We Are Chelsea - Growing the game on and off the pitch, with Commercial Director Zarah Al-Kudcy

Episode Date: July 5, 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 We have a fascinating episode for you today, delving into the business side of the club. Caz De Moraes is joined by Zarah Al-Kudcy, who is the commercial director of Chelsea Women FC. She talks to us about how player sponsorships work, how the Blues achieved a record attendance at Stamford Bridge this year, and about the growth of the women's game from a commercial perspective. It's a fascinating insight into working at one of the biggest clubs in the world, enjoy! To watch the full episode on YouTube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafc/videos Send us your questions to [e-mail] #WeAreChelsea Music courtesy of BMG Production Music  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We had said to them the tide will turn come January with Manu and it did and then round Madrid and then Arsenal and we got there and I think that builds a lot of trust along the way as well so I even bought half and half scarf for the Barcelona game because you can never take that game away from us now. Hello and welcome to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women brought to you in association with Skoda the official car partner of Chelsea women

and proud supporters of women's sport. I'm Kaz de Mores and today we're delving into the business side of the club. I'm joined by Zara Al Kudzi, who is the commercial director at Chelsea Women FC. She's here to give us a fascinating insight into the work she does, how she negotiates sponsorship deals for the players and the growth of the women's game. Welcome to We Are Chelsea. Well, hello, Zara. Welcome to We Are Chelsea. Thanks for speaking to me. How are you? I'm good, thank you. And you can see that we're in mid-Euroos with my top. We can see that mid-Euroos.

Yeah, the guys are playing tonight. Nice to see that you're supporting them. I wanted to ask you a little bit for those who don't know about your role at the club and what it entails, because we've had a lot of players and we have had someone from the commercial team, but it was Carly Telford, so I feel like lots of people might know. Can you tell us, Zara, exactly what you should. do at the club and what your role is. Yeah, you know, I don't even feel like I warrant an episode on the podcast because

Carly, so Carly and I joke about when we go into pitches, I always ask if I can introduce myself first because I can't back it up with, well, I played for England and I played for Chelsea, by the way. So I joined the club to, I mean, it pretty much does what it says in the Tim, which is build the business out around the women's team. So super successful on the pitch, but the new owners, you know, the women's team is very much part of their plans and they made that very clear when I met with them the early last year and they said come in, build the business out, put some commercial growth in primarily around

sponsorship and match day. They're the two focuses and that is in general on women's football. That's where the growth area is right now. And that's what we've been focusing on. So that is why we're also here. So this is such a great example of what my remit was was to identify ways that one we can, you know, better showcase our player stories. And I think podcasts are a great format to do that in because it gives them the space to talk about themselves. And, you know, I think you've done a fantastic job as the presenter in pulling that out from them.

But then in return, it's also given Skoda a great partnership asset as well, which they absolutely love. I do think the podcast, every time I speak to someone, I'm so riveted by their stories that I feel like a broken record because I'm like, I could talk to you all day. But I genuinely could talk to them all day. And they're such different personalities, which makes it so interesting. And even I know you said that you don't warrant an episode,

but even speaking to someone who isn't a player but works at the club behind the scenes, it's so important because so many of us love football and we'd love to be players. But if you can't be a player, the nearest thing is working at a club or working within the industry or working within football. So it's really nice to hear the different kind of jobs that you can do still within your passion, right? Yeah, no, I'd agree. And I think the nicest thing also is when I hear the players talk to you, it sounds like anyway that they genuinely are enjoying it as well. And I think that's because they, you know, it is a comfortable space to talk about yourself.

And I also feel like, you know, they sound like they probably could have gone on for a little bit longer with you as well. You say that you could have talked to them all day. Some of them definitely sound like they could have talked to you all day as well. Well, I hope so because I'm always like, get back on the podcast. I think I've had Erin on a couple of times and I'm always like, come again, come again. What does a typical day look like for you when you come in at Chelsea? That's probably where the business side and the playing side is a little bit more different in that there is no typical day. And I mean, sort of I'll wake up.

