Carly Telford looks back at her time at Chelsea

On the lifelong friendships that have been created over the years Telford commented.

‘These girls and the staff have been my family for five years and it sounds so cliché but we all spend so much more time with each other than we do with our actual families, so you have to lean on each other, you have to be there in the tough times and through Covid times where people have had nobody here and we’ve just had each other. I can’t thank the girls enough for supporting me in such a difficult time.

‘Some of the girls will be my family forever and I won’t ever lose contact with them. It will break my heart when I have to take my little placard out and walk out the door. But I know at the end of a phone, any one of them will be there for me and that’s ultimately such a blessing because they are such a fantastic group and genuinely some of the best people I’ve known.’

Reflecting on her important relationship with Emma Hayes who has been at the club with her for the past five years and how far the club has come in that time.

‘When you look at what she’s built and what she’s done. This building we weren’t even allowed in and now it’s our own. The legacy that she (Emma) has built here that will go on to forever be Chelsea Women’s Football Club will always have her name up in lights.

‘She’s again one of the best managers in the world and one of the best people in the world who has not just made me a better player, but a better person. I’ll miss her but I always know that I’ll leave always being a friend as well as her being my manager.’