Chelsea part company with head of women’s football in shock move

Chelsea have announced the shock exit of their influential head of women’s football, Paul Green.

Green joined Chelsea in 2013, recruited from Doncaster Rovers Belles by Emma Hayes to be her assistant manager. In the intervening years they formed a formidable ­partnership, sharing an office throughout, with Green an architect, alongside Hayes, of an ambitious blueprint that would take the women’s team to the top of English and European football. He was particularly involved in the club’s recruitment strategy alongside Hayes, masterminding a process that would have Chelsea operating three or four transfer windows ahead.

Giving an insight into their relationship in 2023 Hayes said that she would “tell him I want to get to the moon, he’ll tell me the rocket isn’t built yet”.

Green also stepped in, alongside assistant manager Denise Reddy, to lead the team when Hayes missed six games due to an emergency hysterectomy.

During his time at the club they won 19 trophies, including eight league titles and six FA Cups.

Sam Kerr praised his influence on social media: “Thank you PG for everything you have done for us!” the forward wrote. “We wouldn’t have all the success we have had without you! Big big loss for the club.” Erin Cuthbert also posted on Green’s impact on her career.

The loss of Green’s experience and wider influence within the game marks a sea change at Chelsea, with the head of women’s football having been widely considered a key ­continuity piece following Hayes’s decision to leave the club to become head coach of the US women’s national team.

The Guardian understands that Green’s influence and role in decision-making has been increasingly impeded at Chelsea, with co-sporting directors, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, taking more of an active role around the women’s team.

Green’s departure comes days after the club announced a new long-term contract for the manager, Sonia Bompastor, who he helped recruit following the departure of Hayes, and who achieved an unbeaten domestic treble in her first season in charge. However, Bompastor has come under fire from a section of Chelsea fans in recent weeks after back-to-back defeats to Manchester City and Arsenal compounded feelings around a string of poor performances. It was the first time the Blues had suffered successive losses since 2015.

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