do a workout, a bit of duolingo like Hannah. I'm also learning Italian. Oh, are you? Yes. And I suspect she's probably already much better than I am. And then right now, you know, we're in the midst of tour planning. So New York and D.C. Looking ahead to 24, 25, planning, you know, whether it's sort of scheduling for a match day, ticket pricing, experiences, then I guess the only consistent piece is probably sponsorship. So we will always be looking at our partner portfolio, servicing our current partners, finding ways for them maybe to do more, as was the case with Skoda and this podcast. So that's probably the consistent piece, but that's why, I mean, I've worked in sport for 20 years. That's what I love about

sport is that no day is ever, even in your diary, you can see what you've got and something will just happen throughout the day, a complete U-turn, but it's a real privilege to be able to work in something that's a passion. And I love that you said that no day is the same, because I think And sometimes people assume an office job is samey because we assume that office jobs are the typical office jobs. But it's great because when you're at a club, it's exactly what you say. It's completely different today. You're recording a podcast tomorrow. You're pitching an idea.

Next week you're at a game, maybe entertaining commercial partners. It can be so verified. So anyone who would like to work at a football club, maybe this is a way for them. How many people are in your team and how much, I guess, investment is there in the staffing around women's football currently? Because I imagine that's gone up quite a lot. So I have three people directly. You've mentioned one being Carly. But there is dedicated resource across the business where there's a sort of dotted line for once of a better description across marketing, cons, content.

and we will have weekly meetings collectively, specifically on, you know, during the season, it tends to be more focused on match day and out of season. We're now obviously in tour. But there is definitely an increase in resource across departments. And I think in light of the news that, you know, the fans may have read a few weeks ago, that this sort of, again, as a club structure, we're making sure that the women's team sits alongside and equal to our men's team when it comes to financial reporting, the business structure and with that that will come with an increase in resource and dedicated support to

the women's team so they are very much their own business and you know you said it yourself that it's reflecting the growth in general at women's football i sort of i just came back from can lion which is a big advertising conference um it sounds like it sounds terrible isn't it i was in the south of france for a few days um and there's a really nice sort of parallel story in that when i first went there five years ago for the job that i was in at the time The Women's World Cup was also on. And sports panels, so for anyone that's not done Canline, it's essentially a massive conference on the beach.

So there's loads of different places. Like Google will have something, you know, Yahoo, ad agencies, brands. So everyone goes there and it tends to be about advertising and media. And five years ago, sport wasn't really on the agenda. Someone arranged for some of us to go and watch England, Japan, in Nice. It happens that Carly was actually in that school. I don't think she played in that game, but she was in the squad. And, you know, it was half full stadium.

We sort of had to be shipped out to go and watch it. And I think five years on, and sport was very much at the heart of Can Lyon this year. So there was a lot of dedicated space. There was a women's sports house where they, every single session for four days was dedicated to the conversation around women's sport. You know, you had Mary Earps, Gemma Bonner, and Essia Russo, all on panels. And there was a great moment where I could see Sammy. hippier. So, you know, Liverpool legends try cueing to get into sports beach house where Gemma Bonner was sat in the VIP area because she was actually about to go on stage. So it was

a really good indication of where how far women's footballs come in that cycle. Yeah. And another great benefit to your job. Getting to go to Nice. I promise, it is hard work. It is hard work. Let's talk about the impact of what you've achieved this season. Because, 39,398 fans at Stamford Bridge. That's a record attendance for the Barcelona semi-final second leg. How big was that and how proud was you and your team of that number? You know, I think proud gets overused, which is why I try not to use it too much.

But in that instance, I was massively proud because it had been a really long journey, you know, for the fans, the players, and I think particularly for the team here at Stanford Bridge on the business side. Arsenal are ahead of us. They did a great job after Euro's 2022. They had their first Emirates match then and they've built a massive database

and they've built in that year on year. But there always seems to be this narrative in women's sport that there's any room for one to succeed. And I think sort of this narrative also carried on throughout the season, partly some fan narrative, some media narrative around the fact that, you know, continually comparing us to Arsenal.

