‘The starting point was zero’: Chelsea’s Emma Hayes marks 10 years of glory and growth

“I feel like I don’t need to shout the loudest any more,” says Emma Hayes. On Sunday, Hayes celebrates 10 years at Chelsea, and the manager has had to do a lot of shouting to push the development of the women’s game and grow her own team.

When Hayes walked into the club’s Cobham training ground for the first time she was on her own. “We’re talking about 10am on Sunday, no one on site,” she says. “‘What do you mean we don’t have an office? What do you mean there’s no full-time players or staff?’ There wasn’t a single member of staff that worked for the women’s section, let alone had an office, let alone had a desk or a filing cabinet. The starting point was zero, and that was terrifying and exciting all at once.”

All that was there was a single chair. Now the women’s side boast five Women’s Super League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and some of the best players in the world, including four newly crowned European champions. They also have an entire building at the back of the training ground, which was gradually taken over by Hayes’s expanding football empire. Her first decade at Chelsea will be celebrated against West Ham at Stamford Bridge on 11 September, in their opening game of the WSL season, alongside 30 years of the women’s team.

The 45-year-old has used her voice to grow the game more than most. Now more and more people are picking up the megaphone, too. Players are moving beyond a culture of gratitude and recognising they have the power to inspire change. The Lionesses writing to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to demand greater access for girls to sports in school is one example of that.

“I don’t think I’ve ever struggled with that,” Hayes says about speaking out. “But I do feel lonely at times being the voice