost 12 years now. She has fought for investment in this team, won every honor on offer domestically and turned the Blues into the dominant force in English women’s football. She loves the club and she loves the job. Many have wondered for a while, then, what could possibly turn her head. What would be a worthy next chapter? What could possibly follow this one?
It looks like the answer to those questions is the USWNT. For a programme in disarray after its earliest World Cup exit in history this summer, this is a huge boost. One of the most successful and well-respected coaches in the sport is seemingly on her way. So is this the dream appointment it appears?
Going nowhere fast
To say it’s been a difficult year for the USWNT would be an understatement. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski needed to have a good World Cup after a rather underwhelming tenure to that point, one which included a bronze-medal finish at the Tokyo Olympics. Instead, after being the width of a post away from a catastrophic group-stage exit, the reigning champion crashed out in the last 16. It was the USWNT’s worst-ever World Cup performance.
Unsurprisingly, it was a campaign that cost Andonovski his job and has forced U.S. Soccer to search for the right candidate to lead this team back to the top. For a nation with huge expectations and ambitions, it’s perhaps not a shock that it is a process that has taken a while.
The relative lack of experimentation from interim Twila Kilgore hasn’t done much to entertain fans while they wait for that next appointment, either. But the news that Hayes is set to take the job when she leaves Chelsea next summer will lift the mood massively. If you were to pick the perfect person to get this program back on track, then she would be a popular choice.
Serial winner
Hayes took charge of Chelsea back in August 2012. At that time, the women’s team’s trophy cabinet wasn’t decorated with the major titles it is now. In fact, triumphs in the second and third tiers and a flurry of Surrey County Cup wins were the club’s only achievements since being founded in 1992. That’s not to belittle what those involved in those early successes produced, not at all, but to illustrate that Chelsea was not a big player in the women’s game at that point.
But it all changed after an invitation to a pre-season tournament in Japan in 2013. “Emma insisted we go, but the board said we had to put on a show there and not get humiliated,” Adrian Jacob, chairman of the women’s team, told GOAL. “That’s not what Chelsea does. We thought ‘let’s bring some players in for it’ and we used some contacts.
“The reality was that Chelsea weren’t doing well but it wasn’t the focus. But Emma came in and said, ‘We are Chelsea. When we take part, we win’. The directors and the owner got completely on board. It was at the same time the WSL got more professional. We brought in more players. Everything we asked for from the club, we got, but it was bit by bit. We became good.”
Over time, given the chance to oversee such a project, Hayes made Chelsea more than just “good”. She has delivered six WSL titles, five FA Cup triumphs, two League Cup trophies and a Community Shield. The Blues also reached a first Women’s Champions League final back in 2021, the first for any English team since Arsenal became champions of Europe – with Hayes as an assistant – in 2007.
The 47-year-old has done all of that by being pragmatic, never sticking to one particular set-up or style but doing what it takes to win a match. Oftentimes it involves free-flowing attacking play in which her players have the freedom to express themselves, and when coming up against tougher opponents, that is underpinned by a solid defensive base. The Blues can play on the counter-attack or by controlling a game, in a back four or with a back three – whatever it takes to win.
Hayes isn’t without fault. Her in-game management can be questionable and at times, while her choice to deploy full-backs that are not natural in those positions, but will bring lots to the attack, can leave her team wide open at the back.
But no coach on the planet is perfect, and the pros certainly outweigh the cons here. That’s why she is the most successful manager in WSL history.
Pick of the lot
Those are just some of the reasons why Hayes is a great fit for the USWNT post, one which didn’t have too many exciting candidates before this weekend’s news. When The Athletic reported that U.S. Soccer’s three-name shortlist for the job featured OL Reign’s Laura Harvey, Joe Montemurro of Juventus and Tony Gustavsson, a former assistant of the programme now in charge of Australia, the response from fans was underwhelming.
Harvey has been one of the best in the NWSL for the last 10 years, winning three Shields with the Reign, but her record in the playoffs is less impressive, with her unable to help the team convert that regular season consistency into a Championship title. Despite being incredibly highly-rated, and deserving of that fantastic reputation, it’s fair for USWNT fans to be sceptical of Harvey’s postseason record given that winning knockout games is what is needed to capture major international titles.
Montemurro, meanwhile, has an exciting philosophy, but his former side Arsenal routinely struggled against its biggest title rivals during his tenure, and after winning the treble in his first season in Italy, he is currently going through a rather difficult spell with Juventus, only retaining one of those trophies last year before being knocked out in the first round of Women’s Champions League qualifying in September.
Gustavsson probably made the most sense of the three. He knows all about the USWNT programme, having been an assistant during an Olympic triumph and two World Cup wins, and he has impressed in his role with Australia, leading the Matildas to historic fourth-placed finishes at the Olympics and the World Cup. But he has been afforded a lot of time and patience by Football Australia, having gone through a couple of serious slumps in form in between those achievements. Would he have been given the same as USWNT boss? It’s hard to say.
The news of Hayes’ availability and strong links to the job have produced quite the opposite reaction to this shortlist. After all, this is one of the best and most successful coaches in the sport. Why wouldn’t it get fans excited?
Experience aplenty
Something else that makes Hayes a fantastic candidate is her experience of the very highest level. This is a coach that knows how to manage top players, of which there are plenty on that USWNT roster, and she knows how to deal with situations where they may be unhappy with their playing time, too. In fact, her player-management is her absolute best trait.
Hayes also knows how to manage in high-pressure moments, having experienced – and won – so many finals and decisive games. The USWNT might be the biggest job in the sport, but it will not faze her.
Of course, there is the fact that Hayes doesn’t have experience of the international game. She doesn’t know about working with the players you’ve got rather than signing those that specifically suit your demands, and the reduced time you have to work with your team in comparison to club level. But not many will doubt her ability to adapt to this fresh challenge.
Unfinished business
Working in Hayes’ favour will also be the fact that she has coached in the U.S. before, so is familiar with its soccer culture. Her first job was across the Atlantic, and after two years as Arsenal’s assistant, she returned Stateside for a role with the Chicago Red Stars. That’s particularly handy for this next chapter because U.S. Soccer requires the USWNT coach to live in Chicago.
Her time with the Red Stars didn’t set the world alight, and after winning just six of her 26 games in charge, she was fired. However, in the 13 years since, Hayes has transformed into a world-class manager and she will return to the scene of that failed spell as one.
To say that she will go back to the U.S. looking to ‘prove herself’ would be to ignore all the tremendous work she has done at a very, very high level in England, but as she prepares for an entirely new challenge altogether, Hayes definitely has some unfinished business across the pond.
Perfect appointment?
It all sounds pretty perfect, right? The USWNT wants to win again and it is bringing in a serial winner in its attempt to do so, someone with huge experience of lifting major trophies. The depth of talent the U.S. has – especially young talent – is certainly capable of big things, and Hayes is a fantastic person to have in charge of piecing everything together.
But there is a catch. After all, Hayes will not leave Chelsea until the end of the season, which is around six weeks before the USWNT’s Olympic campaign will begin in France. What does U.S. Soccer do until then?
When will Hayes come in? Can she juggle the two roles for a short period? How much can she really shape and change the team into her own before the Olympics? There are so many questions to answer.
But these potential problems are worth dealing with and figuring out, even if the USWNT doesn’t have a fantastic Olympics because of them. That’s because it is worth waiting for Hayes as, to borrow a word bestowed on another Chelsea legend, she is special. Very special.