And we knew that we, were behind, but it can be, it's a really visual way sort of to be held to account. So I was really pleased for, as I say, the fans, the players and the team here that they got that moment, not just the Barcelona game. I actually think the Arsenal game at Stamford Bridge was the big turning point for us. The atmosphere that night was, you mentioned earlier, like that atmosphere that night is probably the closest I will ever, ever get to, feeling what it feels like to be a player on the pitch at Stamford Bridge because, you know, you feel like.

you're part of why it feels like that. And so I kind of, that was a huge thing for us. And right, quite early on, you know, Emma actually said to me that we should be honest and go and tell the players what the plans are. Because we came from, you know, our opening game against Spurs back in October, I felt sick coming to Stamford Bridge. Like, I did not want to come to the game because I knew that we only had 19,000 fans or tickets sold.

And it was a really challenging. day in the fact that it was the first time we and Arsenal were at home in our main stadium. Arsenal got the lunchtime kickoff and so we'd had a lot of feedback from families saying they'll go and watch Arsenal and then they'll go home watch us on TV. So we got a great TV audience, but then we got picked apart with our stadium on that day. And we then knew that we had Liverpool where we had a slightly lower attendance. We have to play our Champions League group games at Stamford Bridge for regulation purposes, but we know that we would only get to about three or four thousand at the moment on the Champions League side of stuff, which there's a

great atmosphere at King's Meadow. That's close to a still out. Putting three or four thousand people in Stamford Bridge is heartbreaking. And Emma just said, go and talk the team through the plans and explain to them, which we did. Quite possibly one of the hardest meetings I've ever had to go and be part of. How did they react? I mean, actually, a number of them just said they really appreciated the honesty, because I think sometimes we can all be guilty of not wanting to give honest feedback and we try and dress it up for something else. Yes.

And then actually, you're not managing people's expectations, but we had said to them the type will turn come January with Manu, and it did, and then Real Madrid, and then Arsenal. And we got there, and I think that built a lot of trust along the way as well. So, you know, there were a lot of factors in all of it. But I think that Arsenal, the Basa game were just, you know, I even bought a half-and-half scarf for the Barcelona game because you can never take that game away from us now.

Yeah. I mean, it's really good that, I guess, Emma said, keep it transparent and explain it to the players because there is a real partnership that needs to happen because commercially you can only succeed if they're on board and they need to be on board if they trust what you're doing commercially. So I can totally see why they would appreciate that and how that would help. I guess my next question would be what kind of work behind the scenes helps you reach that goal

and what kind of audiences are you trying to attract? Because there are so many within the game. There's the hardcore Chelsea fans. There's the Lioness fans. There's just the general football fan, the London event goers. So there's a couple of things. One is actually understanding the fan demographics. You know, you're 100% right.

That's what we need to do. And that's where, you know, we're all still learning on that front because actually there's a lot of new fans coming into women's football, so no one knows who they are. And the league have actually just done some fan demographic work, which they've taken our CMO, Claire Cronin through and our marketing team, and made it a lot more simple that it's effectively three groups. You've got your core fan, and they tend to be predominantly female fans

and super passionate about the game. You know, from a Chelsea point of view, they've probably been with us since we're at Staines. And they're definitely Kingsmeadow people. And they play a huge influence on not only bringing new fans in, but also when they come, they sort of that experience and environment piece. Then you have the free fan.

And that is probably the biggest growth area. They're the new fans that kind of didn't really feel like the men's game served anything for them historically or they may have played when they were younger and then there wasn't a women's product for them to follow. And they've come in mainly through the Euros and the World Cup, or through the lionesses, essentially. And you way for, you know, they talk a lot about the fact they had some data that said 30% of new fans to women's football are new fans to football, period.

And then you have the secondary fans who are the men's, you know, the men's football fans. And that will always be their priority. And we sort of started to see it because we have more games now. We can look at that data. So, you know, only 5, 6% of our ticket purchases for the nine games we held at Stamper Bridge last year were men's season ticket holders. So we sort of have to start to dispel some of the, you know, myths around just to get the men's fans in that, you know, they'll want to come.

And that's like, well, actually, we're different products. Yeah. You know, I think it's the more we, the more we get people coming, the more we understand that. And then I think I would also add just to build on your point around the players, that's where Carly's role has been really important, you know, when Emma introduced me to Carly last year and she didn't want to do coaching and said that she wanted to do marketing or commercial, she wasn't really sure. So I said, well, look, come in.

