Sports
Hayes is closest English football has come to another Sir Alex Ferguson
Midway through a chat with her men’s counterpart at Chelsea, Emma Hayes awkwardly had to explain to Mauricio Pochettino that someone more important was ringing her.
It was Sir Alex Ferguson, who had heard about her decision to leave Chelsea and become the new U.S. women’s national team manager. Pochettino understood his place in the hierarchy, and Hayes picked up.
“He calls me from time to time, so I wasn’t surprised,” explained Hayes, whose first games in charge of USWNT will come in friendlies against South Korea on June 1 and June 4. “Anything he says to me I always take with such pride. He is a legend of the game and someone whose opinion I value and he has a love of America. We talked a little bit about that, a little bit about legacy, a little bit about leaving at the top. So there were wise words from him. I’m sure it won’t be the last phone call I get from him this season.”
Hayes’ managerial influences are widespread. Given the lack of investment in sports science focused on women’s football, she’s often had to look to other sports for inspiration to understand how to evolve and improve the women’s game. But perhaps her chief influence is Ferguson. This, in itself, shouldn’t come as a great surprise, considering Ferguson is the most successful manager in the history of English football and dominated from the period when Hayes’ teenage hopes of a playing career were ruined by injury, in the early 1990s, to the point where she became Chelsea manager in 2012.
But the curious thing is that, as a Ferguson disciple — and, more to the point, a very successful one — Hayes is pretty much unique. Ferguson’s former players who have gone into management have been only mildly successful. The next generation of young British managers tend to cite foreign coaches as their role models. It’s difficult to look at men’s English football and see many direct Ferguson influences.
In the women’s game, though, Hayes has continued his legacy, and when she became the first woman to receive the Football Writers’ Association tribute award earlier this year, Ferguson gladly appeared on screen to offer a glowing tribute.
The last half-decade in the English women’s can easily be likened to mid-1990s Premier League football: a European Championship on home soil, big improvements in television coverage, the move to modern stadiums and that golden period when suddenly the best players from across the world arrive. Amid those developments, Hayes has effectively been the Ferguson figure — adjusting better than others, staying one step ahead, and enjoying unparalleled success.
Football management essentially has two very different components. There is, to put it bluntly, the football and the management. There are those who understand the game on a deep level, but struggle to assert their authority and build a winning culture. On the other hand, there are also popular figures who get players onside but struggle with the technical side of the game.
To enjoy careers as successful as Ferguson and Hayes, you must tick both boxes, but they’re probably similar in that they’re naturally outstanding managers of individuals, knowing when to use the carrot and when to use the stick, but have often been questioned in terms of the footballing side of things.
Ferguson, for example, was often considered naive tactically when United initially struggled to make progress in Europe, and his habit of making strange selection decisions led to some supporters calling him ‘Tinkerbell’ for his constant tinkering, which was considered to do more harm than good. But gradually Ferguson became more comfortable tactically; in big games, he increasingly set up to stop opponents rather than to play an open game, with great success.
Similarly, Hayes generally gets glowing reports for her ability to lead individuals and cultivate a winning mentality, but was sometimes considered a bit of a back-to-basics, old-school manager, and was criticised for her tendency to leave out key players with little explanation. But that has always been a little unfair, and at times her tactical approach has worked excellently.
Take the way her sides have shuffled between a back three and a back four smoothly at times — specifically the 2021 FA Cup final, when it felt like her defenders were all playing in ‘false’ positions, prompting her opposition number Jonas Eidevall to hold up red and blue cards to his players at certain times, which referred to Chelsea’s shape. (Incidentally, it’s arguable that her stock has raised as much because of her spells as an ITV co-commentator as her managerial success. In an era when co-commentators are so rarely ex-managers, as was once the default, her ability to explain tactical concepts and coaching decisions has been a refreshing change.)
A more accurate observation is that neither Ferguson nor Hayes have been particularly concerned with a footballing philosophy, or on playing entertaining football for the sake of it. They are simply focused on winning, on doing what it takes from game to game.
