Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Emma Hayes

Changing leaders is something that's pretty normal in our environment, and as we always know with geese, they're extremely loyal to their cause.

I don't like small things, I like big missions.

Every time I smacked my right foot to the ground I couldn't absorb shock. So no matter what, I've thought about this a lot, it doesn't matter what my life in football would have looked like, it was so traumatic for me that I just couldn't play the game I loved. And I didn't know how to handle that as a teenager.

Fortunately I have a good support network around me but am I sitting here and saying to myself: 'Should every football club have a creche?' Yes. I think that's the starting point.

Football as a profession has a responsibility to modernize. The hope is - if you look at the top organizations in any top professions - you will see that having balance in the workplace is tantamount to successful environments.

Scores of little girls are going to run into school the following day and say, 'Did you see Fran Kirby last night?' That for me is as important as winning the game.

Women's football in its right is something to celebrate and the quality and the achievement of all the females I represent, it is an insult to them that we talk about women's football being a step down.

As much as trophies matter, leaving something that's built to last is the most important thing to me.

I am an advocate of playing in big stadiums.

Sometimes it can be that a player is available and you can get them next month - wow, that's a bolt of lightning - but it doesn't happen that often, it really does vary.

When I was 17 I did a B License and had no opportunities in the U.K. so I opted to go abroad and work in America for 10 years where the understanding of female coaches was very different to England.

People are getting used to women's football on their screens, so as long as the quality of the product is high, we'll draw fans to the sport.

How do you describe the pride you have for the club you represent, for the people you represent?

It's important for everyone's mental health they go home at Christmas. I don't want to tell any player they can't.

I don't know how long I will be coaching for but I don't expect I will go on from Chelsea, Chelsea is my absolute home.

We've always had to play second fiddle to the men in European football.

Meditation is important - yoga, walking.

When the football world is ready to adhere to the diversity codes so that BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities, plus women, get the opportunities in football then I'll see that as a step forward.

You don't take anything for granted when you play in the European game because it's so different, sizing each other up takes a game.

It was so bizarre. I've never accepted a job as quickly as I accepted the Chelsea one. I said yes, I'll do it, I didn't even ask about the money. I just thought: this is my calling.

Fran Kirby, Pernille Harder, Beth England, Magda Eriksson, Millie Bright, Maren Mjelde - do you want me to keep going? These are world class players. Women's football is not a step down from anything.

Football is for everyone. It's not for the privileged, it's not for the few, it's not for the elite.

I hope and expect there are female coaches out there who are saying they want to do what I do, and if I can play a part in that and when I step away from the game can say 'I was the first,' then I'm proud of that too.

I am manager at Chelsea. I manage and represent elite and world class players and this for me is an amazing job I've spent nine years cultivating all my energy into. I'm not looking for another job.

I'm so proud of myself. I got to this level through my hard work, my determination and I'm fortunate enough to be working for a football club that I adore, that have given me license to do this and I work with a set of players that were always in control, even when I didn't feel like I was!

I've shown the players geese videos. I've shown them why geese fly in V formation, what everybody's role is, how geese support each other and, most importantly, why you fly further together. That's the bottom line. Geese wouldn't be able to migrate to the sun without all traveling together. It's the same for us.

We need clubs to take risks to hire the right candidates. At the end of the day, there aren't a lot of female coaches that have the top-level license and the coaching experience but that will change.

I was always the minibus driver. I was always the one carrying the balls and the cones.

There should be creches for people that work in football clubs. We put long hours in and we don't get to see our children a lot and that's something that I think could be considered within the game.

When I see all the boys in the top jobs across our leagues, I'm like: 'Oh my God, the only woman sitting on top of the pile and I'm only there twice a week!' It's brilliant!

I'm like everyone, I would hope for a fair and equal society and making great strides to create opportunities for women in the men's game.

I had no ambition to be a football coach. I wanted to be a spy for MI5 or MI6.

I am certain Chelsea are world leaders at a team level at what we do. For us it is part of our fabric. It is one of the many tenants that we factor into what helps towards our players becoming successful athletes and a successful team.

When people say: 'What's your biggest achievement?' Giving birth. Forget the rest of it.

I'm not afraid of Wolfsburg and I know my dressing room is not.

Failure is a really strong word.

I just don't know why anyone would ever think that women's football is a step down and that coaching World Cup champions, winners, players that have represented their countries in the Olympics or European championships is a step down from anything.

We've heard so much about introducing the Rooney Rule but I don't hear enough conversations about putting in place things so that females can get interviews.

I've been trusted with the responsibility of developing my players. I take that very seriously. Do I care about them? Yes, immensely. If they are troubled, I'm like a parent.

Ultimately I think clubs, boards, associations have to do more to provide an equal platform for women to get interviews for jobs.

I just want to win. I love winning. It does not bore me.

I'll never forget, Jill Ellis, the U.S. national team coach, texted me and said: 'Welcome to the coaching fraternity, you haven't coached unless you've been fired.' It was the most powerful thing anyone could have told me. Of course it hurt like hell, but it was an important learning curve.

I'm a merit-based person.

When you say 'the menopause', people understand; when you say 'periods' to someone, even if they don't understand the mechanisms of it, they will understand. But if you say to someone 'I have endometriosis,' they haven't got a clue what it is. There is such a lack of tying it together with what is normal versus what is not normal with a period.

I want success for so many people. I couldn't give a crap about myself.

The fear of losing is sometimes greater than the will to win.

Players that don't play aren't ever happy.

The qualities involved with having to manage are exactly the same as it would be for a men's team. We are talking about human beings.

The Women's Super League is the envy of the world in the women's game because the clubs, the Football Association and the media are so well aligned.

I hope I'm a role model for female coaches who are coming through.

Being a parent changes you in life. I am responsible now.

One of the biggest challenges you face as a female manager is getting a foot in the door to be interviewed fairly.

I think the football world needs to wake up and recognize that women, while the game is played by a different gender, it is exactly the same sport and the qualities involved with having to manage that is exactly the same then it would be for a men's team.

Who's to say both English teams can't qualify and meet each other in the final?

The football world needs to live by its promises and live by the diversity codes. They need to be promoting opportunities for the less privileged. That's what I want to see.

Geese always support each other. When a goose gets injured two birds always accompany it down to the ground. Just as geese do, we must support each other.

Knowledge is always a benefit and to have a better understanding of our player's individual needs will help us.

When you haven't seen your families for six months, it's really, really tough.

I empathize with players. In our culture it is all about strategies and interventions to help the individual based on their individual needs. It is not just about supplements or putting painkillers in your mouth. You have to educate yourself about that.

I have made clear I don't have national-team ambitions.