Top 60 Emma Hayes Quotes

I’m a merit-based person.

I remember Borehamwood, I remember the home crowd, I remember that special moment looking at all of our friends and family in the crowd because I don’t think we could believe we were European champions.

I snuck an hour to watch Bielsa on YouTube, I love that guy. I watched a video of him talking about tactics and formations against Brazil and I absolutely loved it.

When people say: ‘What’s your biggest achievement?’ Giving birth. Forget the rest of it.

I was always the minibus driver. I was always the one carrying the balls and the cones.

Everybody knows Man City and Chelsea is always a fiercely competitive game.

I think the football world needs to wake up and recognize that women, while the game is played by a different gender, it is exactly the same sport and the qualities involved with having to manage that is exactly the same then it would be for a men’s team.

When I was 17 I did a B License and had no opportunities in the U.K. so I opted to go abroad and work in America for 10 years where the understanding of female coaches was very different to England.

One of the biggest challenges you face as a female manager is getting a foot in the door to be interviewed fairly.

I don’t like small things, I like big missions.

I am excited for Chelsea’s future. Our owner is a big fan of women’s football and he’s always asking me what he can do to help.

I don’t have a complacent dressing room, thank goodness.

Beating Reading’s not a shoo-in. They’re a good team.

I hope and expect there are female coaches out there who are saying they want to do what I do, and if I can play a part in that and when I step away from the game can say ‘I was the first,’ then I’m proud of that too.

I just don’t know why anyone would ever think that women’s football is a step down and that coaching World Cup champions, winners, players that have represented their countries in the Olympics or European championships is a step down from anything.

I hope I’m a role model for female coaches who are coming through.

I am certain Chelsea are world leaders at a team level at what we do. For us it is part of our fabric. It is one of the many tenants that we factor into what helps towards our players becoming successful athletes and a successful team.

Being a parent changes you in life. I am responsible now.

I have made clear I don’t have national-team ambitions.

I just hope we do start to see more females coaching teams like you see across American sports.

People are getting used to women’s football on their screens, so as long as the quality of the product is high, we’ll draw fans to the sport.

Every team goes into every season aspiring for every trophy.

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 not a step down from anything.

Ultimately I think clubs, boards, associations have to do more to provide an equal platform for women to get interviews for jobs.

Football as a profession has a responsibility to modernize. The hope is – if you look at the top organizations in any top professions – you will see that having balance in the workplace is tantamount to successful environments.

I’m a huge fan of Brian Clough. I might be his female equivalent but I’m quite happy with that.

You can’t have that many days off in this business.

Winning breeds more winning, that’s what I’ve learnt. Getting on a roll is important.

I am happy to play Barcelona in a one-off game, in a neutral venue. Why? Because Spanish teams are tricky.

Would I love to go and get out of here and have a couple of months preparing, I don’t know, anywhere in sunshine? Yes. But I think while I’m under employment with Chelsea, I think to talk about another job, even if it was short-term, and I haven’t been asked, I think it is so disrespectful.

Get rid of the Continental Cup. Get rid of it, make more league fixtures.

There’s nothing more joyful than when a player, who you don’t know if they are going to be able to cut it at the top level, gets their head down and puts everything into their career.

It had always been about America, but now, sorry, they lag behind us. English football’s time is coming.

We’ve heard so much about introducing the Rooney Rule but I don’t hear enough conversations about putting in place things so that females can get interviews.

Fortunately I have a good support network around me but am I sitting here and saying to myself: ‘Should every football club have a creche?’ Yes. I think that’s the starting point.

Understanding the menstrual cycle is just one part of the holistic understanding you need to have of your footballers in order to help them prepare.

But I’m grateful for everything I’ve got and I think that’s part of my working-class background.

How do you describe the pride you have for the club you represent, for the people you represent?

The football world needs to live by its promises and live by the diversity codes. They need to be promoting opportunities for the less privileged. That’s what I want to see.

I’ve shown the players geese videos. I’ve shown them why geese fly in V formation, what everybody’s role is, how geese support each other and, most importantly, why you fly further together. That’s the bottom line. Geese wouldn’t be able to migrate to the sun without all traveling together. It’s the same for us.

I am an advocate of playing in big stadiums.

I’m so proud of myself. I got to this level through my hard work, my determination and I’m fortunate enough to be working for a football club that I adore, that have given me license to do this and I work with a set of players that were always in control, even when I didn’t feel like I was!

It’s important for everyone’s mental health they go home at Christmas. I don’t want to tell any player they can’t.

You don’t take anything for granted when you play in the European game because it’s so different, sizing each other up takes a game.

I want success for so many people. I couldn’t give a crap about myself.

I just want to win. I love winning. It does not bore me.

The interest is growing. It’s a snowball-effect and I can’t see anybody getting in the way of England becoming the best place in the world to play.

I empathize with players. In our culture it is all about strategies and interventions to help the individual based on their individual needs. It is not just about supplements or putting painkillers in your mouth. You have to educate yourself about that.

The fear of losing is sometimes greater than the will to win.

I might have some performance psychology support for individuals but… the best psychologist is the coach.

We have to be even more conscious of the things we do on a day-to-day basis and take into consideration the feelings and sensibilities of others.

I think the rest of Europe fear our country and our clubs and they’re quite right to do so.

As much as trophies matter, leaving something that’s built to last is the most important thing to me.

You can’t always be on top and dominant throughout.

Football is represented by a diverse society and within that diverse society men’s football does not reflect the diverse society that we live in.

Geese always support each other. When a goose gets injured two birds always accompany it down to the ground. Just as geese do, we must support each other.

I am manager at Chelsea. I manage and represent elite and world class players and this for me is an amazing job I’ve spent nine years cultivating all my energy into. I’m not looking for another job.

There should be creches for people that work in football clubs. We put long hours in and we don’t get to see our children a lot and that’s something that I think could be considered within the game.

Changing leaders is something that’s pretty normal in our environment, and as we always know with geese, they’re extremely loyal to their cause.

I have a baby in the house, for any parent it is challenging knowing that you have to find different solutions daily, different routines daily.