We Are Chelsea - Celebrating 20 years of Chelsea Women FC: Live from Stamford Bridge

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

This is We are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Škoda, the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporters of women's sport. www.skoda.co.uk Welcome to a special episode of We Are Chelsea, and our first ever live podcast! This episode was recorded at Stamford Bridge before the Barcelona semi-final in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, in front of a packed crowd of excited Chelsea fans. We are approaching the 20th anniversary of Chelsea Women FC as we know it, with the team being fully integrated into the club setup back in 2004. Caz De Moraes is joined on stage by Chelsea legends Eni Aluko, and Katie Chapman, as well as former manager Shaun Gore, to discuss the development of the women's team over the past two decades, and to reflect on what made the Blues the dominant force they are today. Remember to subscribe and leave a review, wherever you get your podcasts! Send us your questions to [e-mail] To watch the full episode on YouTube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafc/videos#WeAreChelsea Music courtesy of BMG Production Music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little birdie in the dressing room tells me that you used to play with grey socks because you couldn't quite get your whites and your colours sorted. That is true. That is true. I got my laundry wrong and, you know, it was the only white socks we had. So sometimes they were pink, sometimes they were grey. It was embarrassing. But, you know, those were the days. Well, hello and welcome to We are. Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Skoda, who are the official car partner of Chelsea Women and huge and proud supporters of women's sport.

Today, we're live from Stamford Bridge. I am so excited. We are recording this before the semi-final second leg against Barcelona. And I'm joined by the best and the most excitable Chelsea. fans, they've already cheered, but they're going to do it again. Cheer again! Oh, I'm excited to be here. Excellent, guys.

Well, tonight, we're bringing you a special episode of We Are Chelsea because it's approaching the 20th anniversary of Chelsea Women's as we know it. Chelsea ladies, as they were known back then, was a team set up in 1992 by a lifelong Chelsea fan, Tony Farmer, who is in the... There he is. There he is. Give him a cheer. Black cap, white sweater. You can all grab him. And he's slow because he's got a foot injury, so you can all grab him later. Well, he was the club's first manager and oversaw those early years in the local league right through until 1997. Not to mention giving opportunities to some pretty exciting youth players that you may have heard of. Casey Stoney and Farah Williams, just to name. a couple. Chelsea ladies, they battled through the local leagues back then until they finally became a fully integrated part of Chelsea Football Club, and that was back in 2004, which also coincided with them being promoted to the FA Premier League, as it was called back then. And that was

the start of their journey to becoming the most dominant team in English football today. Yeah. Well, we've got three guests, but I'm going to welcome my first guest. tonight. Let's see if you can guess who it is. She is an absolute Chelsea legend, winning two WSL titles and two FA Cups with the Blues, not to mention 102 England caps. It is Eni Alucco! Hey! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi, everyone.

I haven't got loads of time with any, so I'm going to try and get through this. But I first of all, I want to know, how are you and how surprised are you at the amount of people that you saw outside? Oh my God, I couldn't get through. I had to get someone to come and get me. It was like, wow, you know, two hours before kick off. And there's so many people outside. I always get so emotional when I see that because once upon a time, no one cared man like no one cared you know what people did care i shouldn't say that but it was a very

small group of people and you know to see where we are now you know even this like live podcasts before you know fans and it's just amazing like to see the journey and to see how far it's come and how far much more we've got to go like i just i just beam i get so excited because it's i think we deserve it. I think the women's game, and particularly Chelsea, deserve it, deserve, you know, the progression and everything that's going. So thank you to all the fans that sort of make it happen. It's just really exciting. It is exciting. And I mean, you did see the transition because you were at the club across two spells. So 2007-2009, then you came back in 2012. Describe what the club was like when you first joined and then when you came back. And then now today, seeing it like

this. Yeah, so when I first joined Chelsea, the club was pretty much in the foundation. Sean Gore, who you're going to be hearing from in a minute, it was the sort of manager. And yeah, it was, you know, there was no, it wasn't a professional league. It was very much, you know, something that I did played football alongside uni. And, you know, I remember just feeling a little bit like I don't know where this is leading me but you know we had a good team we had a decent team and we did our best and then I went to America really to fulfill my dream to become a professional footballer and then when I came back from America I joined Chelsea and that's when the Olympics happened and then it kicked off you know in a really good way Emma Hayes joined in

