Bethany England and Emma Hayes win top Women's Super League awards
Chelsea have won the top two individual honours in the end-of-season Barclays FA Women's Super League awards, with striker Bethany England voted player of the season and Emma Hayes manager of the season.
The pair helped to lead Chelsea to the league title - albeit on a points per game basis when the season was curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic - and also won the League Cup after defeating Arsenal in the final at the City Ground. Hayes guided Chelsea to an unbeaten WSL campaign, averaging more than three goals a game and conceding only 11 times all season.
The former Arsenal forward Kelly Smith, presenting the awards in a virtual ceremony alongside Ian Wright, described Hayes as a "legend for women’s football in England”.
England’s season began with the 30-yard winning goal at Stamford Bridge against Tottenham, in Chelsea’s first game of the campaign. She went on to score 14 times in 15 league appearances and provided four assists, top-scoring for Chelsea for the second successive season and scoring the winning goal in the League Cup final.
Hayes won the award ahead of the former Manchester City head coach Nick Cushing, who left the club in Februray after six years; as well as Tottenham’s Juan Amoros and Karen Hills, the only managerial pair in the WSL; Everton’s Willie Kirk and Manchester United head coach Casey Stoney.
Wright added that “few could claim to have made more of an impression on the Barclays FA WSL than Nick", that “Kirk has established Everton as a force to be reckoned with in the WSL” and that Stoney “is well on her way to establishing herself as an elite coach and establishing Manchester United as a WSL powerhouse”.
England beat Manchester City’s 19-year-old forward Lauren Hemp - who, according to Wright, “has already established herself as one of the most revered attackers in the league” - and Chelsea winger Guro Reiten. Everton forward Chloe Kelly, whose nine goals last season have earned her a move to Manchester City, had also been nominated, alongside Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema.
Miedema won the Barclays Golden Boot, having scored 16 times for Joe Montemurro's side in the league this season. Her double hat-trick and four assists during Arsenal’s 11-1 win over Bristol City helped the club to record the biggest victory in WSL history and marked one of the all-time great individual WSL performances.
Manchester City's Ellie Roebuck won the Barclays Golden Glove, having taken over from England's Karen Bardsley to keep ten clean sheets.
Emma Hayes said: “I just want to say a big thank you to all of my staff for their contributions this season. This trophy’s about the whole group. A big thank you to the players for stepping up another level and thanks, once again, to our fans for being the best in the world.”
Bethany England said: “I would just like to say a huge thank you to Ian Wright and Kelly Smith, along with the panel, for voting me as your Player of the Season. I’d also like to give a special thanks to all the fans for voting for me online. It’s greatly appreciated and means a lot to me. I’d also like to dedicate this award to my teammates. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to have the season that I’ve had. This is for all the team, all the staff and all the fans that went through with us this year.”
