She is the first lady of English football, and all that glitters around Emma Hayes’ neck is not just Olympic gold.

Just before he died last year, Hayes’ father Sid gave her his gold American eagle medallion pendant and told her to take the job as head coach of the United States women’s national team if she was offered it. When Uncle Sam came calling six months ago, she led the USA to Olympic glory at Paris 2024 just 72 days after her first training session.

But more than the bullion she wore at the Parc des Princes in August, Hayes treasures her father’s gold necklace - and she will be wearing it at Wembley when the States take on England in a prestige friendly this evening.

“I always wear it, cherish it, never take it off,” said the coach who led Chelsea to five consecutive Women’s Super League titles, fishing the prized heirloom from beneath her salad cream-coloured hoodie.

“I grew up in a household where my dad put money on the table at the end of the week and, whether there was enough or there wasn’t, we’d have to figure it out. That was my life as an inner-city London kid and it was the making of me.”

When the final whistle sounded in Paris, and the USA had won Olympic gold, Hayes kissed the pendant and admitted: “"It's so fitting my dad gave me his American eagle necklace. That was for him. This time last year, my dad was dying. I didn't think I had the courage to come and do this.”

On her return to London, Hayes held court on the dance floor of a Camden nightspot where she used to point at the ceiling in her carefree youth. She was reassured that it “still smells of fart and feet” - an exotic alternative for generations brought up on the scent of lager and sweat - and she hung around to pull pints behind the bar in a nostalgic photo opportunity, but her homecoming is strictly business.

“I could sit here and say the result doesn’t matter, but I’m a competitor and of course we’re here to win,” she said. To underline the message, there have been no team sightseeing excursions in the capital.

A couple of early arrivals in Britain explored Borough Market, but apart from a Thanksgiving celebration at Tottenham's training ground - Hayes supported Spurs as a kid - the squad’s main social engagement has been a Cluedo evening.

Hayes, 48, is a straight talker - we are talking gun-barrel straight - who pays little attention to convention if it gets her message across. When she accepted a prestigious tribute award from the Football Writers Association last January, she began her acceptance speech by surveying the ballroom of tuxedos and glad rags, saying: “F*** me, I hope my funeral is as good as this.”

And she does a nice line in self-deprecation, telling her nightclub audience in Camden: “One of my friends used to live up in Delancey Street in a big posh house - five storeys, it was gorgeous.

“I would go up there and pretend a little bit about how maybe this would be a life for me one day. I used to come home with a little posh accent and my mum would say, ‘Your s*** still stinks.’ I'm from a home where you had to keep your feet on the ground and be humble.”

Tonight her worlds collide at Wembley, where Sarina Wiegman's Euro 2022 winners meet the Olympic champions. Online trolls will sneer, “Who cares?” But for sexists and misogynists, the uncomfortable truth is that the 83,000-plus attendance will be the largest anywhere in Europe this weekend.

Mercifully, Hayes will cut through the nonsense surrounding national anthems and the badge-kissing twaddle which turned Lee Carsley’s first game as England interim manager into a farcical competition to see who could sing God Save The King loudest.

“There’s no denying that when the national anthem is played, that will feel a little strange because I’m going to be part of the away team,” she said.

“I will hum along, as I always have done, being the English person that I am - and I’ll do the same for the American national anthem because I love them both.”

Join our new WhatsApp communityand receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.