Emma Hayes calls for more women managers as Frank Lampard tipped for Chelsea job
Outgoing Chelsea boss Emma Hayes called English football's lack of female coaches a "massive issue" as Frank Lampard was tipped to replace her in the Blues Women's dugout.
Hayes, 47, has cut herself as one of football's most influential and successful managers over 12 years with the Blues in which she's claimed 13 major trophies, including six league titles, and led Chelsea to the Women's Champions League final for the first time in their history.
After this season, Hayes will depart the club to become the next USA women's national team manager in the summer. And her departure will mark the loss of another female coach in English football.
Following Brighton's sacking of Melissa Phillips, only four of the 12 Women's Super League sides are managed by women; Carla Ward (Aston Villa), Rehanne Skinner ( West Ham), Lauren Smith (Bristol City) and Hayes.
Of the managers at the helm of the top flight's current top seven sides, Hayes is the only woman, while she is one of only 21 women across England with a Uefa Pro License.
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The hunt for Hayes' replacement remains ongoing, with former Chelsea boss Lampard recently named as a possibility to succeed Hayes in the manager's dugout by pundit Izzy Christiansen. Lampard's hiring would mean that three-quarters of the managers in the WSL are men.
When asked if she would prefer her replacement at Chelsea to be a woman, Hayes told the BBC: "It's about the club and what their needs are. It's probably best that I stay out of that and just support that person."
The lack of women represented on the touchline remains starkly opposite to the growing number of women and girls participating in the sport on the pitch, and Hayes believes a dearth of investment afforded women's coaching resides at the root of the problem.
"We've got a lot of work to do to close that gap," said Hayes, who is an ambassador for McDonald’s Fun Football - a programme aiming to tackle under-representation in the sport, including the training of female coaches. "We have to look at the cost of it as a starting point. It's about £10,000 to do a Pro Licence. And the wages in the women's game are insignificant compared to the men's game.
"We have to think about educating players much earlier on in their careers, maybe even during international breaks where there's more downtime… and most importantly, support so that they can go through the coach education. We have to commit more money to coaches, not just in the women's game, but women coaches in general."
Emma Hayes, manager of Chelsea, during a UEFA Women's Champions League group stage match (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)She added: "It's about creating minimum standards so that the accessibility for women to come into the game is thought about differently… getting clubs to be in position so that they have minimum standards in place to hire women into the game, be it assistant or head coach level. But doing that is a challenge."
San Diego Wave and former Manchester United Women manager Casey Stoney was one of the leading candidates to take over from Hayes, but the ex-England defender has since signed a new deal with the Wave keeping her in the NWSL.
Meanwhile, Laura Harvey, a former Arsenal manager now at Seattle Reign, was a club guest at Stamford Bridge for the Champions League match against Hacken in December - but recently indicated that she too is happy in the USA.
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