Another whine merchant, Emma Hayes, in a piece in today’s Times:
Emma Hayes has called for greater opportunites for women in the men’s game after she was linked with the vacant manager’s job at AFC Wimbledon.
Reports had suggested [J4MB translation: We’re making this s*** up] that Hayes, the manager of Chelsea Women, was being lined up by the Sky Bet League One strugglers, which would have made her the first female manager of a professional men’s team in England.
It is understood that any interest was never official, nor would Hayes be interested in leaving her position as Chelsea manager at present, with her team on a 33-game unbeaten streak in the Women’s Super League.
Hayes instead used the speculation as an opportunity to urge football’s governing bodies to provide “affirmative action” to ensure candidates for vacant jobs in men’s football are from a diverse background, including females.
“This is not about Emma Hayes and AFC Wimbledon, this is about the football world being in a position where it’s a normal conversation to talk about having coaches from Asian backgrounds, from black backgrounds, as women, in dressing rooms not as an exception to the rule but as something that’s normal,” Hayes said.
“That process needs to begin and hopefully that affirmative action is something that can be enforced, because there’s so many quality candidates that can do the job across the men’s game. I think we take too much time talking about gender and ethnicity instead of quality of candidates. When the football world is ready to adhere to the diversity codes, so that BAME communities plus women get the opportunities in football, then I’ll see that as a step forward.”
Opportunities in the men’s game for female coaches have been extremely rare in England. Mary Phillip, a former player at Arsenal while Hayes was assistant manager at the club, has managed Peckham Town in the 11th tier of English football.
The former Scotland women’s manager Shelley Kerr coached Stirling University before her stint as the national team manager, but there are few examples to differentiate where an equivalent placing would be for a female coach at the highest level in the men’s pyramid.
“Women’s football in its own right is something to celebrate [J4MB: It’s not. It’s eye-wateringly boring] and the quality and achievements of all the females I represent … it’s an insult to them that we talk about women’s football being a step down, the dedication, the commitment and the quality that they have. [J4MB: If women’s football isn;t a step down, then compete with men’s teams.] I think that’s what I’m disappointed with, not being linked to a football job as a football coach, regardless of gender,” Hayes said.
“If coaching World Cup champions, winners, players who have represented their countries in the Olympics or European Championships is a step down from anything, I think the football world needs to wake up and recognise that women’s football — while the game is played by a different gender — is exactly the same sport. [J4MB: The same sport, but boring.] The qualities involved in having to manage that are exactly the same that it would be for a men’s team. We’re talking about human beings here. But I think unfortunately the football world needs to live by its promises and by the diversity codes and be in a position where they’re promoting the opportunities for the less privileged.”
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