After a dominant display in Birmingham saw Chelsea take a 6-0 win over Carla Ward’s Aston Villa side this afternoon, it is safe to say that the Blues were in high spirits. Bescot stadium saw six individual goal scorers, with the occasion opened by captain Millie Bright finding the back of the net in her 250th appearance for the club. Chelsea fans boarded their train back to London with exuberance, nothing could possibly sour their mood!

Until a statement from the Chelsea Football Club was released a statement announcing that manager Emma Hayes would be leaving the London club at the end of the 2023/24 season. The club stating that “Emma Hayes will depart the club at the end of the season to pursue a new opportunity outside of the WSL and club football.”

Emma Hayes is amongst one of the biggest names women’s football management has seen. Impossible to understate the impact that she has had on not only the Chelsea Football Club and the WSL respectively, but to women’s football as a whole.

In the decade of the Emma Hayes Era, Chelsea have won six WSL titles, five Women’s FA cups, two FA Women’s League Cups, an FA Women’s Community Shield, and an FA Women’s Spring Series trophy. In what can only be described as a dominant and incredibly well-decorated career, the WSL says goodbye to a league giant.

So what’s next for Emma Hayes? After Chelsea’s statement placed a strike through a potential move to another club footballing commitment, all signs point to Hayes making the move across to National Team management. Inside sources have linked Hayes to the vacancy of the US Women’s National Team position, after Vlatko Andonovski resigned from the position following the nation’s early exit in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Discussions are said to have been well advancing, with Hayes the prime candidate to take the position.

What is next generates an exciting buzz in the women’s footballing world, and after being awarded FA WSL Manager of the Season six times in her career, Emma Hayes says goodbye to English football.