“If you don’t improve I’m selling you.” A young Jess Carter is sat in the middle of a white-walled room at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, a tactics board behind her, a fleet of analysts and fitness staff, all armed with laptops, positioned on the outside, quietly looking in. Carter is chewing gum and looks bored, frustrated to have been hauled aside to hear the same old message. Facing her is Emma Hayes. “I want you to show every f***ing day that you give a f*** about yourself,” Hayes says. “It’s up to you to decide your future.” Four years later, it is clear what future Carter decided to choose. Now 26, the Chelsea defender is an established England international, having just played a key role in the Lionesses reaching the World Cup final this summer. When Carter first arrived at Chelsea, Hayes found a player who struggled to keep herself fit or follow a regimented diet. Chelsea’s fitness staff were exasperated and Carter’s confidence was on the floor: she did not think she was good enough to play for her country, but Hayes saw and believed in her potential and, crucially, how it could be brought out. What followed won’t be included on Hayes’s list of honours or medals when the manager leaves Chelsea at the end of the season. “Highly decorated” does not even begin to cover what Hayes has achieved at Chelsea, or the legacy she will leave behind after the shock news that this season will be her last at Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow, with the glamour of the USA job calling. Under Hayes, the days of triumph and glory Chelsea have celebrated since her appointment in 2012 have been unrivalled, stretched across an unprecedented decade of dominance. Yet if the dynasty Hayes built can be measured in titles, its foundations are in success stories like Carter’s – and the manager who set the environment where she could become the player she is today. “If you sleepwalk your way through life, you won’t survive,” Hayes goes on to say in the DAZN documentary One Team, One Dream. Certainly, it reveals some insights into the ruthless trophy-winning machine that has dominated women’s football in England over the last decade, claiming six Women’s Super Leagues, five Women’s FA Cups and two League Cups, and which in recent years has barely given anyone else a sniff. That could change now Hayes will be leaving the WSL, heading towards a position that is outside club football altogether. The 47-year-old will take up the vacancy at the United States women’s national team, with the four-time World Cup winners appointing her as successor to Vlatko Andonovski after their disastrous last-16 exit from this year’s tournament. Hayes was said to be US Soccer’s first choice for the job and reports in the US suggest she will receive an equal salary to the men’s head coach Gregg Berhalter, at £1.3m per year – making her the highest-paid women’s football coach in the world. Given Hayes’s record in women’s football, such an offer from US Soccer should only be considered the minimum. The English manager is the outstanding club coach in the women’s game and the only area that Chelsea have fallen short in has been in their pursuit of a first Champions League title, after reaching the final in 2021 and the semi-finals last season. It would be fair to include this as a criticism, given how Hayes has been backed by Chelsea and the resources available to the club. After all, it was that support that led to Chelsea signing Sam Kerr, the striker who took Hayes’s side to another level and whose taste for the big moments came to mirror their own sense of inevitability. But in dominating the domestic scene, Hayes created a culture where the values of graft and grind were placed on a pedestal. Over the years, much of their trophy procession felt self-fulfilling. It came from the top, where Hayes reinforced the message and stamped out complacency at the start of every season, sustaining Chelsea’s superiority in a league that was so often decided by fine margins. If the history of team sports shows there are often natural, unavoidable drop-offs in performance and motivation following periods of success, there has been little hint of that at Chelsea in recent years. Which is what makes Hayes’s move to the USA so fascinating. “Arrogance” and “complacency” were the very words used to describe how the USA ceded their position as the dominant force in international women’s football, as illustrated by their disastrous defence of their World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand. Their performances up to and including that last-16 defeat to Sweden highlighted a squad that was long past its best, and a system where players had the power and were picked based on their reputations. Naturally, many of the issues that Hayes inherits will lie below the surface and could take years to resolve, primarily how the US has fallen behind Europe