Chelsea boss Emma Hayes admits she was WRONG to call relationships between team-mates ‘inappropriate’ and reveals talks with Jess Carter, who is dating keeper, after she liked tweets calling her ‘beyond bonkers’

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes has admitted she was wrong to call player to player relationships ‘inappropriate’ after facing a backlash on social media.

On Thursday, Hayes said player-to-player relationships within the same dressing room can lead to challenges to managers. 

She made the comments while responding to questions about player-coach relationships in the women’s game after Leicester boss Willie Kirk was suspended last week over an alleged relationship with a player.

‘I think player-coach relationships are inappropriate, player-to-player relationships are inappropriate,’ Hayes said.

‘But we have to look at it in the context of where the game has come from and say 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.

Chelsea boss with defender Jess Carter after Friday’s victory over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea Women’s star Carter (right), pictured here with her partner and team-mate Ann-Katrin Berger, has liked a string of social media posts criticising Hayes 

‘And that’s why I’ve always been an advocate of making sure clubs have minimum standards, whether it’s code of conduct, player safeguarding, whether it’s player welfare.’

Chelsea defender Jess Carter, who is in a relationship with her team-mate Ann-Katrin Berger liked a series of posts on X, formerly known as twitter, including one which described her comments as ‘beyond bonkers’.

Hayes, whose side won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, said she had ‘let herself down’ with her comments but that she had cleared the air with Carter ahead of the game.

‘Of course I’ve spoken with her [Carter],’ Hayes said.

‘This is all I’m gonna say on it. I want to be clear to everybody in the room. I don’t want to create any more clickbait headlines for you guys.

‘I think sometimes that becomes the case when we have honest conversations about things. Of course I’m disappointed about that. Of course Jess and I have had a conversation today, as I have with other players within the team.

‘They know exactly who I am and they know exactly what my intentions were. But I have to expect that I’m supposed to be the most well-trained, non-clickbait headline coach and I let myself down yesterday.

‘I didn’t think it was right for me to use the term inappropriate for the players. Nonetheless, when we have honest conversations about these things I don’t take those things back but I have zero criticism of any player in my dressing room for anything.

‘They’re professionalism, for what they’ve given to the club regardless of their status, regardless of who they’re in a relationship with. I’ve been unbelievably supportive of all of the players. I’ve been a champions for quality and equity. I think, sadly, this has become a topic that’s blown up in an unnecessary way.

Carter appeared to like several posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) which called her manager ‘beyond bonkers’ for her claims 

Player-player relationships are relatively common in women’s football with several high profile couples currently playing in the WSL

‘But I cannot control social media and nor do I wish to. But I do want to say that I have an unbelievable dressing room. You saw tonight in the performance from everybody, they were extremely focused on things that matter.

‘As I keep saying to our players all the time, even if we have disagreements in life, we mustn’t play them out publicly. We must have them conversations with each other. Because I think it’s an important thing you should do in a workplace and I think everybody understands that.

‘I think you saw from the performance tonight from the team that everybody is absolutely invested in what we are doing. Tremendous performance from everyone including Jess.’

Hayes had been asked about player-coach relationships in the women’s game after Leicester boss Willie Kirk was suspended last week over an alleged relationship with a player.