in 2012 signed me and we never looked back you know in terms of the success that Emma's obviously brought to Chelsea and you know I was a big part of that for seven years you know she's still someone that has you know that I listen to

and has a huge influence in our careers and yeah I'm just so grateful to have been part of the success that's led us to this place now it's crazy it's because just being in the Champions League was it was an objective right we sort of you know for the first two three years we just wanted to be in it like just play one game

and now it's like right okay we're playing at stanford bridge and you know it's like you're playing to a full stadium it's just yeah it's it's it's it's just been an amazing journey talk to me about where you trained what was that like and then even having to take your kit home and wash it yourself yeah so so we trained at cobham which which which i always felt was like you know i always felt that was better than everybody else you know the fact that we trained at cobham and you could see the the men's building and and but we used to train in the evenings on the astro turf um and as you said yeah we used to take our kit home um and that was very much the norm right like you know it wasn't a it wasn't sort of a professional set up um yeah that was that was very much the norm we we we we

Yeah. What was your laundry like? Because Little Birdie in the dressing room tells me that you used to play with grey socks because you couldn't quite get your whites and your colours sorted. Who's told you that? That is true. That is true. I got my laundry wrong and, you know, it was the only white socks we had.

So sometimes they were pink, sometimes they were grey. It was embarrassing. But, you know, those were the days. And also, let's talk about the standard of the WSL. I mean, you've seen the rise. Talk to me about what it was like at the time. Yeah, I mean, I think, as I said, post-Olympics, I think that's when everyone woke up to women's football

and thought, actually, this is a good watch. And, you know, these are great players. And so I think for Chelsea, come 2012, even they, you know, the wider club decided, okay, we're going to take this a little bit more seriously, I think, I believe it came out of the foundation into the sort of the professional club. And then obviously you then have, you know, the budgets that then come from the professional club. And then things started improving gradually, you know, you can train on the pitches, you can train in the daytime and not the evenings. And gradually, Emma Hayes, I think, really sort

of was knocking on the door of all the, you know, the owners and the directors to say, well, we need more we need we need a gym we need you know we all these things that i think in the men's game and the boys game you take for granted actually we had to ask for everything you know from from laundry to you know another pitch to gym equipment to you know i remember the first time we were having lunch after training and it was like wow this is amazing like we know we're eating together Because we used to just train, go home, and we'd have to sort our own nutrition out, you know. So these are all the little things that I think have pushed it forward, pushed it forward to now where you have a fully professional set up, one of the best in the world.

And I'm just so proud of that. I'm proud that, like, we've had to graft and really get everything we've got in order to be where we are now. Well, I was going to ask you what changed in the three years when you were away, but it sounds like Emma kept knocking on those doors and kept grafting. I think it was Emma. There's no denying that Emma, obviously she's a great coach, but I think she's a visionary as well. I think she came in and went bang,

I want the best for these players, and I want to be able to attract players to the club by saying we've got this pitch and that pitch and a gym and food and, you know, so all these things matter because ultimately I think all of us, if you said to us when we were 10 years old when we were just playing football for fun we would be able to be on professional footballers

that's all we would ever wanted and what that is is ultimately being able to say right you pay to play and you've got you feel like a professional footballer you don't have to worry about anything else so all of those things Emma brought into the environment and as a result I think Chelsea have really benefited

from that. Well it's really sad that this is going to be Emma's last season. What do you think Emma's lasting legacy will be here at Chelsea? That's a question from someone in the audience, by the way. Oh, there we go, waving at the back. Yeah. I think incredible success. Yeah.

You know, I'm losing count now. How many titles has been, I think, is it five, five titles? Four league titles, I think it is. Yeah. Four, yeah. Obviously, F.A. Cups. But the legacy, I think, is. success and I think is everything I said in terms of creating an environment, a professional

environment that every single footballer around the world, female footballer, goes, wow, you know, I'd love to play for Chelsea. It's taken it from, you know, it's taken it from a sort of semi-professional set up to now a global, global set up that everybody looks to as a benchmark. I mean, I've only interviewed Emma a couple of times and I've come away going, I need her as my personal life coach in my life. No, I think you're right. I think she is a bit of a philosopher, you know. She likes a poem, you know.

I can never forget it. When we won the FA Cup at Wembley in 2015, best day of my life, Emma gave us a poem. We gave us all a poem. Did she? Yeah, on the morning of the game. And I remember thinking, that's a bit niche, a bit different. And we read it and we went, oh, okay, that's, you know, motivation.

