Emma Hayes: I’m grateful for everything my country and city has given me

Outside Camden’s iconic Underworld music venue, the marquee is usually reserved for band names and gig announcements, but today, in bold letters, it carried a more personal message: “Welcome home Emma.”

Inside, Emma Hayes stood behind the bar and poured pints after sitting down and speaking to the media. Cameras clicked and journalists gathered as the manager’s close friends watched on.

The Ballon d'Or Women's Coach of the Year – who grew up in the area and attended school less than two miles away from The Underworld – had a relaxed confidence as she reflected on her formative years growing up in this vibrant corner of north London.

“I'm very grateful for everything that my country and my city has given me,” the 48-year-old told reporters. “I've learned more and more as I age that you just have to go for it in life and you have to enjoy life, not be worrying all the time.

“My morning, getting in the car, driving past my school, to come here and see a welcome back Emma sign outside The Underworld, a place which, of course, I never remember coming out of here at two o'clock in the morning.

“To seeing my friends and family, and these are people that have been in my life since I was a kid, to people that are developing sports in the area, from Camden Sports Development, that are running projects across the borough, whether it's developing education for people, to running the youth league up at Regent's Park. 

“My community is what I am and what I care about and I'm so stoked to be here with people that have been massive in my life. My friends have never changed and I'm grateful for that. I'm just happy to see some faces I haven't seen and happy to be home.”

Hayes has coached at club level in both the US and England, but the most fruitful years of her career to date were spent across the city at Chelsea. She was appointed manager of the Women’s Super League (WSL) side in the summer of 2012 and went on to win seven league titles while also turning them into the most dominant force in the country. When she left the club at the end of last season to take on her role with the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT), it felt like the end of an era for English women’s football. 

Her new chapter across the pond was always going to draw plenty of attention as she was tasked with restoring a team that had slipped from its once-dominant perch in recent years. True to form, she delivered: leading them to Olympic gold in France over the summer.

Now, Hayes returns to England as head coach of the USWNT for the first time as her side prepares to face Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses in a sold-out friendly at Wembley Stadium this weekend. 

“There's no denying it's a different type of game playing at Wembley,” Hayes added. “I've had to think through how I'm going to be standing there as an away team coach, as it will be full of English people supporting the home team. 

“But, I don't put too much thought into the feel and the atmosphere of a place that honestly feels like a second home to me. Going back to Wembley, yes I'll have to go in the away dressing room, but I get to experience another opportunity, between the Olympic champions and the current European champions, it’s a game where top quality will be on show for both sides.

“Two managers who get on tremendously well, I’m looking forward to seeing Sarina [Wiegman], she's a top person and a top coach. And, yes, of course I have to go through a weird moment when the National Anthem's playing. I will hum along, as I always have done, being the English person that I am. I'll also do the same for the American National Anthem, because I love it. I love both anthems.

“I'd be on that weird moment and seeing some of the competitors I've come up against or players that I've gone to war with. It's business come kick off and it'll be a top game, an entertaining game, in front of a sell-out [crowd].”

One of the players Hayes is looking forward to seeing the most is Chelsea captain, Millie Bright. The 31-year-old central defender was signed by the ex-Chelsea manager in 2014 at the age of 21, and she quickly established herself as one of the most important figures of the manager’s tenure, winning all seven league titles, four FA Cups and two League Cups.

“Millie Bright is a special person in my life and she feels like a little sister to me,” the manager expressed. “She really does. 

“I had so, so many years of journeying, through building Chelsea, to winning titles, to watching her go through her own international career with England and the highs of winning the European Championship and then losing the World Cup final.

“She's someone that will be in my life beyond this football match. And, most importantly, I'm just looking forward to seeing her and giving her a big squeeze. She knows me as well as I know her and we're fierce competitors and we're in the position we're in because of the qualities that we have and our focus will be on doing the best for our respective teams.”

As she prepares for the weekend’s showdown in the capital, Hayes is focused not just on the game, but on the bigger picture. For her, leading the US is an opportunity to build something long lasting, just as she did at Chelsea.

Hayes concluded: “What I've realised is that I'm a builder. When I think back to building anything, from my ten years in the US [previously], to building Chelsea. I really enjoy putting an infrastructure together so that when I leave, it still stays solid. 

“I always say this, I credit my mum for developing my self esteem as a child, because I think even if my self confidence might go up and down, my self esteem base is always pretty solid. When it comes to being on Zoom calls and developing the national team and youth national team strategy, I get to use my brain in a different way, and I get to use all that experience and knowledge that I've developed over a long period of time to put it to good use for future generations of Americans.

“I'm very passionate about it and I feel like I've got the space now to really build that out. Once we move to the National Training Center in Atlanta, we’ll hopefully partner up with universities to develop education courses at degree level around coaching females, coaching women.

“I feel alive, I feel fresh and, even though I'm at the beginning, I feel very invested in what I'm doing.”

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