Chelsea coach Emma Hayes criticizes love affairs between footballers on the same team. Her players are outraged – whereupon Hayes differentiates her statement.
Chelsea coach Emma Hayes “disappointed herself” with her statement about player conditions.
Ed Sykes / Reuters
Emma Hayes is one of the most renowned football coaches and ambassadors for her sport. The Englishwoman has been in charge of the Chelsea FC women’s team since August 2012 and recently led the club to four championships in a row.
The titles have shaped Hayes’ reputation as much as her courage to repeatedly talk about the challenges of her work. In doing so, she helped to improve the conditions in English women’s football for players and coaches. Last Thursday, the 47-year-old spoke again at a press conference about an ongoing debate in women’s football.
Following the suspension of Leicester City’s women’s coach Willie Kirk, who is said to have had a romantic relationship with one of his players, all coaches of the clubs in the Women’s Super League (WSL) were asked about the acceptance of such relationships. To protect everyone involved, they consistently condemned relationships between players and their respective coaches. Aston Villa coach Carla Ward put it most clearly, who considers coach-player relationships to be “crossing borders” and “unacceptable”. When asked whether she saw this as a reason for dismissal, she said: “Yes, 100 percent.”
Here, Emma Hayes comments on relationships between players and coaches.
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One of her own players criticized Hayes for her statement
Hayes also considers constellations of this kind to be “inappropriate” – but she added that, in her view, this also applies to relationships between players on a team. She based her opinion on some of the associated challenges: one player is in the squad, the other is not. One has an expiring contract, the other doesn’t. Or one fights with the other for a position in the team.
Hayes’ assessment sparked outrage – even within her own team. There are numerous prominent couples in the Women’s Super League, such as the Chelsea duo Jessica Carter and Ann-Katrin Berger. The Swiss national players Ramona Bachmann and Alisha Lehmann were also together for a long time. They lived together in London, although they played for different clubs there. The 26-year-old Carter indirectly opposed her trainer – although without speaking out publicly against her – by liking several critical social media posts. For example, a comment in which Hayes’ view was described as “beyond madness.”
The next day, after the WSL top game between Chelsea and Arsenal (3-1), in which the Chelsea players defended their lead in the table, Hayes admitted that she had “disappointed herself” with her statement about player conditions. Hayes made it clear that it was “not right” to describe the players’ relationships as inappropriate. In the meantime, she “of course” talked to Carter and the other players about the matter. She doesn’t take back “these things” – probably her consideration – but dealing with love affairs in the team is complex for a coach. But she doesn’t criticize any of her players for anything.
🗣️Emma Hayes on Jess Carter: “Of course, I’ve spoken with her. I don’t want to create anymore clickbait headlines for you guys, sorry. Of course, I’m disappointed about that…. I’ve spoken to Jess today as well as other players in the team.” pic.twitter.com/nPgc8KDeOX
— Chelsea women team (@CFC__Women) March 15, 2024
This differentiation is of enormous importance. Because many people get to know each other at work, be it in football or in other fields of activity. No recognizable violation of honor can be derived from relationships between teammates. Liverpool coach Matt Beard therefore said he saw “no problems” in this regard. The only important thing for him is that a relationship does not affect his daily work.
However, there does not seem to be a separation between professional and private life in relationships between coaches and players. The potential conflict of interest is just as important as the power imbalance. Both hardly allow harmless collaboration – also because it is almost impossible to check to what extent the relationship is consensual.
In the rapidly growing women’s football, coaches and managers have a far-reaching influence on the course of careers with their decisions. For this reason, the newspaper “Telegraph” is calling for a blanket ban on relationships as soon as there is a “power imbalance”. According to the newspaper, there are at least 36 such relationships across England’s six women’s leagues.
Women’s clubs must create minimum standards
So far, relationships between players and coaches in English football have not been fundamentally ruled out, unless minors are involved. However, relationships can violate the rules of conduct, which are a prerequisite for clubs to be granted a license. On this basis, Sheffield United fired women’s coach Jonathan Morgan in February: he had reportedly had a relationship with a player at one of his previous positions.
The latest developments keep the pressure on clubs and associations to further sharpen their own standards. Women’s football has changed from an “amateur to a professional sport,” says Hayes. This means that minimum standards would have to be created to protect the players. From the summer onwards, Emma Hayes will be involved as the USA national coach.