Chelsea Women’s star Jess Carter has liked a series of social media posts calling her coach Emma Hayes “beyond crazy” after the 47-year-old coach criticized relationships between players within teams women’s soccer.
On Thursday, Hayes, who will leave the club at the end of the season, said she believes both player-to-player and player-coach relationships are “inappropriate” even though there are several within her own team.
Carter, 26, is dating teammate Ann-Katrin Berger, 33, and the pair initially met while playing for Birmingham City in 2016 before meeting at Chelsea three years later, where they established their relationship.
Relationships between players are relatively common in women’s football, with high-profile couples such as Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead, as well as Chelsea star Sam Kerr dating West Ham star Kristie Mewis. Mail Sport understands there is at least one other player-to-player relationship within the Chelsea squad.
Hayes’ comments came on the eve of the decisive Women’s Super League match against Arsenal on Friday, in which the Gunners could overtake the Blues and move to the top of the table with a win. Carter is currently their only fit centre-back.
Chelsea women’s star Jess Carter (right), pictured here with teammate and teammate Ann-Katrin Berger, has liked a series of social media posts criticizing her manager Emma Hayes.
The director of Chelsea’s women’s team claimed that ‘relationships between players were inappropriate’ despite having several on her own team
The Chelsea centre-back appeared to like several posts on X (formerly Twitter) that called her manager “beyond crazy” for his claims.
Your browser does not support iframes.
But his views sparked a backlash among some online, with Carter liking several posts on X (formerly Twitter) criticizing his manager’s opinion.
Journalist Beth Fisher wrote: “In my opinion, it’s beyond crazy to include player relationships in this conversation.”
He also liked a Tweet that said: “By the way, you don’t have to justify what Emma said, it’s the wrong answer no matter how you spin it.” There is a fundamental difference between player-player and player-coach relationships and that is the power imbalance. I could have said anything but that.
“Anyone who aligns coach-player relationships with player-player relationships is fundamentally misunderstanding the power imbalances at play,” wrote journalist Jessy Parker Humprhreys. She added: “Anyway, if I really thought player x player relationships were inappropriate, I probably wouldn’t have hired my club captain’s well-known girlfriend for a world-record fee.”
While Carter and Berger’s relationship was initially platonic, they shared undeniable chemistry and dated before their relationship blossomed. The German goalkeeper has also had to overcome two attacks of thyroid cancer since the two got together; Notably, she returned to play for Chelsea just a month after announcing that her cancer had returned in 2022.
Hayes also added that romantic relationships between teammates “pose challenges for the management group.”
Carter and Berger initially met in 2016 while playing for Birmingham City, before meeting again at Chelsea, where they established their relationship.
It is understood the couple, seen here posing for a photo in New York City, are not the only relationship among Emma Hayes’ Chelsea team.
Hayes is one of several managers who have spoken out against relationships between players and managers this weekend, with Aston Villa manager Carla Ward claiming they “cross the line” and are “unacceptable”, according to BBC sport.
Leicester manager Willie Kirk was suspended last week for an alleged relationship with a player in his squad. In February, Sheffield United sacked women’s team manager Jonathan Morgan after it emerged he had a relationship with a player while he was at a previous club.
When asked at his news conference about the issue of player relations on Thursday, Hayes said they were presented with “some challenges.”
“I think player-coach relationships are inappropriate, player-to-player relationships are inappropriate,” the 47-year-old said.
“But we have to look at it in the context of where the game is coming from and say that we are now in a professional era where the expectations for players and coaches are such that all our focus and attention has to be on having the highest standards.
“And that’s why I’ve always been an advocate of ensuring clubs have minimum standards, whether that’s a code of conduct, player protection or player welfare.”
When asked specifically about player relations, he added: “I think it’s just the challenges it poses.”
‘One player is on the team, the other is not on the team. One might be in the last year of his contract, another might not be. One could be competing in a position with another person, I don’t need to explain it, it presents challenges.
Hayes’ comments came on the eve of the decisive Women’s Super League match against Arsenal on Friday, in which the Gunners were able to overtake Chelsea at the top of the table.
Carter is currently Hayes’ only fit centre-back for their crucial meeting with Arsenal.
Berger has won three Women’s Super League titles, two FA Cups and two League Cups with Chelsea since joining in 2019.
Berger (left) has had to overcome two bouts of thyroid cancer since they got together, but they are stronger than ever.
“I think we all know that those of us who have been in women’s football for a long period of time, those things have been happening in the locker room. I think in the long term it would be ideal, in an ideal world, where you don’t have to deal with that.
“It is quite complicated for the technical teams to have to deal with this. You talk about this from a hierarchical perspective, it does not mean that it does not present challenges, it does, I think we have to work a lot on how to manage those challenges in the locker room because they are far from be ideal.
“Listen, we are dealing with human beings, and every office location has different challenges to deal with, that’s one of the challenges I have to deal with at my job, it’s the same things you have to deal with at work I guess” . , it’s just that I have to manage it and, like I said, it presents challenges.
“We talked about it internally, I think in the long term, in an ideal world, it’s something we wouldn’t have to do.”