Chelsea Women’s devastating news: Hayes recovering from emergency surgery
Just as the Blues were building up steam before the international break, the leader and conductor of the entire operation, Emma Hayes needs time to heal from an emergency hysterectomy that she underwent this past Tuesday. Hayes will hand down the duties to her assistants, Paul Green and Denise Reddy for an unknown amount of time as Hayes aims to get back to total health before she steps back into her leadership role at Chelsea.
Over the past 10 years, Hayes has been the heartbeat of the CFC Women, and giving the club the task to continue on in her absence is going to be an adjustment for everyone. Since joining the club, Hayes has cemented her ideals of persistence, and consistency from top to bottom. It is going to be an extreme test for the coaching staff, and the players will attempt to sustain the professional and high standards that Hayes preached every day on the sideline.
First things first comes Hayes’ health, and if she is going to come back at some point this season, only she knows when is the right time. It is going to be a difficult adjustment for the players, the fans, and the entire club to see someone who is not Hayes directing traffic on the sideline. The Blues have only had three managers since 2005, essentially the opposite of the men’s team who have very little patience when it comes to the person at the top of the coaching hierarchy.
Overall, while not much will change, except some new faces moving into new positions, this is going to be a test once again for the club to prepare itself if Hayes ever wants to pursue an opportunity elsewhere sometime in the near or distant future in either the men’s or women’s game. Chelsea has gone through this kind of situation before back in 2018 when Hayes was pregnant with her son, and even though she is not on the sideline, Reddy, Green, and the head of technical, Stuart Searle will have Hayes on the phone plenty of times to give her input on a lot of the decision-making.
In a statement on the club’s website, Hayes explained the situation, and what the future holds:
"“Last Tuesday I underwent an emergency hysterectomy following my ongoing battle with endometriosis. I’m now in recovery and will need time and patience to return to full health…We have built a tremendous team over many years and we’ve adopted a very multi-disciplinary approach so that if situations like this arise, we are capable of being able to respond to the challenge…We have full confidence in Paul, Denise, and all of the staff…We also know the team are very special and we have no doubt they’ll do everything to maintain their high standards.”"
Hayes’ record in west London speaks for herself, and with the Champions League fixtures beginning this upcoming week, it is not the most ideal time to lose the person that constructed a roster ready to avenge an early Champions League exit last season. Hayes now turns her tasks over to the former Sky Blue FC head coach, Reddy, and one of the most familiar faces on the Blues coaching staff, Green who has been a part of the club since February of 2013.
Green spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the team’s trip to Everton over the weekend:
"“We’ve been looking to get organized behind the scenes. Denise is very experienced, she’s been a head coach in her own right in America and Sweden. We’ve got Tanya on our staff who has also been a head coach, and then Stuart and I who have worked alongside Emma for nearly 10 years now and have been in this situation back in 2018, when Emma was pregnant.”"
He continued, stating, “It’s not a new situation. I’ve got full confidence in the staff and the players that we’ll deal with this situation and get the results needed to make sure that when Emma comes back into work, we’re in a good position on all fronts.”
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It sure has been a while since the Chelsea Women were without their fearless leader on site, and in the middle of the action, but at the end of the day, health trumps everything. As every season goes, there are going to be ups and downs, and while this may be one of those disappointing ones, the club has shown time and time again how to respond to adversity. All the players know the coaches filling the roles, and while Hayes prepares herself to step back on the sideline, the Blues have a critical stretch of football matches on the horizon including a trip to Paris to kick off the Champions League.