But those are the things you don't forget. Yeah. You know, those are the things that are just so unique about Emma. No other coaches doing that. No other coaches giving poems to their players, you know. And that she's just really quirky in that way. But genuinely cares about the human being behind the player, which I don't think, certainly in my experience, not a lot of managers do that.

They just, it's just results and it's very transaction. relationship whereas I still speak to Emma now and I left Chelsea a long time ago right do you of course yeah yeah I speak to Emma yeah all the time and she'll you know she's honest with me she'll say any what you want about or you know that was great I couldn't believe that I can believe she's honest and that's listen that that's what you want you know that's what you want from your mates to be able to say listen I care about you yeah you were bang on there or you were out of line there or whatever you know and and that's that's very much what she's is for me. So she cares about the human being. And I think that, again, that's probably going to be

part of her legacy as well. I need to ask you, this is another audience question. What do you see the game being like in the next 10 to 20 years? I mean, you've already seen a massive change. But can you look forward? Yeah. Do you know what? I think if the last 10 years or anything to go by, it's just going to be so exciting. I think, I think if you take a snapshot, of today, this is going to be the norm, you know, a sold-out stadium for women's football and for Chelsea playing at, you know, Stanford Bridge or maybe our own women's 60,000 seat a stadium. Oh, let's dream, let's dream.

I think this is going to be the norm. It kind of is becoming the norm. It is, yeah. I think this is going to be, yeah. And I hope that, you know, we're building a fan base where the conversation becomes less about gender and it just becomes, that is a team I want to support, that is an experience I want to have. You know, I was at the, I came here for the Arsenal game and I'm quite happy that there was a delay because of the socks because the DJ was amazing. I had a great time. Someone else said that as well, actually.

Amazing. Because, you know, if you close your eyes and you didn't like, even if you didn't like football, you would have thought, wow, you know, I had a bit of a dance. And that's the experience I think we need to create. We need to create a safe, safe experience, inclusive experience, one that, you know, kids can come to, you know, women, men, all backgrounds. You know, that's what I see for women's football. I think it's really, you know, I think it's really amazing to see, you know, all of these people. and I think that's going to be the future. It's really nice to know that boys will grow up seeing the women's game as much as the men's game and it will become the norm for them. My next audience question for you is, if you have the chance to start your career again and play in this era, would you? Playing this era?

As in start now, yeah, if you could be starting. Oh yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, who was that from? That was a good question. It was a good question. Who was that from? Oh, hello. Very good question. Future journalist.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people ask me, do I miss playing? And I don't miss playing because I feel like I had a really good innings, particularly with Chelsea. But to be able to play now in front of, you know, sold out stadiums, of course, like, I would bite your arm off for that. chance. I only got a chance to play at Stanford Brid once and we got smashed 4-0 from Walsberg. So it wasn't, you know, the best day of my career. So yeah, of course, I would I would do that. And, you know, to do it with Chelsea would be amazing. Now, I also have to ask you, how has it been like since you stopped playing?

Yeah, so I, so as I said, when, you know, when I retired, I'd already had sort of lots of things set up for me to do. Okay. Because I was so scared of not, not having anything to do. Well, I was going to ask you that because it's a hard transition. No, it's really hard. It's really hard. And I speak to players all the time and say, listen, start preparing well in advance, right?

Because it is scary, you know, your whole life, you play for, football you're defined by football and then you got to you know start again really in many ways you know I was lucky that I started doing media before I retired and you know whilst I was playing yeah um so that I could sort of continue that um you know I'm studying you know I started studying um did a master's whilst I was at Juventus actually I started my master's but again that prepared me for the path that I was going to go down in terms of you know executive management. So I would definitely, for any sort of young girls who play,

don't forget your education. Well, I was about to say, if anyone had an excuse to stop it, it was you and you've got masters. Yeah, no, but, you know, I think it's important, do you know, because you're one injury away from sometimes it being done, right? So, you know, whether it's injury, whatever,

it's important to not put all your eggs in the football basket. Listen, focus on your football and do your thing and give it your all, but I still think it's important to have other interests and education so that you've got a fallback as well. Annie, you are fantastic. I've absolutely loved it. I know you need to run off. So thank you so much. Guys, can we just give Eni a massive cheer?