It's a bit of test and learning. I think you'd be great in commercial because she is one of the most naturally gifted salespeople I've ever met. And that's just because she is. I remember being on the podcast with her. I was like, I will buy anything you're selling. She is. But she believes in it.

Like there's no better thing for a salesperson. She doesn't know she's selling half the time because she's just, you know, she just loves it. And she can talk from the heart because she's only just retired. she's still so well connected to the game and to this squad in particular and so she's been great because she actually holds us as a business

to account on behalf of the players again without realizing that she's doing it but you know I also just love the sort of her business naivety because we'll sit in meetings and she'll say to me like why do we do that and I think I don't know actually it's just how we've always done it and so it's just been great having her

player vision in the room and I think you know we've got a lot of fans of the club in the club. And so making sure the fans are at the heart of our decision making often comes as second nature, but making sure the players are also at the heart of what we do is very much where Carly comes in, you know, with a very unique skill set. Yeah, she was using, I think it was Neif as an example with Skoda and she sort of said it just was so natural because she genuinely loves Skoda, her whole family do.

And I guess that's where maybe Carly knowing the girls, knowing. these things knowing genuinely that her dad has a scoda because if you work with the players and you see their car every day you might see that she drives one you might not know that her dad her mom her sister and everyone else has one so it's good that she just is walking encyclopedia of the of the team and i i also want to know is that the target now for next season selling out stanford bridge on a regular basis from a commercial perspective um i think from a commercial and a fan perspective, you know, we had four league games and five Champions League games this year. I think we will probably land on something very similar. Well, I'm

presuming we make quarterfinals and semi-finals again, but, you know, we will probably have something very similar in terms of the league and group games. And I think there, you know, there's a real danger, because obviously Arsenal will come back to the comparison point, set the benchmark of announcing eight league games and three Champions League if they qualify. And so the question automatically came to us is, well, will we do more league games? And we said, no, actually, we'd rather maintain what we've had this year, but make sure that the audience and attendance keeps increasing. Because to have three or four sellouts, or as close to sellouts as you can get with the WSL games, it's so much more impactful from a fan and a player atmosphere and environment and just a perception point of view when you come and see a sold-out Stamper Ridge versus going,

yeah let's keep up with them and let's say we're going to do six and then we'll be having that conversation again with the players of what we you know we had ambitions we pushed beyond what we did before so you know I think we're really confident having seen how the season ended with the Barcelona game the lessons that we've learned the more data that we've got the team structure that's now in place is a really great team you know Claire's marketing team is sort of filled in all the right roles to make sure that you've got that resource and that I have to say the team themselves, some of the best people I've worked with

because they absolutely love it. But they also learn from outside. You know, they'll go and look at what the WMBA is doing or the Barcelona women's team are doing. So they kind of, they're open to seeing what everyone else is doing as well. This podcast is brought to you by Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea women,

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from the fully electric Scoda Eniac, the all-new 7-seater Scoda Kodiak or their smallest SUV, the Scoda Camique. See for yourself. Search Skoda Range now. So we talked a little bit about not comparing to Arsenal. Which I just did. Yeah, but you said, you know, you don't want to compare to them, so you don't want to do more matches at Stamford Bridge. But is the long-term goal to eventually move out of King's Meadow full-time

and be at Stamford Bridge? Is that what you guys are maybe thinking in five years' time? Yeah, if I take a step back, I think as women's football fans, all of us, we would love to see main stadiums being sold out across the league for majority of games. And if that is where the growth goes, then ultimately the fans will dictate it. If the attendance keeps growing to the point that actually it makes sense for us to have more and more games in Stamford Bridge, then that's what we will do. But I don't think, you know, I don't think we should, or I wouldn't want to say at this point, yes, in 10 years time, the aim is to play every single game at Stamford Bridge. Of course it is.

But we also have to be dictated by actually what's happening season on season. And so it's also bittersweet, isn't it? Because as much as in my head, I'm like, oh, it's brilliant when you go and watch at Stamford Bridge, there is something so special about Kings Meadow as well. You know, I've got so much FOMO listening to all your episodes of everyone talking about that Bristol game because I was on holiday and I couldn't come. And every single player you've spoken to so far, I said how amazing the atmosphere was at that game. And, you know, and I agree, I think Kings Meadows such a great.

