She’s the standard-bearer for English teaching – essentially the most profitable supervisor in WSL historical past – and shortly to take the largest ladies’s soccer job on the earth.
But typically it takes a household chat for Emma Hayes to be reminded of all she achieved at Chelsea that has earned her a shot at World Cup glory with the United States.
“My mum said it to me the other day, ‘You don’t realise what you’ve done’,” Hayes recalled in an interview with Sky News.
“And I said, ‘Why would I? I have not worked a day in my life. I do something I love’.”
Her Chelsea group have reciprocated the love and a spotlight to element from the sharpest of managerial minds.
Six Women’s Super League titles have been received since touchdown at Chelsea in 2012, alongside 5 FA Cups and two League Cups.
No marvel the US got here calling when needing a coach to steer them into this summer season’s Paris Olympics and 2027 Women’s World Cup which may very well be hosted by the Americans.
Leading the file four-times Women’s World Cup winners will elevate Hayes’ profile.
And the 47-year-old has the character and charisma to attraction the US far past soccer.
“I’ve had a really amazing career and…I come from a household where you had to work hard and nothing was a given,” Hayes stated.
“So for me to be even in a position to lead a team to an Olympic medal is just what dreams are made of. And I intend to make the most of it.”
‘Money no motivator’
The US function is one which achieves a rarity in soccer – pay parity with the boys’s group counterpart.
It means Hayes may very well be the best paid ladies’s coach on the earth by incomes greater than £1m a 12 months.
She stated: “I get to go to an Olympics. I get to go to a World Cup. There is no cash machine in heaven. Money is not my motivator.
“However, I felt valued, and that was essential. But for me, the recollections would be the issues I cherish essentially the most. And hopefully some extra medals.”
There is a bigger mission too – paving the way for future generations of coaches.
It is why she is speaking to Sky News at a McDonald’s Fun Football project alongside anti-discrimination group Kick It Out – a mission to encourage coaching and playing careers and a more diverse talent pool.
The fear is people are being priced out of football – seeing the sport as becoming too middle class.
“There’s no denying that, which is why right here we will not scoff on the thought of half 1,000,000 youngsters having the ability to entry weeks and weeks of free soccer and training,” she said.
“And most significantly, given the chance to deliver individuals along with completely different backgrounds.”
‘Focus on youth’
And, on this election 12 months, what would Hayes do if she was in Downing Street?
“I’ve always valued looking after young people,” she stated.
“I would make sure that there is certainly more support for young people up until the age of 18, so that we can develop people into the best adults they possibly can, and to give them the most amount of opportunity. I would absolutely focus on youth.
“One of the issues I’ve all the time wished to champion is equal entry. I need women and girls to be supplied with the identical alternatives.
“So we talk about having more youth workers or youth clubs. Also I want to get more access for girls in PE in schools. It’s still below that for boys and something that absolutely should be challenged.”
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Hearing Hayes speak reveals she is pondering of a legacy far past the silverware collected in an illustrious profession that, at Chelsea, is simply lacking a Champions League title that would nonetheless come this season.
“The joy is in the service of giving to something, not in the rewards of those things,” she stated.
“Not medals, not achievements. And I’m just grateful I’ve been given the opportunity.”
Source: information.sky.com”