There has been an extraordinary rewriting of Ferguson’s legacy; his United were rarely famed for their attractive football compared to their title rivals, and the entertainment came from the dramatic manner of their victories, which were often barely believable, rather than the finesse of their play. Part of United’s problem in replacing him has been the idea there was a grand stylistic tradition to replicate. But Ferguson changed his approach so often that he must have contradicted his own philosophy, if one ever existed, very regularly.
Similarly, while a specific style of play is easy to identify at other WSL clubs — Arsenal have always been more technical, Manchester City unashamedly want to play like their men’s side, Tottenham are focused on playing out from the back — Chelsea are more flexible. Often they’re more dangerous on the break than with patient possession play; City and Arsenal have the best pass-completion rates in the league, whereas Chelsea play the most long passes.
Hayes’ approach is less of a philosophy, and more based around getting the best from her side’s in-form attacker and using functional players to stop opponents. In the last five seasons, at various times it’s felt like her Chelsea style has been based around the driving runs of Fran Kirby, then the goals of Bethany England, briefly the guile of Pernille Harder, then the runs in behind of Sam Kerr, then the wing play of Guro Reiten, and more recently it’s often been the flair of Lauren James.
It’s more difficult to nail down what Hayes’ classic XI would be or a default style of play.
Hayes’ set-up has often focused on getting the best from her forwards, such as Kirby (Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Equally, in big matches, Hayes has been able to count upon reliable, versatile, hard-working players with several years of experience at the club. In major title showdowns involving Ferguson’s Manchester United, it was striking how often his key player would be Darren Fletcher, or John O’Shea, or Phil Neville. Not the most glamorous players, but always effective.
Similarly, at times it would have been difficult to say (until recently, perhaps) that any of Jess Carter, Niamh Charles, or Erin Cuthbert were undroppable, or had a clearly defined role in the side. They were ‘do-a-job’ players. But Hayes has improved them as individuals, year on year, and knows how to use them, game to game.
Both Ferguson and Hayes understood the need for clubs to dramatically expand their backroom staff, and not be solely based around the manager. Ferguson relied heavily on his assistants and did little coaching himself, while Hayes is regularly seen consulting with her coaching staff. Her emphasis upon ‘the team behind the team’ is clear, to the extent that her audiobook, Kill The Unicorn, is based on the need to move away from the concept of one person having all the answers.
The slight contradiction, though, is that because Ferguson and Hayes were the ones to build these wider teams from positions as old-school manager rather than first-team coach, replacing them becomes difficult.
In terms of legacy, both have encountered one frustrating final boss: Barcelona. Ferguson won two European Cups and desperately wanted to add a third, but was foiled in both the 2009 and 2011 finals by Pep Guardiola’s side. Hayes has never won the European Cup, reaching the final in 2021, when her side were thrashed by Barca, who also eliminated her side in the past two seasons. Barca are the ultimate example of a club with an obvious philosophy, which has been transferred from the men’s to the women’s side.
Hayes was left fuming after the second leg of Chelsea’s semi-final defeat this season, calling the sending-off of Kadeisha Buchanan the “worst decision in Women’s Champions League history”, which was probably unwise. This week, it was announced UEFA would not charge her for those comments. It rather brought to mind Ferguson’s final Champions League game as manager, when United lost at home to Real Madrid after Nani had been controversially dismissed. Ferguson didn’t fulfil his post-match media commitments, with his assistant Mike Phelan explaining that he was “too distraught”. UEFA fined him £8,500. In that sense, Hayes probably took the right decision to attend the press conference.
Snatching victories from the jaws of defeat was the main theme of Ferguson’s time at Manchester United. But it’s arguable his side never won a title in circumstances as unusual as Hayes’ Chelsea might this weekend.
After a 4-3 defeat at Liverpool earlier this month, Hayes had essentially given up on the title — or at least, that’s what she told the media. But the following weekend, Stina Blackstenius’ two late goals for Arsenal defeated Manchester City and let Chelsea back in, and led to the remarkable spectacle of Chelsea demolishing Bristol City 8-0 to give themselves a goal-difference advantage over City, having started the day with a seven-goal deficit. Hayes sent a paper message onto the pitch, reminding her players of the task.
So this weekend is a goal-difference shootout. City travel to Aston Villa, knowing they probably not only need to win but make up a two-goal disadvantage on Chelsea, who travel to FA Cup winners Manchester United.
