Chelsea news as Sonia Bompastor completes the treble in her first season in charge of the women's team with the promise of more to come
A family kick an inflatable football around the bottom of the Wembley Stadium steps. Music blares out in a fan park. Children have their faces painted. There are blue shirts everywhere.
This is the scene after Chelsea women win their third trophy of the season. If the players were showing any signs of getting bored of this (and they very much aren't), then the supporters are still revelling in it.
We are more than two hours removed from the final whistle yet the streets outside of the ground are packed by Chelsea fans smiling, cheering, and enjoying the sunshine. It had already been a wonderful day until then but the rays will shine a bit brighter for them.
It is almost perfect that a grey day in London opened up right before kick off to coat half of the Wembley pitch in light. Chelsea deserved that sort of picture by the end.
You might think that the Chelsea teamactually get bored of winning trophies. It certainly doesn't look that way. Milie Bright suggested before the final day win over Liverpool in the Women's Super League (WSL) that she would not have celebrated the title if they had lost and therefore missed out on an unbeaten season. She need not have worried.
The enjoyment from Wembley Stadium was overflowing as Sonia Bompastor masterminded a 3-0 FA Cup final rout over Manchester United. A goal for every piece of silverware they have picked up this season. A trophy for every 10 games they have gone unbeaten domestically.
Sometimes it is said that numbers do not do things justice but in this case, they really do. Chelsea turned the national stadium into their home ground, cheered on by more than 25,000 adoring fans. Blue was the colour once more.
What this team have achieved is absolutely remarkable. The way they do it is almost metronomic. Chelsea, in hindsight, almost appeared to let United have 15 minutes at the start of this game.
They went direct to Mayra Ramirez, pinging long balls to their striker. Then, after seeing what the FA Cup holders had (very little, as it turned out), they went to dominating possession.
Keira Walsh and Erin Cuthbert played keep-ball around the red shirts chasing them whilst passes were popped into Ramirez's feet and then back out to Aggie Beever-Jones. The rewards for this eventual territorial supremacy didn't come until late on when Sandy Baltimore got her second and Catarina Macario wrapped things up in the 85th minute, but Chelsea didn't face much of a challenge.
United battled and put themselves about but they rarely called Hannah Hampton into any sort of action. She was able to stand in front of the loud Chelsea fans for the first half, largely without fear of conceding. After the break she was in the glorious sun and would remain so as Chelsea were crowned.
This was the efficient performance of a team who had won 25 out of 29 domestic games leading into this match. Their only defeats all season have been to Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League.
They already knew how to get by when they weren't at their best and they are grooved in waiting for the right moment to strike. Whether that is right before half-time, in the dying seconds, or throughout, Bompastor has managed to somehow add more knowledge and ruthlessness to this winning machine.
It shouldn't really come as any surprise. Just watching the warmup, Chelsea were playing short, sharp passes between themselves in boxes across the pitch. United, by contrast, were shuttling from side to side, almost as if preparing for the defensive task ahead. They settled in with two banks of four, scuttling like crabs before the action had even started
That is what Chelsea had them doing for real before long. It wasn't quite the show that their new minority investor Alexis Ohanion might have dreamed of but it did mirror the total control and superiority of his more famous wife, Serena Williams. She was there to watch the game along with their children and came out from the tunnel at half-time.
Williams was among those to pose at full-time with Canadian full-back Ashley Lawrence as well as every other willing Chelsea player. Bompastor introduced her (extremely shy) children to the tennis icon and shook hands.
Draped with a flag over her shoulders with the pointed single word of 'unrivalled' written on it, Bompastor spoke to Ohanion (the founder of Reddit) and Williams as players walked off the pitch after the celebrations. Lauren James joined in with a money shot of the Chelsea star next to one of the world's biggest sporting legends.
Chelsea's owners, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, were also there to watch. They witnessed the best of the club as yet another trophy was added to the collection.
After losing out to United in the FA Cup last year, Chelsea were desperate to make up for it. Beever-Jones sat back on the pitch on her own for a while, soaking it all up as the remaining fans cheered every player who went over to them. Lawrence and the injured Mia Fishel joined her.
Before long they had spotted people in the stands and were waving their hands, smiling as they did. It was a joyous moment which is maybe best summed up by Bompastor's reaction the the third goal.
There was nothing over the top here, just players basking in the moment and getting the rest they have earned at the end of a tremendous and historic nine months. That is what Chelsea celebrations look like now.
She had prepared to bring on Guru Reiten from the bench and was stood next to the attacker as Baltimore took a ball down inside the box, turned, and lashed in. Whilst the entire team started the celebrations immediately, Bompastor hugged Reiten, holding her in a tight grip.
She pumped her fists and then walked back to the bench, beckoning for more players to get ready to come on. The impact that the former Lyon head coach has had is massive.
A Champions League-winning player and manager, Bompastor has maintained the standards set by Emma Hayes. She has maybe even added a steel to the team which did not appear to be missing.
She has set the bar so incredibly high and the money coming in from Ohanion is only likely to extend the gap to teams like United, who aren't taking this whole thing seriously. Chelsea, under Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly, can be accused of a lot but they have seen the opportunity to spend relatively little and have big success in the women's game.
Williams was part of tennis' big push for more female recognition and although she won't be directly involved, having her onside and close to Ohanian is no mistake. She will now have pictures posing with the FA Cup, with the Chelsea players, and as close to wearing the Chelsea badge as you can get without actually donning a shirt.
That is the global appeal Chelsea have. It helped them land Bompastor and three trophies followed. Through hard work, sheer quality, and excellent execution, they have completed a remarkable treble. It may look easy but that is the gift of this team. They just do not tire from being the best.
