There is a special illustrated cover for this issue of the matchday programme, featuring Chelsea Women skipper Millie Bright, as well as a pull-out poster of the 2023/24 squad.

Bright addresses the supporters in her usual captain’s column and it includes her thoughts on Emma Hayes, after the manager announced she would be leaving in the summer.

‘I’ve got such a great relationship with Em, she’s been a mentor to me for so many years and almost like a life coach in some ways,’ she says. ‘We’re losing a special manager and, more than that, a special person.’

In her manager’s column, Emma covers her decision to leave the club next summer and what she hopes to achieve in her final months in the Blues dugout.

You can also read an exclusive interview with Sjoeke Nusken, who opened her Blues goalscoring account with a hat-trick in our most recent home game, against Brighton last month.

The German midfielder reveals the identity of her favourite footballer and how she very nearly ended up making it as a professional in another sport, as well as discussing her start to life in west London.

‘I’ve settled in very well and I feel very comfortable in the team,’ she says. ‘I’m enjoying playing in the WSL and it’s a little bit more intense than I expected. It goes a little bit up and down, up and down, so it’s different to German football, but I like it. That’s why I’m here.

‘I don’t really set myself goals or targets. Not for this year, at least, as I just want to settle in, but of course I want to win trophies. We can achieve this.’

For all that and much more, be sure to pick up your copy from the programme sellers around the ground on Saturday.