At first, Carla Ward’s daughter is taking on the responsibility herself, sitting at the press conference desk with an air equally of dignity and authority.
Then, Hartley, clad in a Villa kit one adorable size too large, remembers she’s four-years-old. So she takes her prerogative to flee mid-question, hopping down onto the floor, parking herself amid ample space to suss out the state of her bracelets.
Soon, she’s roaming, counting the heads of reporters in the room, giggling madly upon reaching a number she can’t recall, before dashing behind the chairs. “Hartley…” Carla Ward breaks from her assessment of Rachel Daly’s goal in Aston Villa’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City, striking the familiar tone of a mum patiently reminding their child that company is about.
Then Ward stops herself. It’s the end of the season. She is no longer Villa boss Carla Ward but Hartley’s mum Carla Ward. Technically, she’s now on holiday. They’ll be at a kids mini disco in 24 hours, sporting sunburns and drinks with implausibly small umbrellas in them. Somewhere warmer than Birmingham. It’s a decree that sends Hartley into a bashful yet elated fist pump. She finally has her mum back.
When Emma Hayes was pondering leaving Chelsea for the USWNT job, she sought advice from her son, Harry. Tucked into bed, sheets up to his chin, the five-year-old’s enthusiasm was undeniable and, ultimately, decisive. The future of one of football’s most storied managers and the future of one of women’s football’s biggest global juggernauts lay at the feet of a child.
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As Hartley wriggled through the press room, demurring cheekily when anyone took notice of her playful antics, it was clear Ward too sought and took the advice of her daughter when contemplating her future. This is the tax women’s football managers still pay, despite the game’s unparalleled strides in recent years.
Both Hayes and Ward have called an end to their respective managerial careers with their clubs, cutting the number of female managers in the top level of England women’s football in half. Neither women was sacked or pilfered, no untoward bad energy surrounded their exits. Instead, Hartley merely wanted her mum to pick her up from school. Harry wanted to share an ice cream with his on a March afternoon. As mums, both Ward and Hayes obliged. Because that's what mums do.
On a day that the light shined brightest at Old Trafford as Hayes pulled the curtain down on a glittering and unrivalled 12-year tenure at Chelsea, another women’s football manager was pulling her own curtain down.
Ward’s departure from Aston Villa would never garner as much attention as Hayes’. There is, foremost, the lack of finality at play. “I’ll be back, 100 per cent,” Ward said. “For now, I need a holiday and a break.
"The summer holidays is all about me and my daughter because she keeps asking when we’re going to do something and when she’s going to see me. I told her the other day she’ll see me a lot more now. But I’ll be back for sure. You never know, if the next manager doesn’t do well and they’re sacked at Christmas, I might be back here at Christmas!”
Carla Ward was honoured before kick-off against Manchester City (Photo by Morgan Harlow - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)The hole Hayes leaves behind as she prepares to hop on a private jet to New York to begin her new life at the helm of the USWNT has the potential to be an abyss. That’s the Hayes’ effect.
But Ward too will leave a hole. At Villa certainly, having recruited European pedigree and big name talent into the club that is now bidding to contend with the league’s higher echelons. Their final match was a loss but it could have easily been victory, Villa sticking into the WSL runners-up throughout the contest, surprising them with their vim and tenacity.
But the wider football world will also lament the loss of Ward, whose candour and humility about her role as both manager and mum have struck a similar chord to Hayes, a harmony that arises as much from the two women’s strong bond as friends as it does from the fact women’s football managers are still dancing an interminable dance. One that lurches in a commute from Sheffield to Birmingham, that misses school plays and maths homework for the sake of transfer business and contriving a game plan for the weekend. One that wallows silently in mom-guilt, that very specific pang of shame that stings hardest when staring at a whiteboard and suddenly realising you won’t be home for dinner on time again.
Emma Hayes celebrates winning the WSL title with her son, Harry (Photo by Alex Livesey - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)This is not a tax exclusive to women’s football managers. Anyone in football will feel a similar frisson strike them down as another Paw Patrol-themed birthday party becomes something to imagine at the expense of reading up on a left-footed centre back from Spain. Routinely, the sole wallow of players and managers when queried on their playing years is the family sacrifices made along the way. Fathers too miss birthdays and parents’ nights, though their sacrifices are equally heralded. Look at his dedication. See how he obsesses. That is the work of a warrior.
The loss of Ward and Hayes once more underlines the historic gender roles still entrenched in the game, how motherhood and football remain in a stand-off on either side of the football pitch, an either-or rather than the adjacent accessory that often men can will it to be, celebrating the arrival of a new member of the family with a ball stuffed under the shirt and a thumb stuck into their mouth after a goal.
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You could feel the jittering anticipation oozing from Hartley as the press conference reached into its final minutes, the prospect of a summer with mum so beguilingly tangible. No transfer embargoes insight, only Bluey and ice pops. Ward, too, beamed, despite losing her final match at the club.
Emma Hayes and Harry celebrate with the WSL trophy (Photo by Alex Livesey - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)“It’s been weird from the moment I left Sheffield this morning. It’s been up and down, but I’m ready for a break. There isn’t a part of me that thinks ‘have I made the right decision?’" she ruminated. “I know I’ve made the right decision. I made it a few months ago, in fact. I’m at peace with it now and I’m ready to step aside and let somebody else take it on.”
Hayes warned that her departure would only exacerbate a decline in women’s football managers. The game has grown exponentially, so too have the exigencies. Players have cried out for aide and rest, managers fighting their corner for one small act of clemency. But who fights the corners of the managers?
The final press conference question went to Hartley. Who will she throw her support behind now? The four-year-old doesn’t miss a beat, rivalling the most seasoned politician in her diplomacy. “Mummy’s team.” An adorable answer swimming in poignancy.
When women’s football is reckoning with its treatment of players as little more than disposable and exchangeable chattel, perhaps it should not consider managers as collateral. Or Hayes’ gloomy prophecy will only ring true.
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