How tempting it must be to play God at a football club. It is hard to think who among us could resist it. The enormous popularity of Football Manager is testament to the desire of the wider footballing public to run a club, while the growth of “fanalysis” within the media promotes the idea that everyone can be an expert.
Who then are we to castigate Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley for being unable to resist getting their paws on the most successful part of Chelsea Football Club – the women’s team?
They no doubt initially stumbled across it when figuring out how to get themselves out of the accountancy blackhole they had spent their way into. Alongside the hotels and car parks, the women’s team were valued at £200m and parcelled off to be sold to a different holding company. Ostensibly to allow for external investment, which has arrived in the form of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and more recently the basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo, the pure profit banked spared Chelsea from the wrath of breaking the profit and sustainability rules.
But now the women’s team have become the latest victim of “Winstewart’s” imperial expansion across the club.
The co-sporting directors have spent their time in the driving seat casting their eyes across the entirety of the club with the same energy as Bilbo Baggins holding the ring in his hands and wondering if he should keep it. After all, why not? Why shouldn’t I run it?
There have been sweeping changes made across the academy structures already. Now, seemingly in line with this, Paul Green, the head of women’s football, was let go on Monday.
In a brusque statement posted on the website, Chelsea summarised Green’s departure and career in only five sentences.
“Chelsea Women can confirm that Paul Green has left his role as head of women’s football,” it began. “The club would like to thank Paul for his dedication and service over more than a decade and wishes him well for the future.”
A more effusive tribute to Green would read like this: Paul Green joined Chelsea at a time when the club were in their relative infancy. With manager Emma Hayes, he was responsible for the evolution of the club into one of the biggest women’s teams in the world. His recruitment was the best in class globally, attracting huge stars like Sam Kerr to the team while nurturing the development of talents like Millie Bright and Erin Cuthbert. Under his leadership, Chelsea won eight league titles, six FA Cups, three League Cups and reached the Champions League final.
Green has always had a hands-on role at Chelsea. He would regularly be spotted sat high in the stands at Stamford Bridge or in the gantry at Kingsmeadow alongside the women’s team’s assistant manager, Camille Abily, watching matches. When Emma Hayes had to take time away from the sidelines to recover from an emergency hysterectomy in October 2022, it was Green who stepped up to lead the side.
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He has a reputation within the game of being a shrewd operator, knowledgeable and experienced. Tributes paid to him by a range of current and former Chelsea players showed just how well respected he was.
“Cannot be emphasised enough how instrumental you were in building this club and bringing success,” wrote left-back Niamh Charles, who joined Chelsea in 2020, on Instagram.
“You didn’t just serve this club, you shaped it,” wrote winger Guro Reiten, also on Instagram. Reiten has been at Chelsea for seven years.
A report from The Athletic suggests that ever since the departure of Emma Hayes in 2024, those on the men’s side of the club have endeavoured to become more involved in the running of the women’s side, in particular Winstanley.
The 46-year-old does have limited experience within the women’s game from his time at Brighton, but that was as part of a far broader role. He is not a regular attendee of women’s games, although sources at the club suggest he does watch the team play via in-house feeds.
While clubs across the women’s game are building infrastructure to enable teams to get the focus they require, Chelsea are dismantling theirs. With the team now set to be overseen by Stewart and Winstanley, alongside chief executive officer Aki Mandhar who has zero prior football experience, having joined the club from a role as general manager of The Athletic, it is impossible to see the removal of Green as anything other than a regression.
It continues the process of the “enshittification” of Chelsea that has been a feature ever since the new owners took over in 2022. Co-owner Beghdad Eghbali memorably said that year that: “We thought Chelsea [was] frankly an asset, a business that was not terribly well managed on the football side, sporting side or promotional side.”
Four years on, Chelsea are without a shirt sponsor, have had four different permanent men’s team managers and signed João Felix twice. Make of that what you will.
Emma Hayes used to put down the longevity of her success to a mantra: “If it ain’t broke, smash it up.” Well, Winstanley and Stewart have taken a sledgehammer to the women’s team. But now there is no one left with the expertise to repair the damage.