Emma Hayes’ reaction to winning the double and looking ahead to the UWCL…
A jubilant and shivering (with cold and excitement) Chelsea boss Emma Hayes gave post-match reaction to journalists on the pitch, after her side’s confident 4-0 win over Sunderland AFC Ladies to secure the 2015 FA WSL title and Women’s FA Cup double. She looked back over the past year, the game itself and looked ahead to their European campaign which kicks off against Glasgow City at Staines Town tomorrow night (Thurs). Here’s what she said…
How are you feeling today compared to twelve months ago?
I can’t remember 12 months ago, after what has been a long year waiting for this day to come. But we’ve rehearsed it, we’ve gone through it on the training ground, we vowed it would never happen again and as I’ve always said to them, ‘Do it once: it’s a mistake, do it twice: it’s a choice.’ And that’s been the motto that we’ve lived by through the season and tonight was I thought, a champion’s performance. Full of character, outstanding performances across the board and we looked like champions tonight.”
Getting the early goal must have settled everyone?
It certainly settled my nerves. That’s what I’ve come to expect of that front four. They get around the outside of teams and play very quick football, they’re capable of beating any team, not just in this league but in Europe. So, good early goal settled nerves but the second one took a long time to come.”
Since losing those two games on the bounce in August, you’ve been very consistent?
I think they needed to lose, they were finding it too easy, if I’m brutally honest. Sometimes you need that setback to have a reality check to have a reminder of what you have and what you could lose. So, I think losing those two games back to back set us up for the FA cup Final. After the final we’ve now got the confidence of being a winning team and that breeds a different mentality and I think ever since the FA Cup final we’ve gone on another level. Not just in games but especially in training.
You said as manager you could walk tall at Chelsea after winning a first trophy, what’s it going to be like now?
I’m expecting a chauffeur in the morning, I want a champagne breakfast… No, to be fair the club have been behind us 100% and you just see the way things are reported in the news how important it was for Chelsea Ladies to win today, to play our part in the club. And do you know what, we’re no longer just second class citizens anywhere in women’s football any more. Women are not only welcome at Chelsea but we breed champions here now and who knows, it will be about us sharing our best information to pass onto our boys’ teams and our mens’ teams.
Fitting that’s it come on the anniversary of the club’s first game?
Collectively, that makes the hairs the stand up on the back of our necks because for me, when I sat in with that clairvoyant in 2008 and she said you’re going to build a legacy at Chelsea, I didn’t expect this. I knew something was going to happen, somewhere in my intuition but tonight, seeing 2700 people, blue flags, a band, double winners, what more can I ask for?
How good can this team be? Can you go on to dominate for years to come?
I think to ‘dominate’ is a tricky thing but what I do have is hunger and ambition and I’ve always said good character will play a part in how we dominate but what a wonderful dressing room I’ve got.
You pulled out an inspirational poem before the cup final, was anything needed motivation-wise tonight?
I pulled out four pieces from twitter. One was from a parent of an U15 year old girl about how we have inspired her daughter, about four young males who are coming today and how the generation of fans are changing, one to our marketing officer at the football club who is proud of what women’s football is doing here and then finished off with a tweet about 23 years after our inception – so that was the inspiration, it was about the legacy, the bigger picture stuff. The rest of it was about just putting on a show and a performance.
You have a team of winners here now?
We have a team of winners and they remind me of it all too often and they tell me to sit down and chill out a little more. Two years ago I would be spending a lot of time in classrooms building up their psychological side of their game, now they just build me up. So, roles reversed.
Europe next?
Excited for Europe. I think we have a team that could be deadly, especially as we’re very good on the counter attack, we’re going to have to improve defensively in transition but that’s something – we’re still a very new team – if we can do that then we have the experience and I think we can certainly compete.
Game just a few days after this one, might that be a factor?
Well, I think that’s a challenge but the players are professional and know they’ve got to be at training at 9:30 in the morning so there won’t be too much celebrating tonight. You can’t work all year to get into the Champions League and then squander it at your first hurdle and we don’t underestimate Glasgow City. It will be a great British tie but we want to make sure we get ourselves in a good position before we go away from home.
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