Emma Hayes and the life behind a winning machine

Emma Hayes managed to find a way to reflect on her achievements while seeing the bigger picture. At Wembley last year, as Hayes sat with another winner's medal around her neck this time after Chelsea defeated Manchester United to win their third FA Cup in a row - there was a moment where she paused from the relentlessness of football management and its daily demands to focus on a wider journey. "When I sit at home alone and think about the work we do every day, and the sacrifices we all make, I know I've given my life to it," she reflected.

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

There can be no arguing with that, not after 12 hugely successful seasons at Chelsea, the years working her way up the coaching ladder in the United States in her mid-twenties, the countless hours before then, trying to find the bottom rung in England, volunteering in community projects in her native Camden, doing anything she could to earn the coaching badges and certificates. At that stage, there was no identifiable end point, no professional game to aspire to reach. There was only a goal, or even a calling, to make an impact in women's football, perhaps winning a trophy or two.

Hayes departs now not just as the most successful manager in the modern era of women's football in England, but as a pioneer and advocate for a game that has changed beyond recognition while she has been at the forefront of it. When Hayes spoke, people listened, and in the years before Chelsea were selling out Stamford Bridge for a women's game, or England were winning the Euros at Wembley, she shared a vision of where women's football could get to, what was holding it back. She encouraged others to dream of progress and opportunity.

Within that, Hayes in many ways created the stages where Chelsea would enjoy a decade of dominance over the domestic game, and her teams shared many of her traits. Even when Chelsea could sign the best players, Hayes ensured they were always disciplined and humble, hard-working and ruthless. Hayes's greatest strength was her ability to construct a team spirit. Just as she built Chelsea, Hayes fostered a culture that turned her players into an inevitable force. Chelsea developed a knack of winning the biggest games while not playing well. They won and won and won.