If Hayes clinches yet another league title, it will be a fitting place to bow out, for the closest thing English football has seen to another Ferguson.
(Top photos: Ian Kington/AFP via Getty Images; Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
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Ali Haji-Sheikh and Shar Pourdanesh share the fact they are retired NFL players living beyond the glow of the NFL spotlight. But they also share another distinction tying them to current events: They are part of the Iranian diaspora hoping for the downfall of the Islamic revolution.
They make up part of a small group of men who played in the NFL – along with David Bakhtiari, his brother Eric Bakhtiari and T.J. Housmandzadeh – who are decedents of Iranians.
Washington Redskins kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) talks to reporters at Jack Murphy Stadium during media day prior to Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. San Diego, California, on Jan. 26, 1988.(Darr Beiser/USA TODAY Sports)
Haji-Sheikh: Self-Determination For Iranians
Haji-Sheikh, 65, played in the 1980s for the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He was a first-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and was on the NFL All-Rookie team in 1983 for the Giants and, in his final season, won a Super Bowl XXII ring playing for the Washington Redskins and kicking six extra points in a 42-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.
Now, Haji-Sheikh is the general manager at a Michigan Porsche-Audi dealership and is like the rest of us: Keeping up with world events when time permits.
Except the war the United States is currently waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran is kind of different because Haji-Sheikh’s dad emigrated from Iran to the United States in the 1950s and built a life here.
And his son would like to see freedom come to a country he’s never visited but has a kinship to.
“It’s a world event,” Haji-Sheikh said on Monday. “I am not a big fan of the Islamic revolution because I am not Islamic. I would like to see the people of Iran be able to determine their own future rather than it be determined by a few people. It would be nice to see them having a stable government where the people can actually decide how they want it to go.
Green Bay Packers kicker Al Del Greco (10) talks with New York Giants kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) on Sept. 15, 1985, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Giants 23-20.
Iranians Celebrating And Americans Protesting
Haji-Sheikh hasn’t taken to the streets of his native Michigan to celebrate a liberation that hasn’t fully manifested mere days after the American and Israeli bombing and elimination of the Ayatollah.
“I’m so far removed from that,” Haji-Sheikh said. “My mom is from Michigan and of Eastern European background. My dad is from Iran. But it’s like, he hasn’t been back since I was in eighth grade, so that’s a long time ago. That was when the Shah was still in power, mid-70s, ‘74 or ’75, because if he ever went back after that he never would have left. They would have held him, so there was no intention of going back.
“But if things change he might want to go, you never know.”
Despite being removed from any activism about what is happening in Iran Haji-Sheikh is an astute observer.
“My favorite thing I’m seeing right now on TV is the Iranians in America celebrating because there’s a chance, a glimpse, maybe a hope for freedom,” Haji-Sheikh said. “And you have these people in New York protesting. What are you protesting?”
Pourdanesh Thanks America, Israel
Pourdanesh retired from the NFL in 2000 after a seven-year career with the Redskins and Steelers. The six-foot-six and 312-pound offensive tackle was born in Tehran. He proudly tells people he was the NFL’s first Iranian-born player.
Pourdanesh is much more visible and open about his feelings about his country than others. And, bottom line, he loves that President Donald Trump is bombing the Islamic regime.
“This is a great day for all Iranians across the world,” Pourdanesh posted on his Instagram account on Saturday when the war began. “Thank you, President Trump, thank you to the nation of Israel. Thank you for everybody that has been standing up for my people, my brothers and sisters in Iran across the world. This is a great day.
“The infamous dictator is dead – the one person who has contributed to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and other people around the world, if not more. So, congratulations to my Iranian brothers and sisters. Now, go and take back the country.”
This message was not a one-off. Pourdanesh has been posting about what has been happening in Iran since January, when people in Iran took to the streets demanding liberty and the government’s thugs began killing them, with some estimates rising to 36,500 deaths.
Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh (68) of the Pittsburgh Steelers blocks against defensive lineman Jevon Kearse (90) of the Tennessee Titans during a game at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 24, 2000, in Pittsburgh. The Titans defeated the Steelers 23-20. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
‘Islam Does Not Represent The Iranian People’
“[The] Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people,” Pourdanesh said in another post. “Islam does not represent the Iranian people. For almost 50 years, the Iranian people and our country of Iran has been taken hostage by a terrorist regime, and it’s time to take that regime down.”
