FIRST of all, congratulations to Emma Hayes. The Chelsea manager picked herself up mentally and emotionally after losing the Women’s Super League (WSL) on the final day of last season in dramatic circumstances to go again this year.

She dusted herself off and led her side to the double, the FA Cup at Wembley — which was the club’s first trophy — and a few months later to the league title.

It is not easy to regroup after coming so close to the league. You only have to look at Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool if you want to see how not to make a title charge the following season, but she had the strength and character to coach her side across the finish line the second time around.

I watched this Chelsea side for the first time a few years ago and never thought they would overtake Arsenal in under a decade.

Arsenal were the strongest team in the league, dominating nationally and giving a good account of themselves on the European stage.

Manchester City have come on leaps and bounds over the past few years, along with Liverpool, and now we have a genuine title race between four very strong teams.

Next season should be a very tense but exciting league race and I look forward to watching how Chelsea cope with being the team to beat.

Personally, I am already tipping them to retain the title. Hayes is a phenomenal manager and when you speak to her she comes across as a very driven leader who will not settle for one league title.

They will benefit greatly from a full season of Fran Kirby, or the English Messi, who since her move from Reading has fitted in superbly with her teammates. The more they train together, the better the understanding and defences will have a nightmare stopping her.

If she does have an off day, Ji So Yun will easily pick up where Kirby left off. Dubbed the Korean Messi, Ji often makes the difference when needed.

It was Ji who opened the scoring against Notts County in the FA Cup and grabbed the first goal on Sunday against Sunderland to set her side up to win the league.

It is that ability to score on the biggest stage which makes her so valuable to the squad and a key piece of this side.

For me, more valuable than both combined is Gemma Davison. I was blown away by her performance at Wembley and she is my favourite player to watch in the WSL (and it is hard for me to like a Chelsea player).

The way she slaloms down the wing, ball at her feet and leaving opposition defenders in her dust, is worth the ticket price alone.

She may not score as many goals as Kirby and Ji but she is just a terrific player to watch each week.

Davison also scored in the 4-0 victory over Sunderland, the last, but her work-rate is infectious.

I was mesmerised after just seeing her for 90 minutes and will certainly be travelling to Staines when I can next season to see more of her in action.

I could list all of Chelsea’s squad and name their strengths and why they are integral cogs to the Chelsea machine.

But I really do feel that I would be spoiling the fun, so I urge you to watch them live if you get the chance.

But it’s not just the Blues you should be watching, the WSL One and Two are gearing up to be two of the best leagues in football and the Football Association, and the clubs, need to act now.

It would take a lot of work but the FA should move the season to coincide with the men’s.

At the moment, the summer league is fun and enjoyable but fans want more.

Fourteen games gives the impression that this is filler while you wait for the start of the Premier League, that the women’s game can’t attract fans away from men’s.

It would be hard to fit in all the games in one weekend but they do it for a few months, towards the end of the WSL and the start of the Premier and Football League.

For those few weekends, everything coincides in perfect harmony and attendances don’t drop for either.

In fact, the WSL saw a huge increase in supporters. There is a clamour for the women’s game, as attendances rise from an average of 728 to 1,076, and 2,710 witnessed Chelsea win the league.

Notts County pulled a crowd of 3,180 at their final game of the season and, if this continues to improve, we may get a point where clubs move away from non-league grounds to their own purpose-built stadiums.

It may even persuade some men’s clubs, I’m looking at you Manchester United, to finally invest in a women’s team.

Every year it drives me insane that United refuse to set up an adult women’s team.

Given how much the club want rake in more cash, surely a professional women’s team is a money-maker?

It is another team which can attract sponsors, another team to advertise and another team to win trophies and make the club even more successful. What are they waiting for?

I hope all this leads to a full pyramid of women’s leagues across Britain. Where women’s football doesn’t feel like a brief summer fling, leagues have 12 or more teams and are treated by the FA and clubs like a genuine competition and not an after-school project.

Women’s football is ready to take off and I for one am strapped in and ready for the ride.