Matt Beard leaves job as Liverpool manager with club seventh in WSL | OneFootball

Liverpool Women have parted company with their manager, Matt Beard, with the team seventh in the Women’s Super League.

Beard was in his second spell in charge of Liverpool after guiding them to back-to-back WSL titles in 2013 and 2014. He returned in May 2021, when they were in the Championship.

The 47-year-old is understood to have held talks with the club over a long period and a conclusion was reached that Beard had taken the team as far as he could. Liverpool finished fourth last season, breaking into the WSL’s so-called “big four” by finishing above Manchester United, but have been unable to repeat that form, partly because of a series of injuries.

Beard has also had spells in charge of Bristol City, as an interim manager, West Ham, whom he led to the 2019 Women’s FA Cup final, and the US club Boston Breakers.

A Liverpool statement said: “We have all experienced some fantastic moments with Matt as manager of LFC Women and we express our gratitude for his significant contribution. Our priority was to return this team to where it belongs and we collectively achieved that in 2022 by winning promotion to the WSL.

“We need to build on that momentum and although this has been a difficult decision, we believe it provides us with the best opportunity for future success on the pitch. The search for a new manager of LFC Women is under way, with Amber Whiteley stepping into the interim manager role with immediate effect.”

Liverpool travel to face the WSL’s bottom side, Crystal Palace, on Sunday.

Beard thanked Liverpool and their fans in a statement and said: “I am proud [of] what we managed to achieve over the last three and a half years, including promotion back to the WSL. I could not have asked for more from the players and staff, and thank them for all their sacrifice and support.”

To a certain extent, Beard is the victim of his success from last season, because by overachieving relative to the team’s resources, expectations have been raised at Liverpool to a point where being mid-table – which would have been more fitting for the squad’s true level last season – evidently is no longer deemed sufficient.

In terms of spending, Liverpool are a bottom-half club, illustrated by the most recent set of financial accounts, but more than that, they have a relatively youthful team that are still developing. Beard’s departure will seem harsh to many supporters, but it is also true that some fans have not always enjoyed his style of play and have been calling for something more modern.

Thursday’s news is not understood to have come as a huge shock to staff, because sources have indicated there have been fears for some weeks that a parting of the ways was on the cards, but there is said to be a feeling of sadness at Melwood, where the women’s team have trained since 2023. Beard is regarded as a good bloke and was said to be well thought of around the club.

Supporters of Beard will lament many of the injuries to key players that hindered them earlier in this campaign, but Liverpool also missed opportunities to win games that were drawn against Leicester, West Ham and Crystal Palace at the start of the season.

The team improved somewhat after the WSL’s winter break to claim creditable wins against Brighton and West Ham, but defended poorly in a 4-0 defeat by Manchester City on 16 February and that game proved to be Beard’s last.

Header image: [Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA]