Chelsea manager Emma Hayes called relationships amongst players on the same team “inappropriate” on Thursday due to the challenges that come with managing such relationships.
She also acknowledged, however, that “we’re dealing with human beings.”
The comments came after Hayes was asked about player safeguards following reports in British media that Leicester women’s manager Willie Kirk is being investigated for a player-coach relationship.
“We have to have safeguarding, make sure that’s it’s accessible for each and every club to protect players,” Hayes said. “Player-coach relationships, they’re inappropriate, player-to-player relationships are inappropriate.
“But we have to look at it in the context of where the game has come from and say, ‘Look, we’re in a professional era now’ where the expectations in place for players and coaches is such that all of our focus and attention has got to be on having the top standards.”
Hayes noted that relationships between players can be difficult to navigate for a coach.
“One player’s in the team, one’s not in the team, one might be in the last year of their contract, one might not be,” Hayes said. “We all know, those of us that have…
