Paul Green, a key figure in Chelsea’s rise to the very top of women’s football in England, has left the club, today, with an official statement confirming his departure after thirteen (13!) years of dedicated service to the organization. It’s a fairly brief and rather formulaic statement that doesn’t exactly befit his accomplishments and legacy, which doesn’t seem quite right and has certainly not been received well by the fanbase.
While we don’t know the exact details or reasons behind this departure, the nature of the statement is also being taken as a sign that Green may have been, in effect, pushed out by the other powers that be at the club. According to The Guardian, “Green’s influence and role in decision-making has been increasingly impeded at Chelsea, with co-sporting directors, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, taking more of an active decision-making role around the women’s team”.
Green, after all, was one of the last vestiges of the old regime at Chelsea, on either the women’s or the men’s side. Long-time club secretary and director David Barnard is retiring at the end of the season (and stepped down from the Board last week as he begins to wind down his activities), while recent coaching changes in the Academy are also signaling the start of a new era.
Green joined Chelsea in 2013 as assistant manager to Emma Hayes, eventually moving into a more administrative role as General Manager of the women’s team and, more recently, Head of Women’s Football. Never in the limelight but always at the top of the game, he was instrumental in making Chelsea the dominant force in women’s football in England and around the world.
Thank you for everything, Paul!