This podcast is brought to you by Scoda, the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. Whether you're playing five-a-side after work, cheering the kids on from the sidelines on a Saturday morning or gathering with your mates to watch the big leagues at the weekend. Skoda's the perfect companion for your everyday adventures. Zip around town in the fully electric eniac or give the squad a lift home in the all-new seven-seater Kodiak. There's something in the range to suit teams of all shapes and size. Don't just take my word for it. Search the SCODA range today to jump in and see for yourself. Next up, joining us tonight, we've got not one but two special guests. One of them is an OG of the Chelsea women's team. He managed the club in 2005 and has seen the club transform into a totally

different beast since then. Now working as a scout for the men's team, it is Sean Gore. Give him a round of applause. Hey! Ah! Yes, it's out, take seat. And our second guest is a Chelsea legend, a former captain of the club.

She joined the Blues in 2014 and played here right up until her retirement with two WSL titles and two FA cups under her belt during that time. It is, of course, Katie. Chapman, you knew. Hey. Thank you. How are you both? I got your laundry question in. Brilliant. I just said to her down there. I'm so happy you asked that question. I mean, she was a little bit shy. She was like, who told you that? She didn't go any better, she just said.

Sean, how are you? I'm really well, thank you. And you? I am very well. I can't imagine what it's like being you and coming here, seeing this, seeing the crowds, and seeing the transition of it all. Have you just felt like it's all a bit surreal? Yeah, after 31 years at the club, yeah, you kind of take things for granted a little bit,

but I was just on the train on the way in. And when I was manager, we were lucky if we got 50 to 100 people, but just sitting on the train and seeing families, boys and girls and moms and dad, in the Chelsea kits. It's just phenomenal. And it's just a testament to me how much it's growing.

Yeah. Katie, were you a bit surprised? I've obviously been around the game and been to big games and stuff like that. So I've seen the crowds, obviously, over the years, start to build up and grow. But two hours before...

It's amazing. It's amazing. I think it's amazing to see that we've got a sell out here today and be here and experience it as well. Like, I love the side of being a fan as well. Now I've been in that sort of situation. I've got my head around not playing.

So I'm there now. I'm actually a fan and I'm enjoying it. Yeah, so it's great. Well, Sean, let's start with you. You had a major role in the Chelsea women's team, being part of Chelsea FC. How did it all come about? Quite how long you got? I think it was just at the end of 2003 that I got a call from the FA saying,

look, we need to start thinking about how we're going to transatlable. transition, centre of excellencies and girls' football and stuff like that. So they were looking up making some funding going into different clubs and stuff. And there were two bits of the club that weren't actually part of the club. Sounds a bit weird, but that was the ladies team and the disabled team. So Mr. Bates at the time had allowed them to play under the auspice of just go out and play and have some fun and then we'll see what happens as we go from there. obviously new ownership came in

and it was a it was basically can we take them in house and that was my job to bring both of those teams in which was a you know which was difficult you know coming from what was purely a grassroots amateur club I mean Tony Tony's in the audience started up so

fair play to Tony starting up and unless you've actually been in that role you don't actually understand the commitment that's needed Tony was saying to me before we came on stage he worked 40 hours and that's probably on top of his full-time job as well so it was it was about giving them support and so on so and I was saying to Tony we hadn't made those changes because I became manager in 2005 and we were at the bottom of the league we were struggling and we knew that we knew we were going to go into a playoff so we got Liverpool

in the playoffs. So we did improve as the season went on. Sorry, I'm not used to this, Mike. We did improve as the season went on, and we ended up playing Liverpool in the playoff, and we won 4-1. And then we, you know, gradually brought in some new players and so on and so on. So it was a transition from amateur grassroots into having a little bit more support, a little bit of funding that came in from the community program, the foundation at the time. And it was the start of the transition. It was the start of everything for Chelsea. You know, If we had got, I was thinking about it, if we hadn't made that change, we hadn't had beaten Liverpool, we would have gone down the league.

And it may not have been here at this particular time. So it's just all lifts and butts, but it's fate. So fortunately, I sat myself a couple of seasons later on. Job was too big. The full-time job was too big. And obviously we've ended up here today with Emma doing her thing. Yeah, definitely doing her thing. Can you paint a very quick picture of what the facilities were like,

what the, you know, any touched on lunches and just little things that obviously now we probably all take for granted, but that was a big deal back then that they didn't have. When I first started to talk about looking at the first team, the women's ladies' first team, they trained at Felton Community College. I don't know if anyone's from Felton and they know the facilities there. It was a basic ashther Fitch. Yeah, so it was an ashtra turf pitch. It was what it was.

