ST HELENS, England — Among the many sea of flags adorning St Helens’ Stadium throughout Liverpool‘s Girls’s Tremendous League (WSL) conflict with Manchester United, there was one significantly poignant addition.
“Liverpool was made for Matt and Matt was made for Liverpool,” learn the banner, displayed in tribute to the hosts’ former supervisor Matt Beard, who handed away final weekend on the age of 47.
Simply eight days on from that devastating information, Liverpool fell to a 2-0 defeat to United on Merseyside because of targets from Hinata Miyazawa and Ella Toone. However, for head coach Gareth Taylor and his gamers, the challenges surrounding Sunday’s recreation prolonged far past issues on the pitch.
Fourteen of the 20 gamers in Liverpool’s matchday squad performed below Beard earlier than he was dismissed in February, following a string of disappointing outcomes. Eight members of the workforce that began towards United had been signed by Beard, whereas greater than half of defender Gemma Bonner‘s 200 WSL appearances — a landmark she reached on Sunday — got here below him at Chelsea and throughout two separate spells at Liverpool.
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It was throughout that first interval on Merseyside that each Beard and Bonner helped to ship the membership’s first ever WSL title in 2013, which they efficiently defended the next season. The Liverpool followers in attendance towards United honoured that feat with chants of “Matt Beard’s Mighty Reds” within the thirteenth and 14th minutes.
To lots of these supporters, Beard was not only a soccer supervisor however a buddy. After video games on the membership’s former stadium, Prenton Park — the place they performed till 2024, he may recurrently be discovered signing autographs lengthy after the ultimate whistle, earlier than becoming a member of followers for a postmatch drink on the pub subsequent door.
It was a degree of familiarity that defied Beard’s standing as one of the crucial high-profile and profitable managers in WSL historical past. However, in some ways, it was that easy-going persona which set him other than his contemporaries and gained the affections of so many throughout the girls’s recreation.
“It is uncommon for a soccer supervisor to be so beloved by so many gamers,” Liverpool captain Grace Fisk mentioned in a heartfelt tribute posted to the membership’s web site this week. “He coached a whole bunch of gamers however had interactions with many extra and he simply had this manner of drawing folks to him.
“We noticed how aggressive he was on the sidelines, so loud, rowdy and shouting your ears off one minute however then joking with you about it 20 minutes later. He simply had this heat about him and he cared a lot about folks. For those who had been taking part in badly or had a nasty coaching session, he’d make you’re feeling like your worries had been simply foolish. I feel the impact he had on everybody was actually particular.”
Certainly, the outpouring of emotion that has greeted Beard’s passing speaks volumes concerning the contributions he made to the world of ladies’s soccer. The London-born coach, affectionately dubbed “Beardy” by those that knew him, managed seven totally different golf equipment throughout a distinguished 17-year profession, and performed an integral position in advancing the professionalism of the ladies’s recreation.
After leaving Liverpool in 2015, he loved spells in control of NWSL aspect Boston Breakers in addition to West Ham United and Bristol Metropolis. He rejoined the Reds in 2021 when the membership was at its lowest ebb, having been relegated to the second tier the yr prior.
With Beard again on the helm, Liverpool instantly secured promotion again to the highest flight and, within the 2023-24 season, defied expectations by ending within the prime 4 regardless of their restricted switch funds. He helped flip Liverpool’s fortunes round and, in doing so, left an indelible mark, not simply on the membership however on the game basically.
“I felt that [the players] all handled the emotion of it superbly,” United boss Marc Skinner mentioned after his workforce’s victory. “What I would say, although, is there’s time for unhappiness, however we have to have a good time Matt’s life. I do know [Beard’s wife] Debbie was within the stands and I do know that she’s going to need all people to recollect Matt precisely how he was in entrance of everybody.
“So, I promised everybody that I am going to hold speaking about him in the environment so the reminiscence of him will reside robust. And so, as unhappy as it’s, I feel it is now time to show that into the happiness and keep in mind him in the absolute best manner as a result of he was an unimaginable human.”
For Liverpool, the duty at hand is now clear. The Reds are but to gather a degree within the WSL this time period — regardless of profitable 5-0 towards Sunderland within the League Cup in midweek — and the necessity to begin choosing up outcomes is turning into more and more urgent.
In fact, attaining success at this degree is far simpler mentioned than finished, however the resilience Liverpool confirmed within the second half ought to, at the least, encourage optimism that this workforce is up for the combat.
“I feel this can be a cracking group of individuals to work with,” Taylor mentioned. “I feel being at this membership is tremendous particular. Every one who works right here or performs right here feels that, and I feel there’s a whole lot of positives.
“The women are wonderful to work with, they actually, actually are. I feel clearly now there’s a whole lot of transition occurring; new employees, new manner of taking part in probably. Hopefully off the again of that there will likely be new expectations.
“That takes a little bit little bit of time and making an attempt to vary the mindset right here of the gamers a little bit bit. Making an attempt to show them into winners once more, which we have been earlier than below Matt, is a troublesome problem.”
That problem will proceed when Liverpool tackle free-spending London Metropolis Lionesses within the WSL subsequent Sunday. A victory at Hayes Lane may mark the beginning of a brand new period below Taylor, although the reminiscence of the person who laid the membership’s foundations will reside on without end.
