Emma Hayes: It is 'an insult' to women's football that League One role is considered a step up

[ASFN Admin]

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has played down rumours linking her with the AFC Wimbledon vacancy, saying it is "an insult" to women's football that such a move would be seen as a step up. Hayes, currently on a record 33-game unbeaten streak in the Women's Super League, and chasing a quadruple this season, added when asked whether the League One club could afford her: "absolutely not". It was reported on Monday that Hayes had been shortlisted by AFC Wimbledon in their search for a new manager. Appointing the 44-year-old would be historic, as a woman has yet to take the reins at any of the 92 English league men's clubs. Hayes said it was "disappointing" that her current job was regarded as a "step down" compared to the challenge of preserving AFC Wimbledon's League One status. "I just don’t know why anybody would think women’s football is a step down," Hayes said, speaking ahead of Chelsea's League Cup semi-final against West Ham on Wednesday night. "If coaching World Cup champions and players who have represented their countries in the Olympics or Euros is a step down from anything, I think the football world needs to wake up and recognise that women's [football] is exactly the same sport. "Fran Kirby, Pernille Harder, Beth England, Magda Eriksson, Millie Bright, Maren Mjelde, do you want me to keep going? These are world-class players. Women’s football is something to celebrate, and it’s an insult to the quality and achievements of all the females I represent that we talk about women’s football being a step down. I think that’s what I’m disappointed with, not with being linked to a football job as a football coach, regardless of gender. I’m happy at Chelsea and I love my job here and I’ve always been clear about that. Nothing has changed." Hayes's Chelsea side are the reigning WSL champions, aiming to defend their League Cup title and on the hunt for four trophies this season, with the FA Cup and Champions League also in their sights. In her nine years at Chelsea, Hayes has been linked to other jobs in the men's game, most recently the Chelsea men's team manager role ahead of Frank Lampard's appointment in 2019. While the milestone of women coaching men has not yet been reached in top-tier English football, in 2014 Corinne Diacre became the first woman to manage a club in the top two divisions of a men's European league, when she was appointed at France's Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot. Hayes is regarded as the leading candidate to break the glass ceiling for women coaches in the men's game in England, but said that coaching diversity issues needed to be addressed not just for women but also for coaches from ethnic minority backgrounds. "I think unfortunately the football world needs to live by its promises and by the diversity codes and be in a position where they’re promoting opportunities for the less privileged," Hayes said. "That for me is what I’d like - this is not about Emma Hayes and AFC Wimbledon, this is about the football world being in a position where it’s a normal conversation to talk about having coaches from Asian backgrounds, from black backgrounds, or women in dressing rooms, not as an exception to the rule, but as something that’s normal. Then I’ll see that as a step forward."

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