Emma Hayes Quotes

The qualities involved with having to manage are exactly the same as it would be for a men’s team. We are talking about human beings.

There’s nothing more joyful than when a player, who you don’t know if they are going to be able to cut it at the top level, gets their head down and puts everything into their career.

Football is for everyone. It’s not for the privileged, it’s not for the few, it’s not for the elite.

I don’t have a complacent dressing room, thank goodness.

I hope I’m a role model for female coaches who are coming through.

I knew I had an unhealthy child, mainly after about the 20th week, so I knew I was battling against it. I did that privately because I think it’s important that the team don’t deal with that burden – that’s my responsibility.

That’s a big part of who I am – developing mentality, mindsets.

The football world needs to live by its promises and live by the diversity codes. They need to be promoting opportunities for the less privileged. That’s what I want to see.

I share the concerns around the world about everything from a lack of opportunity to groups of people being oppressed.

Scores of little girls are going to run into school the following day and say, ‘Did you see Fran Kirby last night?’ That for me is as important as winning the game.

I never felt bright enough. I never felt confident. I felt that kid coming out of the council estate, like I was never good enough.

I had no ambition to be a football coach. I wanted to be a spy for MI5 or MI6.

I’m so proud of myself. I got to this level through my hard work, my determination and I’m fortunate enough to be working for a football club that I adore, that have given me license to do this and I work with a set of players that were always in control, even when I didn’t feel like I was!

There should be creches for people that work in football clubs. We put long hours in and we don’t get to see our children a lot and that’s something that I think could be considered within the game.

I remember Borehamwood, I remember the home crowd, I remember that special moment looking at all of our friends and family in the crowd because I don’t think we could believe we were European champions.

I’m a huge fan of Brian Clough. I might be his female equivalent but I’m quite happy with that.

Geese always support each other. When a goose gets injured two birds always accompany it down to the ground. Just as geese do, we must support each other.

You can’t always be on top and dominant throughout.

Understanding the menstrual cycle is just one part of the holistic understanding you need to have of your footballers in order to help them prepare.

I empathize with players. In our culture it is all about strategies and interventions to help the individual based on their individual needs. It is not just about supplements or putting painkillers in your mouth. You have to educate yourself about that.

Would I love to go and get out of here and have a couple of months preparing, I don’t know, anywhere in sunshine? Yes. But I think while I’m under employment with Chelsea, I think to talk about another job, even if it was short-term, and I haven‘t been asked, I think it is so disrespectful.

There’s no better platform than to be with Sky. Sky will bring the elevation that the women‘s game needs. It’s a partner that is taking women’s sport very seriously and football tops that agenda.

I don’t know how long I will be coaching for but I don’t expect I will go on from Chelsea, Chelsea is my absolute home.

Football as a profession has a responsibility to modernize. The hope is – if you look at the top organizations in any top professions – you will see that having balance in the workplace is tantamount to successful environments.

We’ve always had to play second fiddle to the men in European football.

I want success for so many people. I couldn’t give a crap about myself.

The interest is growing. It’s a snowball-effect and I can’t see anybody getting in the way of England becoming the best place in the world to play.

Every time I smacked my right foot to the ground I couldn’t absorb shock. So no matter what, I’ve thought about this a lot, it doesn’t matter what my life in football would have looked like, it was so traumatic for me that I just couldn’t play the game I loved. And I didn’t know how to handle that as a teenager.

I am certain Chelsea are world leaders at a team level at what we do. For us it is part of our fabric. It is one of the many tenants that we factor into what helps towards our players becoming successful athletes and a successful team.

I’m a merit-based person.

How do you describe the pride you have for the club you represent, for the people you represent?

As much as trophies matter, leaving something that’s built to last is the most important thing to me.

The fear of losing is sometimes greater than the will to win.

When I was 17 I did a B License and had no opportunities in the U.K. so I opted to go abroad and work in America for 10 years where the understanding of female coaches was very different to England.

Winning breeds more winning, that’s what I’ve learnt. Getting on a roll is important.

The Women’s Super League is the envy of the world in the women’s game because the clubs, the Football Association and the media are so well aligned.

Changing leaders is something that’s pretty normal in our environment, and as we always know with geese, they’re extremely loyal to their cause.

Ultimately I think clubs, boards, associations have to do more to provide an equal platform for women to get interviews for jobs.

I think the rest of Europe fear our country and our clubs and they’re quite right to do so.

I am an advocate of playing in big stadiums.

I was always the minibus driver. I was always the one carrying the balls and the cones.

I don’t like small things, I like big missions.

Players that don’t play aren’t ever happy.

Football is represented by a diverse society and within that diverse society men’s football does not reflect the diverse society that we live in.

I am happy to play Barcelona in a one-off game, in a neutral venue. Why? Because Spanish teams are tricky.

Failure is a really strong word.

It had always been about America, but now, sorry, they lag behind us. English football’s time is coming.

Women’s football in its right is something to celebrate and the quality and the achievement of all the females I represent, it is an insult to them that we talk about women’s football being a step down.

When I see all the boys in the top jobs across our leagues, I’m like: ‘Oh my God, the only woman sitting on top of the pile and I’m only there twice a week!’ It’s brilliant!

I snuck an hour to watch Bielsa on YouTube, I love that guy. I watched a video of him talking about tactics and formations against Brazil and I absolutely loved it.