Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says she “let herself down” when describing player relationships in the women’s game as “inappropriate”.
When asked about player-manager relationships during Thursday’s pre-match press conference, Hayes also addressed the challenges of relationships between players. She believes the comments have subsequently been blown out of proportion.
Relationships between teammates are common in the women’s game; Chelsea signed Pernille Harder from Wolfsburg in 2020 in a move that saw her join up with her long-term partner Magdalena Eriksson, while Chelsea defender Jess Carter is in a relationship with goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
Hayes said she had spoken to Carter and the Chelsea team following her comments.
“Of course I’ve spoken with her. This is all I’m going to say on it. I want to be clear to everybody in the room. I don’t want to create any more clickbait headlines. I think sometimes that becomes the case when we have honest conversations about things. Of course I’m disappointed about that.
“Of course Jess and I have had a conversation today, as I have with other players within the team.”
She continued: “They know exactly who I am and they know exactly what my intentions were. But I’m supposed to be the most well-trained, non-clickbait headline coach and I let myself down yesterday. I didn’t think it was right for me to use the term inappropriate for the players.
“When we have honest conversations about these things I don’t take those things back but I have zero criticism of any player in my dressing room for anything. Their professionalism, for what they’ve given to the club regardless of their status, regardless of who they’re in a relationship with.
“I think, sadly, this has become a topic that’s blown up in an unnecessary way. But I cannot control social media and nor do I wish to. But I do want to say that I have an unbelievable dressing room. You saw tonight in the performance from everybody, they were extremely focused on things that matter.
“As I keep saying to our players all the time, even if we have disagreements in life, we musn’t play them out publicly. We must have them conversations with each other. Because I think it’s an important thing you should do in a workplace and I think everybody understands that. I think you saw from the performance tonight from the team that everybody is absolutely invested in what we are doing. Tremendous performance from everyone including Jess.”
Hayes, and all the managers in the Women’s Super League, had been asked about player-manager relationships following the news last week that Willie Kirk was under investigation by Leicester City over an alleged relationship with one of his players.
This came only a few weeks after it emerged that former Sheffield United manager Jonathan Morgan had a ‘secret’ three-year relationship with a teenage player while he was Leicester manager.
“The women’s game is shifting from an amateur game into a professional game,” Hayes had said. “In almost all areas of our game, we have to make sure there is a minimum standard in place. We have to have safeguarding, to make sure that it’s accessible for each and every club to protect players.
“The challenges of coming from an amateur game to a pro game means women’s sport has largely been social.”
Having provided that context, Hayes said: “Player-coach relationships, they are inappropriate; player-to-player relationships are inappropriate,” before returning to the importance of looking at “where the game has come from” and the need for “top standards”, which she believes goes beyond the topic of player-coach relationships, now that the game is in a professional era.
(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Read the full article here