And it was difficult to get to. Just like in those times, it was really, really difficult. So I remember my first training session, actually. So my philosophy as a coax was always showing what you want them to do. Okay. So I've decided I'm going to demonstrate what I want them to do. And, you know, this was a really bubbly group of girls. And so I decided I'm going to do some quick play

and try and get the ball out of feet and shoot on site. And I brought in a very good friend of mine here in Woodruff who runs the international department here at Chelsea as an assistant coach and Pete Stewart as well as an assistant operations person. And so I basically said, look, this is what I want you to do. I stepped in, beat a player coming in, and I've hit this 30-yard shot into the top right-in corner. So I'm a centre-back.

Kate will tell you, I'm a centre-house. back. I've never done that in my life. So I went, that's what I want you to do. And they all looked to me like that. And they went, wow. So hopefully the respect was there. But the facilities weren't there. So we ended up moving from Hampton and Richmond, which I think probably Tony was influential in making sure we played there. But we ended up going to Met Police, which was a fantastic facility. The pitch was unbelievable. And then two in the Mitchum. And then the first women's Super League came. So facilities were poor. They improved dramatically. Well, I'm going to come to you, Katie, because it was 10 years later that you joined. What was it like when you first

arrived? Obviously, we were at the training ground, so we were training there. We were still training just evening. So we're doing Tuesday and Thursday evenings on the AstroTurf. And 10 o'clock, 10 o'clock, the lights would go out and you walk back to the car in the dark. So we experienced sort of that. But, you know, I was used to that because that's what we did before. So when I was at pubs before, we did exactly the same thing. We trained in the evenings, two nights a week, you know, and then you went home 10 o'clock. Yeah, the lights were out.

So we were used to, it wasn't, yeah, it was nothing different. He had a little torch. It was nothing different, nothing different. And you came from Arsenal. So what was that transition like? And I guess how did the fans react? How did they welcome you or not? I don't remember it being too bad, actually,

because I think that season at Arsenal, I think about seven players left the club and went to different points. And I remember moving over with Jillif, Jilly, Flaherty, so we both left Arsenal and come over together. And it was just, I think for me, personally, it was a transition I needed to make. I think at Arsenal, you know, I won quite a lot there. And when I knew Emma was taken over the role at Chelsea, I knew exactly what, you know,

she was like as a coach and as a person. So I worked with her, obviously, Arsenal. I went over to Chicago as well. She was the manager over there. So coming to the club was a no-brainer. And for me, I was at a period of where I want a challenge. I want something new and I want to be part of this growth. Because knowing Emma, I knew what she was going to do.

And I wanted to be part of that. How do you look back at your time at the club, especially seeing where it is now? Is it nostalgic? Do you know what? I loved my time at the club. I loved everything about my whole career. I have no regrets at all.

Would I like to play longer? Absolutely. Could I take years off me to come back and play again? Yeah, absolutely. But I also saying this day and age how hard it is as well, you know, in terms of social media and those sorts of things. Would I have managed that very well as a person? So there's all different, you know, highs and lows.

But would I have loved to have played in a, yeah, a sell-out state? Absolutely. Can I just jump in just for any Chelsea fans, all you guys in the audience? When I was manager of the ladies' team, when we played Arsenal, my philosophy was to stop this lady on my left-out side. We failed abysmally all the time because she was just like unbelievable, the intensity and a play, the movement, the physicalness. She was just, you were a beast. I paid him to say that, by you. I mean, touching on the social media aspect, I remember speaking to Fran and she was saying, I mean, Fran's probably the first or one of who got catapulted by fame in the women's game and we saw how much it affected her. It's really hard social media and she said something really interesting to me.

She said when it comes to reviews, people are more likely to take the time to write something negative about their experience than something positive. and she now has to remember that on social media. But it is a side of the, it's a huge side of the game that I guess back then for all the kind of things that we've got in the game now, that must have been quite nice that you could play and that was blocked away. You didn't have to deal with that. It was so nice. And I say all the time, we've got so many stories.

