As Emma Hayes walked down the Kingsmeadow tunnel one final time, Tina Turner’s ‘Merely the Greatest’ rang out by means of the stadium audio system.

However there was no time for tears for the departing supervisor after her closing house match accountable for Chelsea.

4 days earlier, the 47-year-old had conceded the Girls’s Tremendous League title was “performed” and – in her view – heading to Manchester Metropolis for the primary time since 2016.

Hayes and her gamers appeared downbeat and forlorn after a shock 4-3 defeat by Liverpool. They huddled and consoled one another as they cried over what would seemingly be a trophyless marketing campaign.

However after Sunday’s emphatic 8-0 thrashing of Bristol Metropolis, not solely are Chelsea again within the title race, it’s now additionally again of their fingers.

Whereas they’re three factors behind Gareth Taylor’s facet with a sport in hand, their purpose distinction has taken a big increase and is now higher than Metropolis’s.

As followers and gamers gathered to see Hayes deal with them for the ultimate time on house turf, the adrenaline from the emphatic win over the already-relegated Robins was nonetheless pumping.

Initially she was unable to talk, as a farewell video was performed out on a giant display screen, with Hayes watching on whereas hugging her son Harry.

However the distinction from Wednesday evening was stark, as Hayes then issued a rallying cry down the microphone.

“Let me be clear. It isn’t over,” she stated. “There isn’t any time for sentimentality. All work drinks are cancelled, there’s a title to be received.

“And you realize what? That group of gamers taught me one thing so particular this week, that you just by no means ever quit and that is what it means to be Chelsea.”