It has been a long wait to hear from Sonia Bompastor. The new Chelsea manager was announced as Emma Hayes’ successor in June, confirming one of the worst-kept secrets in women’s football. Two months on, with some fans joking she must be swimming from France to England, she has finally spoken publicly.
The anticipation about what she would say and what she might bring is understandable. For a significant proportion of people following the Women’s Super League (WSL), this is the first time they have known Chelsea Women without Hayes in the dugout. One of Bompastor’s first challenges will be putting her own stamp on a club so inextricably linked with the now-USWNT manager.
“I am a completely different person from Emma,” she said at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. “I have a different vision and philosophy.
“For me, it is really important to come to this club, respect everything that was built before and build my own vision. I think with my background and experience, I can support the players and the club to achieve their goals.
“I feel so lucky to have this opportunity after Emma and to show who I am as a manager and a person. The pressure is something I really like because it makes me better. I already told everyone, I am here to win every single title and every single game — that is why I came.”
Emma Hayes left Chelsea in the summer to take charge of the U.S., leading them to gold at the Olympics (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Bompastor has the CV to back up that confidence, as both a player and coach. She made 156 appearances for France and won two Champions Leagues with Lyon as a player. Her crowning achievement as a manager was to win that same competition in her first season as their senior coach. At that point, it was hard to imagine she would no longer be managing them only two seasons later, bowing out after another Champions League final.
“The club was part of my life,” she said. “I spent so much time over there, both as a player and as a manager. I just felt like it was the right time for me to have a new challenge, and this is what I’m looking for in my life — to always have new challenges.
“I had three seasons with the (senior) team, and I think everyone was so used to each other and you go to your comfort zone.
“Sometimes it is good to come out of your comfort zone and have a new challenge, especially because for me the goal is really clear. I had the opportunity to win the Champions League in France, but I wanted to come to a club that has the ambitions to win the Champions League, in a new country with a new club.”
That gaping hole in Chelsea’s trophy cabinet is not something Bompastor has shied away from. She cited her desire to help them win a first Champions League in an in-house interview with the club which was released last week.
Bompastor at the Bridge. 🤩🏟️ pic.twitter.com/vli2719Of1
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) August 14, 2024
She points to the small margins that have impacted Chelsea in the past, referencing Colombia forward Mayra Ramirez’s absence through injury for the second leg of last season’s semi-final against Barcelona. But she also picked up on a theme that Hayes had complained about in the past — the schedule of the league.
“Something that will be difficult is when we will have to play a midweek Champions League game but then still have to play a very big game on the weekend against Arsenal, Manchester City or Manchester United. This is hard because you need to perform during one week with three competitive games. It is difficult for the players to be able to perform without a lot of recovery between the games.
“In France, the French Federation helped a lot of the French clubs, especially the ones who were playing in the Champions League. Any time we were playing a Champions League game in the middle of the week, the French Federation made sure we would not play a big team in the league, to help us perform in the Champions League. This is something we will need to work on with the FA — I will try to use my voice.”
Bompastor is certainly not short of opinions. On the sidelines, she often cuts an intense figure and she is certainly no stranger to a yellow card. But in this press conference, she came across as relaxed and humorous, pretending at one point that she could not understand a question she didn’t want to answer about when she had first been approached by Chelsea.
“I’m a very different person to who I am as a manager,” she said. “In life, I think I’m quiet. As a manager, I am really competitive and I don’t like losing. This is something I need to work on — I am a really bad loser. I am completely different at home and in my job.
“I am a manager who really likes to take care of people as well. It’s a difficult job. When you are a player you always take care of yourself and sometimes you are selfish. As a manager, you never think about you, you always think about everyone else.”
That will be crucial as Bompastor works to mould Chelsea’s large squad into her image. There are currently 33 contracted players, with two more having already been loaned out. As well as Chelsea’s four summer signings of Lucy Bronze, Julia Bartel (both Barcelona), Sandy Baltimore and Oriane-Jean Francois (both Paris Saint-Germain), there are three more players arriving at Cobham for the first time having been left on loan at their original clubs when they were bought last summer (Brooke Aspin, Bristol City; Alejandra Bernabe, Real Sociedad and Wieke Kaptein, Twente).
“It is a new era with new faces in the squad,” said Bompastor. “We are looking to build a squad able to perform at every stage of the season because we have so many games. The league is maybe the most competitive in the world so it’s really difficult for English teams to perform in every single game, so I will make sure we have the numbers and quality to perform.
“For me it is really important to know every player. I’m a manager who gives a lot of attention and consideration to the players and to the staff, because it is really important to make sure they are in a good place, as players and as people.
“I have already told them I am really open-minded and that my door will always be open. So feel free to come upstairs and talk to me. I don’t care if a player comes to me and says some negative things, if it is in a constructive way. It’s good for players to know I am really comfortable with feedback, positive and negative.”
And the football itself?
“I will try to make sure we play a good style of football,” she added. “I want to have a team who are really dominant, and when I say dominant, we want to have the ball as much as possible in the game. My goal as a manager is to make sure our game model is something they will understand but also to make clear to the players they can be free on the pitch and express their talents. I want to have a team that enjoys being on the field.”
Bompastor will now head off with her Chelsea side for a pre-season tour of the United States, where they will face Gotham and Arsenal, before one final friendly against Feyenoord. Then the real work will begin, with Chelsea’s first WSL fixture coming against Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow in September. It is a brand new challenge but one she is clearly relishing.
“You will see,” she says, smiling. “I think we will have some fun times.”
(Top photo: Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Read the full article here