Emma Hayes helped transform women's football in this country... but after her exit from Chelsea, it has to move on without her, writes KATHRYN BATTE

For the last 12 years Emma Hayes has been the face of women’s football in this country.

She has driven the game forward, pushed for higher standards, better facilities and more coverage.

Being the unofficial spokesperson for women’s football was not part of Hayes’ contract when she joined Chelsea in 2012. But it is a role she has performed and a burden she has carried largely on her own. Unlike Premier League managers who may also face difficult questions not related to matches or football, there are multiple people with big profiles to carry the load. 

Hayes has been seen as voice of the women’s game. Her words carried more weight and travelled further than any other manager in the Women’s Super League.

It is not surprising she grew tired of it all.

Hayes, who we can now refer to as the United States national team manager, leaves the English game in a better place than where she found it.

The WSL must move on from Hayes, but the question is how?

When I spoke to Hayes in January, she said somebody would inevitably fill the role she has performed and suggested Carla Ward could eventually be that person.

But three weeks ago, Ward announced she would be leaving Aston Villa to spend more time with her family. Hayes has seemed less optimistic about who would fill her shoes and the future of female managers in the last few weeks.

People may ask, is the women’s game at the point where it no longer needs a figurehead? And, if it does need one, does that person necessarily need to be a woman?

There are male managers like Matt Beard who has been around a long time, knows the pitfalls of the women’s game and what still has to improve. Robert Vilahamn has been a refreshing addition to the WSL while Jonas Eidevall and Marc Skinner have not been afraid to speak their minds on occasions. But there is no doubt strong female voices are important and the shortage of women in coaching roles is concerning. Both Hayes and Ward are mothers and have spoken about how the game needs to support those who have to balance coaching with parenthood better.

What the game definitely needs is characters and we have lost two big ones in Hayes and Ward.

‘Me and Emma speak about this a lot, the lack of females and making sure on our way out you have a voice, we have a collective voice,’ Ward said in her final press conference.

‘I think that’s going to be important. I think if you take the character side away and the personality side away, I think you lose something.

‘There isn’t enough people that are willing to speak up. There isn’t enough that are willing to be honest and say what they really should say and what they feel because they’re worried about a reaction on social media, or they’re worried about a reaction here, there and everywhere.

‘People need to step up and maybe take the lead and speak and share exactly how they feel because not enough do. It does take character to do that.’

Hayes has no doubt inspired many women to take up coaching, but we may not see the effect of her work in that sense for a while.

When Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool last week, the saying was that he had turned doubters into believers. Hayes has done the same but on two fronts. She has not just taken Chelsea from a semi-professional team battling relegation to a professional, record-breaking side that have now won five straight titles. She has also helped transform women’s football. She convinced people to invest when they told her it was unrealistic. She never stopped pushing for more and, for that, the game is indebted to her.

There will never be another Emma Hayes and it is difficult to imagine the WSL and the English game without her. But, somehow, it has to find a way to move on.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe was not at Old Trafford to watch Manchester United’s 6-0 defeat by Chelsea but INEOS head of sport Dave Brailsford was - and it is doubtful he will have been impressed by what he saw. 

United announced Marc Skinner had signed a new one-year contract extension a day before the game, though the manager is understood to have put pen to paper before their victory in the FA Cup final. 

Skinner was rather prickly in his post-match press conference, arguing that some journalists only watch highlights rather than full games and that next season he wants to talk more about football and less about ‘scandal’. 

The problem for Skinner is that the football his side played on Saturday was nowhere near good enough. His team did not manage a single shot on target and their defending for all six goals was poor. 

Skinner delivered a first piece of major silverware but admitted his team has not been consistent enough in the WSL. It is true more investment is needed and United were unfortunate that they lost two of their new signings in Gabby George and Emma Watson to long-term injuries. 

But the other players they recruited last summer have not performed or, in Irene Guerrero’s case, not had much of a look in. 

The reality is Liverpool finished six points ahead of United on a much smaller budget. That is what Skinner and the club need to look at and rectify next season. 

Matt Beard is my manager of the season for taking Liverpool to a fourth-placed finish after promotion to the WSL two years ago. 

The Reds beat Manchester United twice and recorded victories against Chelsea and Arsenal. 

Caroline Weir will officially open the Women’s Football Awards in London later this month. 

The Real Madrid midfielder, who missed much of this season through injury, will welcome guests to the high-profile awards event with a keynote speech highlighting the exciting growth of the sport.