MATT BEARD hopes to restore Liverpool Women to their former glory after announcing his return as the club’s manager.
The former West Ham gaffer is back in Merseyside six years after leaving the team to coach US club Boston Breakers before spells with the Irons and Bristol City.
And the ex-interim Robins boss beat 160 applicants to the top job to manage the former WSL giants.
Beard, 43, said: “When you are working here and living and breathing it and what the football club means to the city and its fans, I’ve experienced that from the success we had in my first period here
“My family and I loved our time in Liverpool and we’re really looking forward to going back
“My memories from before are nothing but great memories and they’ll always live with me.
“But it’s about what I do this time around and getting the team back into the (Women’s) Super League.
“One thing I can promise the football club and the fans is that I will work as hard as I can to get us back into the (Women’s) Super League.
“I’ve come here to get the team promoted, it’s not going to be easy and it’s probably going to be the toughest Championship season ever.
“But we have a good core group here and the infrastructure is there.
“It’s about recruiting the right players to improve the team and making sure we have one common goal as a group to achieve what we want to achieve.”
Beard first took up the reins at Liverpool back in 2012 leading them to back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014.
And the Roehampton-born coach led the club on their first Women’s Champions League campaign in 2015 before departing for managerial spells at Boston Breakers, West Ham and Bristol between 2016 and 2021.
Liverpool had been without a permanent manager since Vicky Jepson resigned from the role in January.
And Jepson’s assistant Amber Whiteley has been serving as interim boss leading the club to a third place finish in the second tier of the women’s game.
The club’s chiefs hope Beard can lead them back to the top-flight following their relegation to the Women’s Championship in the 2019-20 season.
Their board members said: “We know him (Matt) particularly well from his highly successful previous spell with the club and have followed his progress closely.
“But this is an appointment for the future. We believe Matt’s experience and know-how can help the club in our quest to return to the Women’s Super League.
“Much hard work lies ahead and we believe Matt is ideally placed to lead that journey.
“The future of the women’s game looks incredibly bright and we want to be right at the heart of it.”
Beard enjoyed a stint in the NWSL managing Boston Breakers from 2016-2017 before returning home to take charge of West Ham in 2018 and leading them to the Women’s FA Cup Final in 2019.
The Reds gaffer left the Hammers at the end of 2020 by mutual consent before joining Bristol City as interim boss in January.
Beard steered the Robins to a Conti Cup final and two wins from his first five games in charge.
But the Twerton Park team have dropped into the Women’s Championship after drawing three and losing four of their last seven WSL games.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