in the production of young talent. Hayes’s previous experience before arriving at Chelsea is set to be beneficial, given she started her coaching career in the US college system in the early 2000s and landed her first professional managerial position with the Chicago Red Stars in the National Women’s Soccer League. As Hayes will remain with Chelsea until the end of the season, there is time to assess what is required ahead of what would be her primary goal of recapturing the World Cup in 2027. But it is in the dressing room where Hayes’s immediate targets and her strictest standards will be made clear – just like she told Carter all those years ago. “Get better or I’ll get someone else.” Perhaps the USA have not heard enough of that in recent years. Now a team in need of a reset will be charged with the ultimate cultural makeover. Before then, though, there are more trophies with Chelsea to win. Read More Emma Hayes: Winning Champions League would be fairytale end to time at Chelsea The ‘crazy’ debate once again at the heart of the Women’s Champions League Chelsea defeat Everton in WSL as Manchester City slip up against Brighton Emma Hayes says ‘time is right’ to move on from Chelsea after 12 years Emma Hayes to take charge of USA after final season at Chelsea Candidates to take over as Chelsea boss after Emma Hayes decides to move on

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A prosecutor has issued a public plea urging Missouri Governor Mike Parson not to pardon a former police detective over the fatal shooting of a Black man. Eric DeValkenaere was convicted in 2021 of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the December 2019 death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb. DeValkenaere, a former Kansas City police officer, was sentenced in 2022 to six years in prison but has remained free on bond as his appeal is reviewed. After reports emerged earlier this week that Gov Parson is considering a pardon in the case, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker warned in a public letter that the greater long-term effect of the potential pardon would be the “erosion of our public safety system as fair and just.” “Pardons are political actions by design, not devised for the innocent but for the guilty,” wrote Ms Peters Baker in the letter addressed to Gov Parson. “I imagine you might view a pardon as a way to support police. But I expect this extreme action for the only KCPD officer convicted of fatally shooting a black man will ignite distrust, protests, and public safety concerns for citizens and police.” Ms Peters Baker accused Gov Parson of “being lobbied” into the decision and of “using a political action to subvert the rule of law.” According to the prosecutor, no one from the governor’s office has reached out to the family members of the victim. Lamb family members and loved ones also gathered on the steps of the Jackson County Courthouse on Tuesday, asking the governor to speak with them before making a final call. “Governor, if you pardon DeValkenaere, you will create more tension in the city and we will be left to pick up the pieces,” Reverend Emmanuel Cleaver said during the Tuesday rally, according to KCTV. In a statement to KCTV, the governor’s office accused Ms Peter Baker of “political games ... for her re-election bid.” “Governor Parson is grounded in his faith and believes in second chances,” spokesperson Kelli Jones said, noting the 538 the governor has issued. “He has created more workforce training opportunities for offenders, brought the landmark Reentry 2030 program to assist offenders, and started the first law enforcement academy at a historically black college.” During a bench trial in 2021, a judge said DeValkenaere and his partner violated Lamb’s constitutional rights because they had no probable cause to believe he had committed a crime, had no warrant for Lamb’s arrest and had no search warrant or consent to be on the property. The convicted officer shot Lamb as the victim was backing up a truck into a garage and within seconds of arriving where Lamb lived. The officers had followed him after reports of several traffic violations. DeValkenaere testified that he shot Lamb because he believed his partner’s life was in danger. Meanwhile, Lamb’s family has said he was not armed and that a gun found at the scene was planted. In a motion filed last year with the Missouri Court of Appeals, DeValkenaere’s attorneys argued that DeValkenaere and his partner had probable cause to be on Lamb’s property and to arrest him for the traffic violations, The Kansas City Star reported. Read More Daniel Penny indicted in Jordan Neely subway death as ex-marine’s arraignment set for 28 June How Republicans and right-wing media turned Jordan Neely’s killer into a hero Grand jury votes to indict Daniel Penny in subway killing of Jordan Neely

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