On Emma Hayes & Opportunities for female coaches…

Mauricio Pochettino’s first coaching job was for Espanyol’s women’s team in 2008.

It hardly came as a surprise appointment; the former Periquitos man had made more appearances than any other foreign player for the men’s team, becoming captain and then twice winning the Copa Del Rey in 2000 and 2006.

The one glaring omission from this romantic tale that much of the coverage fails to include is that it was only two months earlier that Poch got his coaching badge — the job on the women’s side itself was only part of his prácticas, a stepping stone to greater things.

One year later and Pochettino left the women’s game to become head coach of the men’s setup. There was little inquiry into the nature of the position, nor his skill-set, given how he still remained in the infancy of his professional coaching career.

As infuriating as it was to have a male manager hop-scotch his way through various levels of coaching on the women’s side, it was merely an anomaly in the data. Fast-forward to a decade later, and that anomaly has morphed into an alarming trope.

Exhibit B arrives in the form of the current manager of Manchester City women’s team, Gareth Taylor.

In the aftermath of Nick Cushing’s departure in 2019, the then, Citizen’s academy coach was given the helms. He transitioned from keeping tabs on 18-year-olds, to handling a multi-million pound team featuring some of the world’s best footballing talent with Rose Lavelle, Ellen White, Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton…the list goes on.

Interestingly enough, as an academy coach, the 47-year-old wasn’t in charge of any of the on-pitch matters. Instead, he was heading up talent development. A related vocation to coaching senior players but not quite on the same level.

In both instances, for Pochettino and Taylor, the jump from handling teams with little experience or results to prove themselves through to bigger clubs have gone largely unquestioned. Their own reputation combined with the media perception that they are somehow imbuing the women’s setup with some kind of fantastical knowledge and presence is the most palpable theme.

There’s no need to prove themselves. There’s very little interrogation or inspection of their ability and skill. They are considered to be competent.

So, here’s the million dollar question: why are we asking female managers, to prove themselves in the men’s league when we don’t ask the same of Pochettino and Taylor in the opposite instance?

This brings us to the Chelsea women’s manager Emma Hayes and the recent revelations that she was on the short-list for AFC Wimbledon in their hunt for a new manager.

While the 44-year-old herself was incessantly adamant on rejecting the role, the responses from many, online and in the professional sphere, were scarily unanimous — sure, Wimbledon is the perfect way for Emma to get her foot in, make some history, build her rapport, y’know?

What many are forgetting — seemingly all too easily — is that we’re talking about a three-time WSL title-winning, Conti-Cup-slaying, FA Cup-conquering coach. She’s not merely been managing the players coming through the Chelsea School of Excellence, and she certainly isn’t operating with a two-month-old coaching license.

This is a manager who’s been working at the highest level of women’s football for over a decade. And in fact, the Chelsea women’s team we see today, playing breathtaking football, operating on a record-breaking winning streak, aren’t there because they were able to pay their way to it. Roman Abramovich does not haunt the Kingsmeadow pitch with a paycheck in hand. Make no mistake — pure tactical nous, graft, and time has cultivated this success.

Yet, Hayes is still pushed towards this Wimbledon role because it’s viewed as a ‘step up’ from women’s football, a step towards actually cementing her place in football.

Another name to have gone through similar treatment is Corrine Diacre, the first woman to have managed in the top two tiers of men’s European football. As head coach of Clermont Foot in 2014, Diacre successfully kept the team in Ligue 2 and away from relegation threat for three whole seasons. She then made the leap from domestic coaching to international, becoming the manager of the France women’s national team in 2017. Unfortunately, this process was subject to the same kind of inquest that Hayes received.

The fact that managers like Hayes and Diacre are being asked to re-establish themselves despite having the credentials on hand to prove that they deserve a seat at the table is indicative of a deeper, more serious issue within sport. Women can only be deemed as successes if they make it in a man’s world. No other victories, trophies, or years of dedication count.

There is no other way to win — unless you’re a man. Only as a man can you be deemed as a managerial success and given the privilege to reign over some of the best women’s football teams in the world without so much as a CV on hand.

Whether it’s Pochettino or Taylor, or Phil Neville and his philosophy of the England women’s team being a ‘stepping stone’ for future pursuits, football needs to provide a platform for acknowledging women in the manager’s game. These women are being examined unfairly. They are regularly being turned away from opportunities because of their gender, despite being just as skilled as their male counterparts.

There is no way of progressing as a sport unless we are able to provide these women with the respect they deserve within the industry. Until then, those calling for Hayes to make the jump across to the men’s league to prove her credentials are going to need to re-evaluate their views.