Chelsea’s Emma Hayes: ‘I’ve learned as a leader to not be afraid to let go’

After leading the club to a double last season while pregnant, the manager now faces the challenge of rebuilding a squad after the departure of several key players

Last season everything came together for Emma Hayes’s Chelsea. On the pitch the team were dominant, unplayable at times, their exhilarating attack powering them to the title, unbeaten. Off the pitch, Hayes was on a more personal journey. Pregnant with twins, though tragically losing one in the third trimester, the mum-to-be balanced the emotional and physical rollercoaster of pregnancy with a double-winning campaign, giving birth to Harry two days after her team clinched the league. It really was a remarkable achievement.

But the 2017-18 campaign was also an important one because years of graft finally came together. “I feel like last season, if anything, was a culmination of five or six years worth of work,” says Hayes, sitting at Chelsea’s training ground, a plate of food balanced on one of her knees as she tries to fit more into a day than is probably possible.

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