And whenever I've taken people down there to watch it and they tend to be men's football fans, honestly they come back raving about it they're like to be this close to this quality of football and be amongst it they just you know they're like it's really unique so that that's where I mean that's where I think it can be dangerous to make a big bold statement of

yes by 2030 because that seems to be the year everyone leans towards you know we'll have everything out because that is also a special place for us so I do think there is lots of bittersweet moments with the women's game because as it's growing it's fantastic and we all want it to grow but at the same time, you're losing, I guess, the proximity to the players is one. They don't have time now

to be getting cold speaking to every single fan because there are so many of us now, which is great because that's what we want. But equally, we don't want them to get injured because the most important thing is we want them to be playing well and winning. They can't be signing as many autographs. So there's always these kind of bittersweet moments. So I totally understand. I loved watching the games that I've watched at Stamford Bridge and it was electric but I did feel like a different kind of emotion when I was at Kings Meadow I guess more

not nostalgic because you're still there but it felt just more like a home-cooked meal if that makes sense you know what I mean it just felt like no I know we mean I think it's just I think we'll get to the point that there'll be different payoffs So if I look at our two, so as an example this year, we had 300 fans go to the Man City game for our opening,

our first away game of the season. And 300 is a doable number that in theory, the whole squad probably could have got around to every single person in the away end and signed something if that was, you know, if that was what was needed. And then we have 3,000 fans at Old Trafford for the last game of the season. Now, there's no way the squad can get around 3,000 players. But you think about what that felt like as a fan to be part.

of a group of 3,000 people and be part of that moment. It's a very different. So yes, they may not have that one and one in that moment, but they had that I was there. And I think there's a real piece about being part of a bigger community as well. So I hear you. And I think it's something that everyone's very conscious about. It's something that even we've recognized,

that's actually where there's partner opportunities, about how can some of our partners make some of their assets like open training sessions or signed merch available to. fans. So actually there is still that connection back. And that must have been another proud moment. I know you said you don't like to use the word proud, but knowing 300 and you're ending on 3,000, you're doing something right. Yeah, I mean, I think it was and it was just, again, it's just, I think, a really good indication of the growth of the team and the work that's been done, particularly by the content and the marketing team. You know, I would, I'd probably go to

but as far as I say, this podcast has helped with that as well. It's one of the reasons that we've done it. I said to, I mean, honestly, the idea of this came, I said to Carly, if I could take what, sort of what the insight you show me of every single player, and if I could take that to the masses, we'd have something amazing. Because I'm like, I just love the stories that you tell me about them. Or even if, you know, I pop down to training and just be around it. And so that's what this was meant to do.

And I think it's, you know, there's not one thing that drove the 3,000 people. but it is probably the podcast, the social media, coming to one of the games at Stamford Bridge, maybe coming to Kings Meadow. It's all of it builds up, and it was. It was a phenomenal, and also just the way that season ended, you know, to have gone from that Liverpool game. Yes.

And then to have turned it around the way that it went. It was, that was a really special way to end the season. It was a real Chelsea Emma ending. It was just when you thought, oh gosh we've been given a lifeline here okay how are we going to how are we going to handle this lifeline because it well everyone was so oh it's gone it's it's ending on a low and it just ended on the most incredible high and it is you know when you're a chelsea fan you always or any fan of any team you always want your team to win well in advance just because you're like safe

we've won but when you know that they're going to in hindsight when you know that you can win on the last game of the season, you just take that thrill any day because it's just amazing. It's just the risk going into it. You just feel the nerves are just at an all-time high, but the girls were absolutely incredible. So it was brilliant. Shame for me, because I couldn't actually get to speak to them until a few days later, because I was like, they're all going to be celebrating. They're all going to be doing this. No one's going to be wanting to talk to me. One of my highlights actually from that game was we were traveling back on the Sunday and we happened to stop at the service station

with where there were some West Ham men's fans that were on their way up to Manchester to play their last game against City. And we're all waiting to get up on the bus. And they were proper, you know, proper West Ham fans. So the only way I could describe it. It was 10.30 in the morning and they had bacon, butter, and a beer. And I heard a group of them, because I was sat next to them

