Jonas Eidevall says that Chelsea’s commitment to spending on their women’s team is good for the league in terms of driving standards and competing with the best teams in Europe.
While Arsenal remain big spenders in women’s football, Chelsea have marginally led the way in terms of player investment. However, Eidevall insists elite clubs need not copy one another in terms of approach.
‘We are two very different clubs with different philosophies and it is not about copying the other, you have to do your own thing. As a league, what Chelsea is doing is very good.
‘The biggest difference between the men’s and women’s game from a European perspective is that the best salaries are not paid in England in the women’s game. They are paid in other clubs.
‘That is what you are seeing in the Champions League, that is why English clubs are having a hard time winning the Champions League because the level of investment at other European clubs is so high.
‘If Chelsea wants to go there, they need to be able to match, if we want to go there, we also need to compete on that. It is good with clubs investing, it brings all of us up to another level.’
Sunday’s Conti Cup Final represents the last time Eidevall will lock horns with Chelsea boss Emma Hayes, who will coach the US Women’s National Team after the end of the club season. Eidevall says he will miss pitting his wits against her but he doesn’t doubt that new rivalries will form.
‘I have really enjoyed the challenge of the games against Emma. That has been really exciting to play against her teams. But rivalries in elite football will continue to come and one ends and another one emerges, I don’t think there will be any shortage of rivalries in the WSL.’
However, the two will not be strangers. Gunners right-back Emily Fox will play under Hayes for her national team and the Eidevall is looking forward to striking up a new professional relationship with Hayes and he believes the WSL is missing a trick by not having a more collegiate approach between managers.
‘One thing that is different in the UK compared to Sweden is that the amount of time managers spend together is much more limited, there are fewer platforms for that. In Sweden we might take trips together during international tournaments. In Sweden, we understand we are rivals but you have a lot more things in common and you can learn from each other.
‘Those relationships are important but we don’t really have a good platform for that in the WSL for building that. I really look forward to me and Emma not being on opposing sides and we can co-operate, especially on a player like Emily Fox and we will want the best for her.
‘I think that will be really interesting to have football discussions with her and get her perspective and why they have done certain things and what they have learned. What the US are trying to achieve and have achieved is a lot of the same things we are trying or have achieved at Arsenal. There is a lot of lessons to be learned.’
Chelsea are also in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the Champions League and top the WSL table, while the Gunners are out of the other cup competitions and six points off the pace at the top of the league table. It is put to Eidevall that the Conti Cup Final is more important for Arsenal than Chelsea, to which he gave a playful answer.
‘Everything is always more important for us, the most important thing is that we win. Arsenal winning is always the most important thing so I agree with you!’
Just as well Jonas spends most of his time on the bench, since he’s clearly in the red zone
Let’s make sure we ruin her last match against us then. Can’t stand her, she is the Mourinho of the ladies game, always moaning and whining. Remember last year when we beat them comprehensively in the Conti Cup. She said “we wanted it more because we hadn’t won anything for years”
Talk about being bitchy!
Horrible woman!
She said “we wanted it more because we hadn’t won anything for years”
It’s true, isn’t it?
Horrible woman?
I think your comment is horrible.
Emma Hayes has done an incredible job at Chelsea and she has been the most respected manager in the WSL for years. Horrible she is not.
Some people say she is an arrogant person, I don’t know why I don’t follow her regularly
When I see to a press conference or interview with Emma Hayes, I feel she is passionate, honest/direct, and inspiring. She also shows her sense of humour. Those are all qualities that can motivate players and that they can identify with.
Jonas Eidevall, on the other hand, comes across as intelligent, analytical, and comforting. He seems like a nice guy but he is not a good enough manager for the talented squad we have now.
*see a press conference
Agreed with the first paragraph but not necessarily the second.
I agree with you on that. Whatever else Hayes is, she is head and shoulders above Mourinho in any category you mention. To say she is horrible beggars belief. She was a part of what made Arsenal Women great under Vic Akers.
For the most part she talk nothing but sense.
Emma Hayes is a great player manager. The bond she has built between her and the players is extraordinary, although of course being in place for so long does help. But success has kept her her job. She and JE are quite similar in some ways but I think she is more ruthless. I read somewhere once that “winner” types are either motivated primarily by the joy/high of winning or the fear/hatred of losing. I see JE as the first type and Hayes as the second. Losing is personal for her. While she may or may not be a master… Read more »
I was thinking, as Arsenal invested so much in the squad and didn’t know how to invest in a coach, observe that Chelsea is about to sign Sônia Bompastor, a national champion, champions league and she has been in Lyon’s main team since 2021, the same time as Jonas at Arsenal . Chelsea are visionary in wanting to win titles and they don’t realize this at Arsenal, there is a lack of a female Florentine Perez at this club, I would like someone’s opinion to show that I am mistaken, wrong, and I would like to understand more about this… Read more »
I think Sonia Bompastor is an excellent manager and Chelsea will keep winning with her. She is certainly a level above Eidevall.
But under Eidevall we beat her Lyon team 5-1 in France. So what level are you thinking about? P1 W1 L0 D0. Looks like Jonas is ahead.
Seriously, winning one game is what you are going by? Eidevall has also beaten Emma Hayes a few times but that doesn’t make him a better manager than her either. Both Chelsea and Lyon win consistently. If we go by trophies, then Hayes and Bompastor are far ahead of Eidevall. In Bompastor’s first full season in charge of Lyon (2021-22), she won the French Division 1 Feminine and the Women’s Champions League (vs Barcelona).
Sincerely, what is it about Eidevall that makes you think he is the right manager for Arsenal?
Look at women’s United, the coach isn’t in a good phase there either, he’s much worse, he could even finish 6th in the table, I hope Jonas has managed to achieve what he wants so much with the team, and of course lift the Conti Cup This will give the girls extra energy for the end of the season.
I want to be wrong in relation to the coach, in this country the team that caught my attention was Arsenal, due to the history it has and built over the years and I hope to see it win many titles in the near future, taking the club to another level
I really hope they appoint Bompastor. I think she is a very average coach.
I would be interested to know why you think that Tim? I’ve not seen much of Lyon under Bompastor at all but her record there seems excellent on paper. Do you think she might be found out a bit in the WSL?
I would also like to know, she is an excellent coach and I believe that now Chelsea will win CL under her command
Everything crossed for the win on Sunday, I hope Jonas has got his thinking cap on for working out a plan and ruining Hayes quadruple winning last season. I have a really bad feeling Chelsea will win one of the cups, the league and Champions League.
The WSL is easier, but the Champions League, I’m kind of in doubt, Barça has a very good mentality for these games, as long as Aitana bonmati is in her best form it’s very difficult, Rolfo came back better than she was, and Alexia so, only a miracle will make Chelsea win the CL
Jonas has a good point. The biggest commercial income of a club in the WSL belongs to Manchester United (Huh? Yes, apparently so!) and they are fifth highest of European clubs. Arsenal makes the list but with significantly lower revenue. So we have to invest but I think he is hinting that we have to do it sustainably and move to being self-financing as quickly as possible. Perhaps the Australia trip is of relevance to that last point. I just wish him the best of luck for later on – little things can swing a match like this and I… Read more »
It would be interesting to see if any other managers are tempted into taking the collegiate approach JE favours. NewCo have said they are not going to feel bound to copy the Premier League’s way of doing things and since the WSL is in its infancy, sharing knowledge at head coach level might be a way to accelerate development.