It has long been hard to imagine Chelsea without Emma Hayes and vice versa.
At the end of the season she will leave the club she has spent 11 years building to take up the role as manager of the United States national team.
She is leaving her home for the biggest job in women’s football. It is an opportunity that does not come around often and one she could not turn down - but those facts did not make the news of her departure any less shocking.
Hayes’ players did not find out until after their 6-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday and were just as surprised as her staff members.