before we were boarding, saying, and all the players were sort of just standing around as well. And he looked over and he went, oh, that's Sam Kerr over there. there. And he goes, she's got a rating of 96 on FIFA. And then his mate goes, yeah, they won yesterday. They just won the league. You know, they won 6-0. And I just thought it's phenomenal that they've had that, that, you know, there was just a conversation piece. And that, for me, that's a really good example of, you know, they are, I'd put them in the women's football fans now because they're aware of it. They may never come and watch, but actually, that's how women's football's growth is consuming the broader football demographic and not just

about people that just come and watch. Absolutely. And also I think people will sometimes be flicking over and they catch a women's game and they won't naturally go, oh, it's women's football, not men's. They'll keep it on. It's good quality football.

I know who some of these players are. I know what they're doing. And it grows from there. The more you watch it, the more you go, oh, this is brilliant. I was about to swear then. This is very brilliant. Tell us about some of the partnerships

that you've worked on this season. We, of course, know about Skoda because they're the official car partner of this podcast. But what are some of the other partnerships that you've been working on? So Lindels, our Swedish Kavar, I don't know if I'm going to say that right,

so you have to maybe check with a cheerer next time. But our Swedish yoghurt, and I probably take, actually, before jumping in on each of them, one of the things that Kahn and I've talked about with any of our partners is making sure that there's a purpose to any of the partners

that join Chelsea women. So they have to either serve a purpose for the fan, the player or the community. And with Lindels, it was about supporting the fan away travel. And so they've, you know, they've supplemented that throughout the season. Cornerstone are our e-learning employee platform. So they actually help the whole business, because it extends actually beyond just those that work on the women's team

in terms of their HR and their performance. Skoda, we've talked about, I mean, there are so many things I love about that partnership. One, Neves to love for it. but also the fact that they provide cars for academy players to be able to use, to be able to access Cobham to hopefully, you know, make that a little bit more accessible if needed. And then Lego, you know, right at the start of the season, they did a great day at Dan and Cobham and with Sam Kerr.

It's a bit of an irony to this actually because the whole thing was around resilience and build back ability. So how you come back from something difficult that you've had to deal with. Okay. So it was just, I think for all of them, it's being able to see how they contribute. Yes, money is important.

But actually they've all contributed in a broader way of growing, sort of our women's team. And how much interest has there been in the women's game from brands and commercial partnerships at this moment in time? And what sort of brands are looking to work with Chelsea across, I guess, the men's and the women's team? But it's, we always hear about the interest in men's, team when they're doing really well and, you know, in general because of the TV numbers,

but how much growth have you seen in the interest for the women's game too? Honestly, the interest, it's been huge. I think the challenge actually a lot of the time is kind of like getting through all of it while also doing a broader job. So it's, you know, it can come from anywhere. I think Lindels and Skoda are really good examples of Lindels don't do any other sponsorship. Skoda also work in cycling, but they're only doing a little bit more.

I think this is their first football partnership in the UK. So there's a lot of brands that actually haven't done a lot of sponsorship that see women's football as something they want to get involved in. I think it's more your big blue chip brands. There's quite a lot in the financial sector. So obviously, Barclays are the league partner. But in general in women's sport, you'll see all sorts of brands, Amex, Chase, HSBC, you know, Revolut, whoever,

that just looking at how they can tell. a women's sports story. So finance and tech seem to be quite heavy because there's a lot of parallel storytelling for both of them in their industries because they tend to be male-led industries. So they like having a very similar story to tell. But honestly, I mean, you name me a brand, we've probably spoken to them at some point this year. It's been a real eclectic mix and it's been loved to see, but we've also been very clear that our team has a value. You know, women's sports is not a freebie add-on anymore and that I think is the big line that we've held as to who gets to partner with us and also making sure and again that's where

Carly's such a great sense check there'll be sometimes some brands and I'll look at her and she'd be like oh I don't know you might need to check with the girls about that one okay so you know I think it's it's brands that want to do proper purpose partnership I mean I'm going to say I've said earlier and I'm going to say again, I'm running out of time. I could speak to, and I really don't want you to end on a, she kept me there all day. So I'm going to try, I've got so many questions left, but I'm going to try and whittle through them as much as I can.