Pourdanesh was not available for comment on Monday. I did speak to a handful of other Iranian-Americans on Monday. They didn’t play in the NFL, but their opinions are no less valuable than those of former NFL players.
And these people, some of them participating in rallies on behalf of a free Iran, do not understand the thinking of some Americans and mainstream media.
One complained that media that reports on reparations for black Americans based on slavery in the 1800s dismisses the Islamic takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 as an old grievance.
Another said his brother lives in England, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately called the American and Israeli attacks on the Ayatollah’s regime “illegal” but, as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service took years to do the same of Muslim rape (grooming) gangs in the country.
(Starmer announced a national “statutory inquiry” in June 2025).
Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh of the Washington Redskins looks on from the sideline during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 7, 1997, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers defeated the Redskins 14-13. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
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Pourdanesh Calls Out NFL Silence
And finally, Pourdanesh put the NFL on blast. He said in yet another post that during his career, the NFL asked him to honor black history, asked him to stand for women’s rights, asked him to fight for equality for those who cannot defend themselves.
“I did everything they asked, and now I ask the NFL this: Where are you now? Why haven’t we heard a single word out of the NFL? NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the NFL teams out there, all the players who say they stand for social justice, where are you now?
“Why haven’t we heard a single word out of you with regard to the people who have been killed as of today? The very values you claim to espouse are being trampled right now. Why haven’t we heard a single word?”
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The day after he saved the Dodgers’ season, Will Klein was hungry. He ordered from Mod Pizza.
He drove over to pick up his order. The guy that handed him the pizza told him he looked just like Will Klein.
“You should just look at the name on the order,” Klein told him.
Chaos ensued.
“He actually started screaming,” Klein said. “He just started flipping out, which was funny.”
Thing is, if it were two days earlier, the guy would have had no idea what Klein looked like. Neither would you.
On Oct. 26, Klein was the last man in the Dodgers’ bullpen, a wild thing on his fourth organization in two years, a last-minute addition to the World Series roster.
On Oct. 27, the Dodgers played 18 innings, and the last man in the Dodgers’ bullpen delivered the game of his life: four shutout innings, holding the Toronto Blue Jays at bay until Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run.
Dodgers pitcher Will Klein celebrates during the 16th inning of Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 27.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
When Klein returned to the clubhouse, Sandy Koufax walked over to shake hands and congratulate him.
That was Game 3 of the World Series. The Dodgers, the significantly older team, slogged through the next two games, batting .164 and losing both.
If not for Klein, that would have been the end. The Blue Jays would have won the series in five games, and there would have been no Kiké Hernández launching a game-ending double play on the run in Game 6, no Miguel Rojas tying home run and game-saving throw in Game 7, no Andy Pages game-saving catch and Will Smith winning home run in Game 7, no Yoshinobu Yamamoto winning Game 6 as a starter and Game 7 as a reliever.
There would have been no parade.
When Klein rescued the Dodgers, he had pitched one inning in the previous 30 days.
“You can never take your mind out of it,” he said. “You’ve got to stay prepared. Something might come up, and you don’t want to be the guy that gets thrown in the fire and just burns.”
The Dodgers are not shy about grabbing a minor league pitcher, telling him what he can do better and what he should stop doing, and seeing what sticks. If nothing sticks, the Dodgers are also not shy about spitting out the pitcher and designating him for assignment.
In his minor league career, Klein struck out 13 batters every nine innings, which is tremendous. He walked seven batters every nine innings, which is hideous.
The Dodgers scrapped his slider, mixed in a sweeper, and told him his arm was so good that he should stop trying to make perfect pitches and just let fly.
“A lot of times, pitchers are guilty of giving hitters too much credit, and hitters are guilty of giving pitchers too much credit,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations.
“Part of our job is to show them information that helps instill some confidence. I think that really landed with Will.”
In his four September appearances with the Dodgers — after a minor-league stint to apply the team’s advice — he faced 17 batters, walked one, and did not give up a run. That’s why he isn’t buying the suggestion that something suddenly clicked in the World Series.
