Goodbye Matt Beard: the Del Boy of women’s football who took Liverpool to two WSL titles | OneFootball

On a tour around Liverpool’s revamped women’s training site at Melwood in 2024, of all the grand improvements to the building that Matt Beard could have pointed out with pride, one specific addition meant more to him than any other. It was a painting of his late father, done by a close friend, attached to the wall in his corner office, and his affection for that gift summed up his deep love for family, which is just one reason why the thoughts of so many people in the women’s football community turned immediately to his wife, children and all of his loved ones, after the shock news of his death at the age of just 47.The Beard family’s loss is being felt all across the sport on a deeply sad weekend for the women’s game, as he is remembered for both his ability to make people laugh and his ability to win football matches. Straight-talking in press conferences, but then charming off the microphone, he made time for fans, for fundraising events and for the pub. Some saw him as the “Del Boy of women’s football”, good at finding a bargain in the transfer market and fiercely proud of his London roots, but as a coach he was certainly no plonker – his achievements as a manager make him not just the most successful women’s-team coach in Liverpool’s history but also undoubtably one of the best of the Women’s Super League era. Even before the division was founded in 2011, he was already a key figure in the development of the women’s game and he fiercely championed its growth long before it entered the mainstream.

His Liverpool side securing back-to-back WSL titles in 2013 and 2014 stamped his name into the history books for certain, but he had already led Chelsea to their first FA Cup final in 2012, and even before that, he had guided Millwall Lionesses to promotion in 2009. He had a spell in the United States coaches Boston Breakers – and would later joke about nobody there being able to understand his cockney accent – before taking another club to their first FA Cup final in 2019, this time as the manager of West Ham.

He had a short interim spell in charge of Bristol City – which included a League Cup final appearance, although, modestly, he was always at pains to credit that run to the club’s head coach, Tanya Oxtoby, whom he was covering for during maternity leave – before he returned in 2021 to manage Liverpool, where he was loved by so many supporters and staff. Back on Merseyside, he guided Liverpool to promotion back to the WSL with the second-tier title in 2022, and two years later they would clinch a fourth-placed top-flight finish, disrupting the modern, so-called “big four” in spite of their smaller playing budget.

Observing him during matches, he was as competitive as anyone in his demeanour on the touchline and he probably set a record for the highest number of expletives yelled in frustration every season, often aimed at the match officials. Nevertheless, there was always a level of respect and the former WSL referee Cheryl Foster was among the countless people to pay tribute to Beard on social media on Saturday night. And naturally, for a coach who worked at so many different top-level women’s clubs, the ever-increasing volume of tributes have been widespread and heartfelt. The former England and Chelsea goalkeeper Carly Telford wrote on X: “There aren’t enough words for Matt Beard, he believed in the women’s game when few did … he cared for us all as if we were his daughters, and he always always had time for anyone and everyone.. he made a bad day better! Thinking of his family and friends RIP Beardy.”

The affection players who had played under Beard had for him was evident this summer when several players were happy to drop down two divisions in the pyramid to join him at third-tier Burnley, where he was appointed in June. That brief spell with the club would not last and he stood down in August, but he frequently expressed a view that football was nowhere near as important as the really key things in life. For example, when he left Liverpool in February this year, we spoke on the phone a couple of days later just to check how he was doing, and I mistakenly expected to hear a sad tone. Instead, he chirped “I’ve never been better, I’ve just been for a hike with my son!” Both Burnley and Liverpool’s matches on Sunday were postponed, as players and staff grieve.

In a statement issued via the League Managers Association, Emma Hayes said: “Matt Beard was an incredible investor in the women’s game and someone who will be remembered by his players, his staff, and his colleagues for the amazing character that he was. Matt will leave a huge void in the women’s game. He was one of a kind, and his loss will be felt by all.”

Working in women’s football, if you are arranging to meet someone for a catch-up, you usually find that the vast majority of people in the sport want to have a coffee. Not Beard. “When are we going to get a pint?” he would often ask.

Personally, when remembering ‘Beardy’, I will recall an early-morning scene at Melwood of him tucking into a cooked breakfast, after he had said good morning to everybody in the building, and his subsequent words in an interview later that day: “Here, no one is above anyone. For me, it’s important that everyone feels valued, so I make a habit of saying good morning to everyone when I come in, just to make sure they know, whether they’re in the kitchen or the physio room or the ground staff. Your job is your job. Family comes first.”

Header image: [Photograph: Liverpool FC/Getty Images]