You guys won the WSL title. It was amazing last day of the season. From a staff and a fan point of view, how incredible was that end of season within the club? I mean it was just it was just huge I think it's one of those in a way I mean this has been you know my first season here and I think the club has got used to winning trophies every year you know it's fifth league title back to back but it the way that they won it this year and then the added storyline of emma leaving I think really added to that moment and I think

that's also where whether it's my team or those working on the women's side in other departments have become real ambassadors within the club for the women's team as well. So it's sort of, it's just generally, I don't know any different. But for me, it felt like something that everyone celebrated. And I just also love that we try new things. You'll have seen the champions T-shirts and the caps that we had. You know, that's the first time that we've done something like that where we've actually rolled out specific merch to celebrate that moment.

So again, it's a really good example of just testing and learning how stuff runs. And I think I was right in saying that it's sort of the first run. that came out within 24 hours actually sold out, so they then had to get more stock. So it was a huge buzz. And if anything, you know, I'm just really delighted for Emma. She's a big reason why I came to the club. And I was really worried, I said to Carly at one point,

I hope I'm not the jinx that this is the first season, that she doesn't win anything since I think it was 19. And so I'm just delighted she also got that moment as well. Yeah. Yeah, I think we all can agree on that. She definitely deserved leaving on her husband. And talking about Emma, how excited are you for next season? Can you give us any sneak previews into what we can expect to see from the club?

Jai, the main thing I'm excited about is I just feel like there's a really solid foundation now. As I said, we've learned a lot from this year. We've learned from data. We've learned from things that have worked really well, like the DJ at Stamper Bridge. And I think he'll make a regular appearance now. There's been a lot learned, and that's not going to just be sort of. have forgotten for next season. So I feel like we're in a much better foundational position. Then I think the announcement that the club has made around actually the

prominence and the reporting side of the women's business and adding resource to it and, you know, making it even stronger is also super exciting to see how that will grow. And then, you know, there's a change in the league itself. So there'll be a new body running the WSL used to be run by the FA. There's now a new organisation running it. and I think collectively that would be really positive for all the clubs involved in terms of how that's commercialised moving forward and working with the clubs on that piece. So no specifics.

I just, and on the tour, actually, I probably should start with that. I am super excited for tour. I think the fact that we're going to New York and D.C., you know, it's WSL versus NWSL champions in New Jersey and then we'll have a couple days in New York and I have to promise not to like reveal too much stuff, but that will be great. and then playing Arsenal in DC

I just, I think it's such a great way for one to start the Sonia era so to give her that moment also to build on what we've started to do this season I kind of again playing players and fans at the heart of it who doesn't want to go to New York

so making sure they both have great times as well and set us up for the following season so there's a couple of announcements coming out in the following few weeks which I think you'll see back up the sort of the focus and strength to strength that the women's team is going in.

Oh, so exciting. Yes, New York and Chelsea Arsenal game. I mean, it's just brilliant. It's what every fan wants to go and see and you get to hang out in New York. And exactly what you said about Sonia because I think that announcement, we were all hoping,

but it's really difficult to replace Emma and it's just like she's part of the furniture, she's done so much. And then when they announced Sonia, it was like, okay, I think, I think personally I felt relieved because I thought it's so difficult to replace them and I don't think she'll ever be really replaced in that way, but you want a new era that will be just as great.

And they found Sonia and it's, I was like, yes. Yeah, I think, and I also think, you know, Paul Green is Mr. continuity. So it's not like there's a totally new era starting. You've got someone that's been there for the last 12 years as well that's very much at the forefront of the decision making. and Paul's been fab so I think there's a there's it's it's a good combination of you still have that continuity but you know sonya sounds phenomenal um and you know new players hopefully as well a couple maybe um so i think it's yeah it's it's fantastic time oh zara thank you so much

for speaking to me i still had like about five or six questions that i wanted to ask you but i know that you're a very busy woman so thank you so much for coming on the podcast hopefully you've enjoyed yourself and if I ask you to come on again next season maybe you will I'd love to thank you so much thank you for listening to we are Chelsea the official podcast of chelsea brought to you in association with scoda the official car partner of chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport remember to subscribe to the feed give us a review and send in your questions to we are chelsea at chelcfc.com see you next time You know,

Thank you.