Catherine Etoe was at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea unveiled new signings, Katie Chapman and Gilly Flaherty…
THE interview room at Stamford Bridge may have been a bit on the small side but the smile on manager Emma Hayes’ face as She Kicks walked through the door was as big as the stadium.
That’s because Hayes, who is attempting to build a Chelsea squad fit to challenge for honours in the FA Women’s Super League, was about to announce the signings of Katie Chapman and Gilly Flaherty.
“It’s a fabulous day,” Hayes tells us. “There is no doubt we’ve signed two of the best players in the country. Both are the best in their positions and they are winners.”
It’s a bold statement but the 37-year-old Chelsea boss should know their worth – she won the Uefa Women’s Cup as assistant manager to an Arsenal side featuring these two players almost seven years ago.
That achievement alone probably means fans of the Gunners will find it a jarring sight to behold midfielder Chapman and defender Flaherty wearing the blue of Chelsea.
But who can blame them for making the switch? The two players will be full-time and it is a status they hope will benefit both themselves and their new club.
“It’s really exciting,” says 22-year-old Flaherty. “It’s a new challenge for us and a new career for me because I won’t have to work the three or four jobs that I was working before, I can solely focus on football and hopefully that will push my game on even further and will benefit Chelsea in the long run.”
Flaherty, who scored the first ever FA WSL goal (ironically against Chelsea), says she will move to Cobham to be closer to the training ground.
Mother-of-three Chapman, who played professionally at Fulham more than a decade ago, will still have to commute but knows full well how beneficial the daytime training and time for extra sessions will be.
“It’s a new challenge for me, the chance to be more professional and training during the day as well which to me is brilliant,” she says. “It makes it easier for me in terms of dealing with my family and I can be more professional as a player and I think that turned my head to Chelsea.
“I just felt that this opportunity was too good to miss – to be a more professional player which at the moment Arsenal are not offering so for me it was a step forward.”
The signings mark a change in step at Chelsea too, with Hayes, who has coached at the highest level in America, believing that the club now have the foundations in place to attract top English players.
“It’s taken us a little longer to attract that calibre of player to the club,” she says. “We are in the position now, with a lot of our infrastructure in place where it’s more appealing for those players to join us.
“Professionalism is the only way we can go in this country if we want to produce the best league in the world or the best national team. I’m used to working like that from my time in the States so for me everything we are trying to work towards here is making sure that that’s the case and hopefully that will be the case across the league.”
For all their clear delight in the change in their careers, both of Hayes’ new signings say they are sad to leave Arsenal (“tears were shed” says Flaherty) and 31-year-old Chapman in particular says she cannot thank the club’s general manager Vic Akers enough for his generosity to her and her family.
“I’ve had many fantastic years at Arsenal,” she adds. “It’s a great club and I’ve won many, many things there and it was a really hard decision.”
But the future is Chelsea and the pair hope their winning mentality, which Hayes says was lacking in the Blues’ dressing room last season, will give their club the edge.
“I don’t like losing and that’s been instilled in me since I was a youngster,” says Flaherty. “So I hope we can bring that winning mentality here and make sure that Chelsea don’t settle for second best.
“All the qualities are here – the backroom staff, the coaching staff and the players – to be much higher than where they finished the last two or three seasons so for us it’s about pushing the club on and hopefully being able to challenge for the trophies, whether it be this season or the foreseeable future.”
Within minutes of telling She Kicks all this Flaherty realises she has another challenge on her hands, to get through the plethora of media interviews that have been lined up following the announcement of the signings live on Sky Sports earlier.
That interview with Sky was pulled off with such aplomb that Flaherty’s Twitter following zooms up within half an hour of broadcast.
But as the pair dash between the warm interview room and the chilly stadium stands beyond to fit in phone interviews, video shoots and photocalls, the message is the same regardless of who they talk to – they are excited to be here and so is Hayes.
“I’m excited, but I always am,” she says. “I’m excited for our youngsters coming through because it’s important that they get to work with the best in this country and overseas.
“I think we’ve been able to sign a better calibre player this season that will allow us to produce more success on the pitch and in the way of results and that’s our aim. We’ve got to get better and improve on a seventh place finish.”
All images by Catherine Etoe.
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