The Blues duly beat Reading away on the final day to retain the two-point lead we took into the game, and the general anticipation that Hayes’ side would complete the job against the bottom side brought a pressure of its own. That added to the emotions our manager felt at the end of Saturday’s 3-0 victory, as she later explained.

‘I’m relieved, I’m happy, I’m sad,’ Hayes listed.

‘I’m relieved because it is over. When there is expectation on us you don’t always feel as much joy immediately, you just feel relief.

‘I am happy because we have the best fans in the world and seeing the wall [of them] behind us at the end and having the celebrations with us makes everything worthwhile.

‘And I am sad to lose Mags [Magda Eriksson] and P [Pernille Harder], I’m losing two great players, and sad because [Reading manager] Kelly Chambers is a friend of mine and I almost feel a little bit bad relegating them whilst winning – so mixed emotions.

‘But ultimately I feel relief that we have been able to deliver as there has been a lot adversity for us in the background.’

That adversity included losing some major players to injury for lengthy spells and also Hayes herself being out of action mid-season due to surgery. Others came to the fore.

‘That is why I like it more, that is why I enjoy it more because it has been a team effort,’ Hayes declared.

‘It’s been a squad effort. It has not been about one player, and that includes the staff. It is not about me; my staff have been tremendous and I was off for a long period and they went away to Man United and won and away to Everton and won. Most teams playing without a leader for seven weeks, there are real challenges but all of the backroom staff have been absolutely unbelievable all year.

‘If you came along to our environment, it so easy to say we spend money and have great players, but come and watch how hard we grind. Everybody works to an unbelievable level and this is a victory for hard work.

‘The team has carried each other. The senior players who did not play as much, other seniors picked them up, and the second half of the season we saw so many of our newer players start to bear fruit and we found different ways to win.’

Our manager reserved some special words for the Chelsea fans.

‘They are the best in the world. I know everybody says it but we are the best in the world, we are Chelsea, and our fans are amazing, so thank you!’