Chelsea's fourth straight Women's Super League crown was unquestionably toughest of all
The Mirror Two weeks ago after Chelsea won the FA Cup Emma Hayes revealed her young son Harry, 5, was getting into the Beatles and had his favourite tune.
"He likes 'Yellow Submarine'," she said after the win over Man Utd at Wembley. "But we love dancing around to 'Love Me Do'. But a fortnight later after a fourth straight WSL title was also in the bag, perhaps 'A Hard Day's Night' would have been more appropriate to play on the ride home from Reading?
Whatever was on the jukebox, both were basking in the Berkshire sunshine with the league trophy after the Royals were beaten 3-0 on Saturday afternoon. Hayes the manager could finally relax, Hayes the mother could now take centre stage. The third double in a row was in the bag, but was it always inevitable? No.
Make no mistake, this title has been very, very hard to win for the champions. A slog. A grind.
Any casual observer of the women's game could glance at the results, the final table and see Chelsea had once again finished top of the pile. Perhaps they would deduce that the the WSL is an uncompetitive league, a show with only one star act. Yet this simply isn't the case.
