Chelsea boss Emma Hayes says she wonât âabandonâ the football club and has urged fans to stick together after the Blues were met with heavy sanctions last week. Hayes spoke to the club following her sideâs last-gasp victory over Aston Villa in the Womenâs Super League on Sunday. Sam Kerr scored in the 92nd minute, sparking jubilation at Kingsmeadow and a triumphant celebration from Hayes and the team. The Chelsea boss was so ecstatic, she ran down the touchline to congratulate the team and seemingly looked âdrunkâ according to a hilarious photo that has surfaced on Twitter. In an interview with the club after the game, Hayes said it had been a difficult week, which is why she was so emotional. âAfter the week weâve just had, you compete for championships when you win games like that,â she said. âGames when you are not at your best. I didnât think we looked the freshest, you have a hat full of chances but you donât convert. The opposition played really, really well too, youâre down to your bare bones and weâre competing for a championship because weâre able to win a game like that.âÂ
She added: âAmazing spirit and camaraderie from the players to do that, they gutted that out.â
Hayes was also keen to thank the Chelsea fans in attendance at Kingsmeadow. Because of the recent sanctions, only season ticket holders were permitted to attend the match, but the Blues faithful were heard singing throughout.
âI heard them at the 90th minute saying âthatâs why weâre champions!â. That was before weâd scored, they were singing for the champions at 0-0.
âAll I kept thinking was, we are in our most difficult moment, youâre not abandoning the team and we are not abandoning you. We have to stick together â you know everybodyâs against us right now. And that I think is giving us strength, knowing that weâve got each other, and everybody contributed to that win today.âÂ
There has been speculation over the future of the womenâs side, given that Roman Abramovich is in the process of selling the club. However, Hayes is confident that her team will be fine and wonât suffer as a result.
âIâm not worried about us, I think we are a valuable asset to the football club and I know that internally and I donât expect that to change.â
Right now, Hayes hopes that the club can sell the club quickly so that the focus can shift from debating the future ownership to discussing the team itself.Â
âI know our place within our club, I know our importance and I donât want any of us to be punished or vilified. You know, at the end of the day, Chelsea Football Club is important to the community and I think as quickly as we can resume a sale, so that we can get on with the business of talking about teams and not everything in and around that.â
Chelseaâs next game is away at Everton in the WSL on Wednesday.