“We’ll roll with the new normal,” pledged Chelsea Women’s manager Emma Hayes as she looked ahead after the Blues were officially crowned league champions.
In an interview via Zoom, the 43-year-old said she was delighted that the FA had decided that “the most appropriate sporting outcome” of the abandoned Women’s Super League season was to declare Chelsea the winners, based on a points-per-game formula.
After our chat, it was revealed that Chelsea were not the only beneficiaries of this decision: with the club electing to donate the entirety of the £100k prize money to the charity Refuge, which helps women and children in abusive domestic situations.
And crucially, as well as having lifted the Conti Cup, the Blues will be back in European action after a year’s absence when the new season starts on 5 September.
She said that she had celebrated the title win in her garden with her family. “It was low-key because my son woke me up at 5am!”
The decision not to resume the season, unlike the top-flight men who begin matches behind closed doors next week, gives the women’s teams extra time to work out how to play and spectate safely in a new landscape.
“I believe we’ll come back bigger, stronger and better,” said Hayes. “We’ll roll with the new normal; it may bring more broadcast opportunities. I feel optimistic.”
However she conceded that traditions such as players hugging fans after games at their Kingsmeadow home, and posing for close-up selfies, would have to be put on hold.
“I suspect there’s some truth in that... until there’s a vaccine,” she said. “The physical connections we all have will be put on hold for a period of time. My question to my team is ‘What will become the new normal?’ and how can we continue to interact and make sure we don’t lose the bond with our fans.”
For Chelsea Women, unbeaten in the league since January 2019, one bonus of the long interruption to football is that striker Fran Kirby, who turns 27 this month and hasn’t played since November last year because of the effects of a viral infection, is back in training.
She’ll be Chelsea’s secret weapon in September, says Hayes. “She’s in a great place; it’s safe to say she’s in the best place I’ve ever seen her, and she’s excited to be back in the team.”
During the video-call interview, in which Hayes chatted for an hour from the living room of her north London home, she said that winning a seventh trophy in eight years with Chelsea was a source of great pride, and that she’d been personally congratulated by club owner Roman Abramovich.
She sympathised with rivals Manchester City (who were a point ahead of Chelsea, having played one game more, when the season was suspended for Covid-19) and Arsenal, both of whom had hopes of winning the title themselves.
“It was a collective decision,” she said. “I know what seasons feel like without winning trophies, and if [the FA] had decided on another order, we’d have accepted it.”
When the new season starts in September Hayes expects “an onslaught” from the other teams in the WSL, including Aston Villa, promoted from the Championship as Liverpool were relegated.
She still doesn’t know how or when the league trophy will be presented to Chelsea. “It might be in July, when we return to the training ground, or maybe it’ll be taken round to each of the players’ homes!”
She said that now Chelsea’s Kingsmeadow stadium was entirely its own, as ground-sharing has ended, fans can expect to see changes to the rather dog-eared and neglected facilities. “You’ll see continued improvement at Kingsmeadow,” she promised.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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