Carla Ward: ‘People hang on Emma Hayes’s every word, and rightly so – she’s the best’

Fully in “holiday mode”, Carla Ward had enjoyed a few drinks when the surprise phone call came from Emma Hayes. The USA head coach was asking her to come and work for her during a large sporting event taking place in France in July and August. “I’ll be really honest, I’d had a few glasses of wine or a few strawberry daiquiris, I can’t remember which, and I didn’t take it seriously,” the former Aston Villa manager recalls. “I was like: ‘I’ve got a holiday booked, let me see if I can change it.’ And my friend said: ‘What is wrong with you? This is the Olympics!’ – then it dropped in my brain. Emma meant: ‘Come to the Olympics.’”

Ward is certainly glad she said yes. The 40-year-old joined Hayes’ backroom team as a scout analysing opponents during a campaign that ended with the US team winning gold in Paris, and speaking in the buildup to the USA’s match against England at Wembley, she recalls an unforgettable learning opportunity. “There was never one doubt in my mind that she was going to win gold,” Ward says of Hayes. “Being around the team 24/7, you knew there was an air of calm, there was an air of confidence. People hang on her every word, and rightly so. To see how she delivers messages and creates this environment is sensational. For me, she’s the best in the world.”

Related: ‘I’ve got my mojo back’: Emma Hayes reborn in USA and building new legacy

That summer rendezvous with the Americans aside, the key theme of the past six months for Ward has been rest. She left Villa after three years in charge of the Women’s Super League side in May with a plan to take a break from management and says she feels fully revived. “I’m refreshed, I’m recharged. It’s been the mental-wellness break that I needed,” she says, having managed Sheffield United and Birmingham prior to her 2021 switch to Villa. “I’ve had some incredible time with my daughter and I’m in a really good place physically, mentally. I’m mentally recharged after nine years of relentlessness, job, job, job. This is the first break I’ve had and I must say, I’ve enjoyed it.”

Ward oversaw ninth, fifth and seventh-place finishes in her three campaigns with Villa, who were relegation contenders before her arrival and, as she reflects on her decision to step aside, it is clear her affection for the club made her feel conflicted over the move. “It was arguably the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my career,” Ward says. “I knew that I was burning out. I was working at a relentless pace. There was a tipping point with my daughter, at Christmas time last year, when she asked me have I got a day off and: ‘When am I going to spend more time with you?’ I found that really difficult.

“I wanted to do everything myself, and you can’t at that level. I was leaving the house at 5.30am in the morning and getting in at 11pm some days. And it took its toll. And I don’t think I ever really admitted it but I think, mentally, I was close to being in a struggling position.

“My heart was tearing apart, though, because I love Aston Villa, I love the club, love what they’re doing, love the way that I’ve been able to grow. They gave me an opportunity. I’m very proud of the work we did, both on and off the pitch, I think we progressed the football club. I think we brought in some excellent people. But I needed to put myself first. If I’d stayed, either I would have burnt out and I would have suffered, or the players would have suffered, so it was really important to recognise it. I cried so much, for days, for weeks. Because I didn’t know if it was the right decision. But it was really the right time.”

During those tough moments, and for much of Ward’s managerial career, Hayes has acted as an unofficial mentor. Ward jokes that the former Chelsea manager, who won the WSL for a fifth consecutive time before moving across the Atlantic, “can’t get rid of me”, adding: “No one will truly understand how much she has guided me in the last four or five years. I’ve been very fortunate. After our first conversation she said: ‘Anything you need, give me a call.’ And she probably regrets that now because we don’t stop. She’s like a big sister, a mentor, all of the above, and I’ll for ever be grateful.”

It is because of that help from Hayes that Ward is determined to pass on kindness to younger aspiring coaches herself. She is joining the Powerhouse Project as head of coaching for their Uefa B prep programme, a course designed to ensure coaches are ready to undertake the Uefa B licence course. The project was set up by the former professional footballers turned broadcasters Rosie and Mollie Kmita, and Ward will be leading practical and classroom-based coaching sessions, providing mentorship to coaches and participants.

“I feel really passionate about developing females in the game,” she says. “There are some really good people in the building trying to create female coaches. They’ve made massive strides, delivering different programs not just here but worldwide, and to give back to young coaches is huge. Creating female leaders is going to be so important. It’s everyone’s job to try and find that talent and get them to the top.”

For Ward, however, there remains a strong desire to get back into management. “That [management] is my passion, that’s who I am, that’s what I do,” she says. When and where remains a mystery, but it seems clear the game has not seen the last of Ward.