I would have been in so much trouble if we had social media and all that stuff back then. Oh, my goodness, I would have been in so much trouble. Thank God we never. But when I met up, you know, when I meet up with past players and we just, talk about stories and stuff like that, that only we know, not the rest of the world knows. And that is really something special. So I think for me, going back to that and just, yeah, it makes it even more special. I wanted to ask you one of your favourite moments in Blue, but I'm guessing captaining the Blue's

FA Cup final. I mean, what was that like? Unbelievable. I think going, you know, to play the first game, yeah, women's game at Wembley. I'm playing an FA Cup final there. And being, yeah, the captain are leading the team out onto that pitch. I've got my kids sitting in the crowd also watching my. mommy, which, you know, was really proud of me, especially, you know, I've got three boys.

As you were talking about, you know, we've changed the concept of what, you know, women's football. Football is just football. And that's how we should see it. If we love a team, we should love every team within that that comes under that umbrella. So I think for me being a mom and having three boys, like that's one of my proudest moments, I think that they don't bat an eyelid. They'll train with girls and turn around and go, oh, my God, Mom, that girl was amazing. You know, like, and it won't even cross their mind to think they shouldn't be playing. So that's a proud moment for me.

But yeah, walking out, obviously, at Wembley, yeah I'll never ever forget it I mean and all I had in my mind I think before that game is I need to be up them stairs lifting that trophy that was in my head the whole time I cannot yeah lose this game I need to be picking that trophy up and that was I think what drove us and the team that you know first game there we wanted to win I love that and I love that

it's just normal for your three boys and that is the hope for the generations that it would just be normal we see female tennis players male tennis players and we'll just do it all the same I've got to ask you, Sean, as well, what were your proudest moments in blue? Definitely the win against Liverpool, keeping the team in the Premier League as it was then. Obviously, proud moment, signing Annie, Casey. We also signed players like Sean Larkin, Danny Buett, Kylie Davis, Dunya-Susie.

one of my first signings was Raff Clare Rafferty from Millwall so yeah some really some really really international players now so yeah I'm really proud of that moment I mean Ellen White was I saw Ellen White play for Arsenal at 15 over at Cobham and I was just I stood on the side of the pitch and I was like oh my God oh my God what have I just witnessed she just literally blew every other team apart and um purely by fluke i'd stand in there putting balls bids and cones in the

car like you do and i just bumped into her dad and i just said look just to let you know your daughter is really special she's a special special talent and uh course i said if she was in blue she'd be playing in our first team so that was my opening gambit hoping it might uh restate with him but um yeah so yeah and he went oh that's interesting yeah i see that's interesting yeah i see that's interesting and then he phoned me up a couple of months later and said was you serious and i went absolutely um and then the story begins and um obviously ellen goes on to do what ellen's done um so yeah fantastic achievement how did it feel watching her lift that trophy did you get emotional well having given her a premier league debut um yeah i think so um i mean and you're never going to meet a

nicer person as well, by the way. She's just, Kate, I tell you, she's just phenomenal. But, yeah, to see her grow and develop. And I even messaged with her dad and said, well, what a fantastic achievement. She's done it all. And he came back and said, you know, it's been 25 years and, you know, please that you're a part of it at the start. And for me, that was an emotional moment. So, yeah, she's a special player.

well we are slowly eating up our time which is so sad but before we finish we've got a special guest in the audience Caroline Barker who's over here she played for the Chelsea ladies team between 1994 and 2002 so can we give Caroline a little cheer she sat right here next to Tony we're all talking about Chelsea today and we're here to watch them play against Barcelona. Can you tell me a little bit what Chelsea was like when you were playing back in 1994? Yeah, a million miles away from, thankfully, from where it is now. But I've got to be, I've got to be grateful for the guy sat next to me. I'm probably two generations too early for the football that is happening now. And we were,

really just a grassroots football team. But I think, to be honest, Tony was quite visionary in what he wanted to achieve with it. And although we were completely amateur, we all had full-time jobs, and I think the thing Tony wanted to make it as professional in the amateur world as he could, if that makes sense.

So we were training at Felton on the AstroTurf. We didn't have, we didn't have to take, take our own kit because we didn't have kit for training. So we were we were turning up as a rag tag and bobtail of whatever your own training kit you had. But we were very fortunate because Tony and Dave, the other chap who were running the team, their long-suffering wives had to take our match kit, match kit home and do all the washing. So we did have white socks. We were, we were fine. And you were a policewoman. You were a full-time policewoman and then playing football after work? Yeah, when I could, because at the time I was a, when I joined Chelsea in 94,

