Emma Hayes’ backroom staff have been crucial to Chelsea’s dominance of the Women’s Super League, and now many of them will follow her to the U.S. women’s national team.
Stuart Searle, Denise Reddy, Bart Caubergh, Ferdia O’Hanrahan and Cameron Meighan will make the trip across the Atlantic as Hayes begins her tenure as head coach this week. Their recruitment emphasises Hayes’ belief in working as part of a team, and will leave a large hole at Chelsea.
They were all at the club — on and off — for at least three years, but Searle, the goalkeeper coach and head of technical, was the longest-serving. He recently gave an insight into their methodology, having worked with Hayes for 11 years.
“The player is at the forefront of everything — the individual,” Searle said, speaking on Chelsea’s official club podcast.
“Because everyone is different, so everyone needs different things at different times. Sometimes the players don’t always like it, but they’ll know we’re doing it for them.”
A hugely popular figure with the players — Chelsea captain Millie Bright paid tribute to him and Reddy on her Instagram story after the club won their fifth consecutive WSL title at the weekend — Searle has developed some of the best goalkeepers in the league, having worked with Hedvig Lindahl, Ann-Katrin Berger and, more recently, Hannah Hampton.
Speaking to the BBC’s Women’s Football Show recently, Hampton outlined her experiences working with Searle.
“Stu, from the first day, broke down every bit of goalkeeping in terms of technique. He’s so detailed.
“I always thought I was an OK goalkeeper and he’s come over and rattled off 10 things I need to work on.”
Hampton went on to say she had never had a goalkeeping coach get into her technique in so much detail.
Unlike Searle, Reddy will be familiar to an American audience. In 2017, she took charge of Sky Blue FC, now known as NY/NJ Gotham, although she only managed to win one of 33 games. Reddy and Hayes first worked together in 2008 when Hayes was manager of the Chicago Red Stars. Reddy joined Chelsea in 2020 after a stint as an assistant with the U.S.’s under-20s team, working with future internationals Trinity Rodman and Jenna Nighswonger. Reddy’s specialism is defensive coaching, with Hayes more often taking a lead on attacking phases of play in their time together at Chelsea.
Denise Reddy has been an important part of Emma Hayes’ success at Chelsea (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Caubergh became a bit of a cult figure after appearing in One Team, One Dream, a documentary about Chelsea’s 2019-20 season. Arriving at the club in 2019 to become head of performance, he left after two seasons before rejoining, first on a consultancy basis when Hayes had an emergency hysterectomy in 2022, and then on a permanent one at the start of this season.
Caubergh’s no-nonsense attitude and high standards are a clear fit with Hayes. There is a notable moment in the documentary where he asks Jess Carter to have a better attitude in training. Sitting down to talk to the camera after the conversation, Carter exasperatedly says, “F*** off Bart”. A performance expert, Caubergh is an advocate for players building fitness within footballing situations, as opposed to isolated activities.
The final two additions will be O’Hanrahan and Meighan, who have been at Chelsea since 2020 and 2021. O’Hanrahan was the club’s performance analyst, while Meighan was the opposition analyst. Meighan has also worked as a set-piece analyst in the past, as well as writing around pressing traps in 3-4-3s — something that would be familiar to anyone who watched Chelsea’s 1-0 win against Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
I have written a tactical theory piece on pressing traps and variations available within a 3-4-3 in my first piece for @spielvercom . 3500+ words and multiple scenarios and examples, enjoy! https://t.co/qihSYfYD4B
— Cam Meighan (@cam_meighan) April 8, 2020
The fact Hayes is adding the five of them to the USWNT setup emphasises her belief that a successful team is one made up of a group of experts led by a manager. Her faith in this team is clear but it will be a sharp learning curve for all of them, with Caubergh the only one to have experience within a senior international team — he previously worked with the United Arab Emirates Olympic team and Iran national team.
Interim USWNT coach Twila Kilgore will offer some continuity as Hayes’ assistant but others have moved on, such as goalkeeping and assistant coach Philip Poole. The Newcastle native was announced as the head coach of Carolina Ascent FC in the newly formed USL Super League, a professional women’s football league launching this summer that is separate from the National Women’s Soccer League.
For Chelsea, the departures mean that when Sonia Bompastor eventually arrives as manager, she will be working with an almost entirely fresh senior staff. Chelsea had around 25 people in their backroom team this year, and Bompastor will bring her assistant Camille Abily from Lyon. But Chelsea are in the process of recruiting a goalkeeping coach, as well as an opposition analyst and head of performance support.
Hayes also revealed in her final press conference that she had fed back to the club about a need for greater support for player wellbeing.
“I can’t keep up with the demands from players on a daily basis, in terms of their emotional needs,” she said. “I hope the club supports the new manager with player care and a little bit more performance psychology. I’ve made my suggestions to the sporting directors and I know they’ll take it on.”
The development of Hayes as a manager over the past decade at Chelsea has also been about her discovering who the best people are to support her in that role. The decision to take such a large staff with her to the U.S. demonstrates her confidence that she has found that team. Only time will tell what the long-term impact of their exits will be on her former club.
(Top photo: Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
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