“Things were incrementally getting better,” he said, “and then you add that to the atmosphere. It amplifies it to 100. All the prep work and mental stuff that I had been doing, I finally got a chance to shine.”
Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “He’s done it in the highest of leverage. You can’t manufacture that. You’ve got to live it and do it. So, since he’s done it, I think he’s got a real confidence.”
Dodgers pitcher Will Klein speaks during DodgerFest at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 31.
(John McCoy / Getty Images)
Klein last started a game three years ago, at triple A. After making 72 pitches in those four innings of Game 3, did he entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, he was meant to be a starter after all?
“No,” he said abruptly. “I hate waiting four or five days to pitch and knowing exactly when I’m going to pitch.
“When I did, the anxiety just built. I want to go pitch. I hate sitting there and waiting. That kind of eats at you. I like being able to go out to the bullpen and have a chance to pitch every day.”
The Dodgers are so deep that Klein might not make the team out of spring training. Whatever happens, he’ll always have Game 3.
In the wake of that game, a fan wanted to buy a Klein jersey but could not find one. So the fan made one himself before Game 4, using white electrical tape on the back of a Dodger blue jersey. I showed Klein a picture.
“That’s cool,” Klein said. “That’s pretty funny.”
Dave Wong, a Dodgers fan living in San Francisco Giants territory, also wanted to buy a Klein jersey.
“They didn’t have a jersey for him,” Wong said.
He settled for the Dodger blue T-shirt he found online and wore it to last Friday’s Cactus League game against the Giants, with these words in white letters: “Will Klein Appreciation Shirt.”
This, then, would be a Will Klein Appreciation Column.
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NBA player calls for Hawks to cancel their ‘Magic City’ strip club promotional night out of respect for women
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An NBA player has taken exception to an Atlanta Hawks promotional night, which is a nod to a famed strip club in the city.
The Hawks have “Magic City Night” scheduled for March 16 against the Orlando Magic, but a player for neither team isn’t too fond of paying tribute to a strip club, which has been famed for its late-night stories involving athletes, celebrities and more.
While the Hawks call it an ode to a “cultural institution,” San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet shared his displeasure in a letter posted on Medium.
Luke Kornet of the San Antonio Spurs reaches for the ball during the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Feb. 26, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Ishika Samant/Getty Images)
Kornet, a nine-year veteran and 2024 NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, called for the Hawks’ promotional night to be canceled later this month, saying that it is disrespectful to women to honor the strip club.
“In its press release, the Hawks failed to acknowledge that this place is, as the business itself boasts, “Atlanta’s premier strip club.” Given this fact, I would like to respectfully ask that the Atlanta Hawks cancel this promotional night with Magic City,” Kornet wrote in his post.
“The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world. We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love.”
The Hawks boasted about the theme night in its press release, including a live performance by famous Atlanta rapper T.I., a co-branded, limited-edition hoodie and even the establishment’s “World Famous” lemon-pepper chicken wings in the arena.
A general view of signage with the State Farm Arena logo on Nov. 14, 2025, outside State Farm Arena, in Atlanta, GA. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire)
“This collaboration and theme night is very meaningful to me after all the work that we did to put together ’Magic City: An American Fantasy’,” said Hawks principal owner, filmmaker and actor, Jami Gertz, said in a press release. “The iconic Atlanta institution has made such an incredible impact on our city and its unique culture.”
Kornet wrote that allowing the night to continue “without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, “specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society.”
Kornet wrote that “others throughout the league” were surprised by the Hawks’ decision to have this promotional night.
“We desire to provide an environment where fans of all ages can safely come and enjoy the game of basketball and where we can celebrate the history and culture of communities in good conscience. The celebration of a strip club is not conduct aligned with that vision,” he wrote.
Luke Kornet of the San Antonio Spurs defends against the Charlotte Hornets during their game at Spectrum Center on Jan. 31, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
The Hawks have seen good reception for the promotional night, as Tick Pick reported a get-in price was initially $10 for the game and has since skyrocketed to $94.
Kornet is in his first season with the Spurs, his sixth NBA team, where he has played mainly in a bench role. He averages 7.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game across 50 contests.
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