Hayes sparks civil war by telling relationships with teammates are inappropriate

Chelsea Women's star Jess Carter has liked a string of social media posts that called her manager Emma Hayes 'beyond bonkers' after the 47-year-old coach criticised player-to-player relationships within women's football teams.

On Thursday, Hayes, who will leave the club at the end of the season, stated she believes that both player-to-player and player-to-coach relationships are 'inappropriate' despite there being several within her own team.

Carter, 26, is going out with her team-mate Ann-Katrin Berger, 33, with the pair having initially met while playing for Birmingham City in 2016 before reuniting in Chelsea three years later where they established their relationship.

Mail Sport understands there is at least one other player-to-player relationship within the Chelsea squad.

Hayes' comments came on the eve of their crunch Women's Super League match against Arsenal on Friday, which could see the Gunners leapfrog the Blues and go top of the table with a victory. Carter is currently her only fit centre back.

But her views sparked a reaction among some online, with Carter liking several posts on X (formerly Twitter) criticising her manager's opinion.

Journalist Beth Fisher wrote: 'Beyond bonkers to bring player-to-player relationships into this conversation in my opinion.'

She also liked a Tweet that said: 'You don’t have to justify what Emma said by the way, it’s a flawed answer no matter how you spin it. There’s a fundamental difference between player-player and player-coach relationships and that’s imbalance of power. She could’ve said anything but that.'

'Anyone aligning coach x player relationships with player x player relationships is fundamentally misunderstanding the power imbalances at play,' reporter Jessy Parker