I was a uniform sergeant in Wonsworth. And it was, yeah, it was quite challenging because I was on shifts. So if I could make the training, great, I would make the training. I had a few challenges with one person in particular who I shan't name. And we had an offence in the police. And we had an offence in the police an internal offence of making yourself unfit for duty and I dared to get myself injured and had quite a serious ankle injury that ultimately ended up in surgery and as a consequence of that so I was investigated for making myself unfit for duty by playing football for playing football yeah how very day I'm just crazy but they yeah they sent a couple of people along to watch a football match to see if I was playing

I wasn't. I think I was standing on the sidelines next to Tony. Managed to get myself fit and do quite a lot of work with a wonderful woman called Jenny Archer, who was a fitness and, you know, a personal trainer type thing. So we did a lot of work with her. Got myself back to full fitness, played in a preseason friendly, and a rather charming Polish goalkeeper broke my other leg in preseason. So that was, yeah, that was interesting. But it was, yeah, it was a million miles away.

away from where the Chelsea team is today. And I think it's absolutely fantastic the journey that Tony took us on to what has now become the norm. And I think just touching on a couple of the comments that Annie and Katie have said, I think there was quite an innocence to our game at the time. So the social media side, any of the vitriol that any professional sports person has to put up with now. We were all shielded from that by Tony and Dave. We didn't have smartphones. So we literally turned up, trained, turned up, played, and we were done in terms of that. But how they manage

what comes through on social media now is pretty incredible. It is. Oh, thank you. Caroline Barker, everyone. Sean, Katie, I've got some audience questions. Katie, someone in the audience has said, do you have any wants or yearnings to manage in the WSL? No. Who asked that question? I've seen what they go through, not a chance. Oh my God.

Listen, I think, you know, you've got to look at the backroom staff because, you know, you look at us on the pitch and, oh my God, the work that goes in behind. the scenes that no one sees. Honestly, as a manager and all the backroom staff is unbelievable. They put the hours in and no one sees that. So, no, definitely not. Sean, can you reflect on the journey that the club has been on? And especially now you, you're working as a scout in the men's team. You've seen it all. Can you reflect a little bit on that journey? Yeah, I mean, obviously we've changed ownership a couple of times in my 30 years. Huge change. The club were really, really strong advocates of bringing in an overseas player. Before we signed an American international called Laurie Fair. It took probably seven or eight months for the paperwork to get done.

And the club led on that. The club were really, really prominent on that. And I think she was probably one of the first, if not the first. American player to come over and play who was part of their World Cup team. Actually, prior to Lorry, no one probably knows this, but you probably don't know this either. Prior to Lorry coming on board, we had some conversations

with an American player called Tiffany Milbrette and also had some conversations with a Canadian player called Christine Sinclair. Didn't quite work out, unfortunately. Paperwork was the problem again, but it would have been great to have got Tiff and Sink over as well. I mean, Sinclair, it's just phenomenal, isn't she?

So that was the start of it. So the club had been really, really strong when it comes to that. Yes, of course, it's transitional. Things don't happen overnight, and the cogs of Chelsea are always methodical, strategic. Sometimes that can be, you know, it can take time. but you know just introducing the training ground accessing the hydrophotherapy pool accessing the food accessing the men's building etc etc that's all come and that's that's been a massive change and when I was manager I always say this that the players I

had really technically gifted they were technical players they were really good it was just the intensity and the fitness obviously training twice twice a week and playing on a weekend Now they're training every day. They're resting, they're doing everything professionally. And you can see that intensity to press off the front foot, that intensity to close, that movement of the pivot. All of that kind of thing that comes along now is just unbelievable. And I sit there and wonder what's women's games.

I go, if only we had that back when I was a manager, I'd love to have coach that. But, you know, you coach with what you've got. And we had so much spirit in those days. some really, really strong players and yeah, it's a massive change obviously the men's first thing transitioning as well

so we're just hoping Emma can finish off this season with a real big high come on you Chelsea come on that's all you want, come on thank you so much to both of you I feel like I could have talked to you

for so much longer there were so many more questions but we are running out of time so can we say a big thank you a big cheer to Eni Aluco, Sean Gore, and of course Katie Chapman and Caroline Barker and Tony Farn. Thank you so much. This has been our first live episode. Thank you to all of you in the audience for joining us and supporting us on this podcast on this special edition of We Are Chelsea. The official podcast of Chelsea Women is brought to you in association with Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea Women, and they are proud supporters of Women's Sports.

Remember to get in touch with us, drop us an email at we are Chelsea at chelsea.com. And we will see you all next time. Bye-bye.