Latest news with #MattBeard
New York Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Arsenal interested in signing Taylor Hinds upon expiration of Liverpool contract
Arsenal are interested in signing Liverpool full-back Taylor Hinds upon the expiration of her contract at the end of this month. Club sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Liverpool have presented Hinds with a strong contract offer. The 26-year-old Jamaica international was a product of Arsenal's academy and made one appearance for the reigning European champions in 2017 during a 7-0 FA WSL Cup victory over the London Bees. Advertisement Hinds left Arsenal to join Everton in 2018, alongside Chloe Kelly, who is in talks over a new deal with Arsenal after her successful loan from Manchester City. She joined Merseyside rivals Liverpool in 2020. A versatile player capable of playing as a midfielder, full-back and wing-back, Hinds featured in every match for Liverpool in her first two seasons, helping the club return to the Women's Super League in 2022. That year, she signed a new long-term contract in 2022, which is now set to expire on 30 June. Hinds was made vice captain in 2023 under former head coach Matt Beard and has captained the side a number of times. Hinds made 22 Women's Super League appearances for Liverpool last season, scoring two goals as the club finished seventh in the league table following difficult start to the season and the departure of Beard in March. Liverpool have yet to name a full-time manager following Beard's departure. Hinds is one of many players out of contract at Liverpool this summer, including Japan international Fuka Nagano and Wales international Ceri Holland. Arsenal are hoping to bolster their squad ahead of the 2025/26 season as Renee Slegers' side look to compete on multiple fronts. Hinds' versatility and WSL experience makes her an ideal player for cover in defence and the centre of the park. ()
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Liverpool can 'take confidence' from Chelsea loss
Liverpool can "take lots of confidence" from their narrow defeat by Chelsea in the Women's FA Cup semi-finals as they prepare to meet again on Saturday, says interim manager Amber will mark the end of an up-and-down campaign for Liverpool, who sacked manager Matt Beard in February, and it is still unknown whether Whiteley will continue to lead the team beyond Saturday's game (12:30 BST kick-off).Under Whiteley, Liverpool knocked out Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup before losing 2-1 to Chelsea in the forward Aggie Beever-Jones scored a 94th-minute winner in that tie last month."We take lots of confidence from that game. It was a really good performance and we had good momentum in the first half," said Whiteley."It's an important game for us this weekend in terms of picking up points and trying to improve our league position. There's lots to play for."I said the next time we came up against them I wanted to see improvements. I want to see how far we've progressed. We want to make it as difficult as we can."It's not been the season we would have wanted but there's still a lot of positives to take from it. The response in the last few months has been brilliant."Liverpool will be without injured forward Leanne Kiernan and defender Lucy Parry for the trip to Stamford Bridge to face the unbeaten WSL champions.
BBC News
27-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
What next for Crystal Palace after WSL relegation?
Twelve months on from the joyous scenes that greeted Crystal Palace winning promotion to the Women's Super League for the first time, they face the prospect of life back in the Eagles were consigned to the second tier after accumulating a total of just nine points so far this season - seven behind Aston Villa and Leicester City - in becoming the first team ever to be relegated in their debut WSL have managed two wins and three draws from their 20 WSL games, but Sunday's brutal 7-1 home defeat by West Ham saw them relegated with two matches left to play. Before Palace, the only sides to go down the season after they were promoted to the WSL - which introduced relegation in 2014 - were Doncaster Rovers Belles (2016) and Bristol City (2024).Unlike in the Premier League, there are no parachute payments for relegated clubs to help them manage the financial impact of dropping down to the Championship. So what is next for Leif Smerud's side as BBC Sport takes a look at the fate of the past five relegated teams. Liverpool (relegated in 2019-20) - back in WSL Liverpool's 2020 relegation ended a decade of them being in the WSL. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the 2019-20 season being scrapped and the relegated side being determined on a points-by-game was criticism over a lack of investment and scrutiny of poor facilities following their relegation. However, the Reds would spend only two seasons in the second tier before one of the women's top-flight founders reclaimed their place among the domestic Jepson left her role as manager in January of their 2020-21 campaign - they finished third at the end of that season - and Matt Beard returned in the summer amid player had previously led the Merseyside club to back-to-back WSL titles, and was part of a revamp of the women's team that included the appointment of Russ Fraser as their first-ever managing went on to clinch the Championship title in 2022 by an 11-point margin, with 16 wins from 22 games. Bristol City (relegated in 2020-21) - returned to WSL Bristol City were relegated from the WSL at the end of 2020-21 under interim manager Matt Beard, who was given the role until the end of the season as maternity cover for Tanya Oxtoby. Lauren Smith, who had previously been an assistant manager, returned to the club to take charge of the guided City to third place in the following season behind champions Liverpool, with Abi Harrison - a striker they managed to keep after relegation - the division's top built on that success with seven new signings helping the Robins to their first league title in has previously spoken about the support and respect she received from her counterpart of Bristol City's men's team, Nigel Pearson. Birmingham City (relegated 2021-22) - pushing for promotion Birmingham City had narrowly avoided relegation two years' running before their 11-year WSL stint came to an end in 2022 when they were relegated under head coach Darren came a year after the squad had sent a letter to the board complaining about conditions for the women's Blues, another founding member of the WSL in 2010, missed out on the Championship title to Bristol City by one point in 2023, with Carter initially remaining in his role after they dropped down a remained as boss until April 2024, when he was replaced by former Brighton boss Amy Merricks, as they finished fifth and 10 points behind title winners Crystal has made an impressive impact - along with substantial investment from the club's American owners - and Birmingham have gone toe-to-toe this season with big-spending London City Lionesses at the top. Reading (relegated in 2022-23) - dropped to fifth tier Reading's massive fall wasn't just due to matters on the pitch, but rather off Royals played the 2023-24 season - their first after relegation to the second tier - and finished 10th, just above the relegation was a cloud over the Berkshire club for the entirety of this campaign due to the financial difficulties they faced, and the women's team was withdrawn from the Championship before the 2024-25 season have failed to gain promotion from the fifth tier at the first time of asking, finishing two places off the bottom. Bristol City (relegated 2023-24) - in Championship Bristol City endured a miserable return to the top flight, finishing the 2023-24 season with only one win and six points - the lowest from a side in a 22-game WSL season - and nine successive inexperienced team were the first promoted side to go straight down from the WSL since Doncaster in Kirby was appointed manager of the newly relegated Robins in September 2024, after Lauren Smith stepped down from her role 12 days before the Women's Championship season kicked well as Smith ending her long association with the club, Lisa Evans, Rachel Furness, Megan Connolly and Carrie Jones were among a host of players to depart. City only added Lexi Lloyd-Smith, Harley Bennett and Jacqueline Burns as permanent Robins are currently fifth in the league with one game left, missing out on an immediate return to the WSL. Crystal Palace (relegated 2024-25) - ? Laura Kaminski led the Eagles to the top flight as champions in 2024, but with the club sitting at the foot of the WSL table in this difficult campaign, she was sacked in February and replaced by the Norwegian took charge, he said: "My mission is quite clear. Short-term, it's to stay in the league."But I'm also someone who likes to develop things long-term. Palace has strong values, and that matters to me."Whether Smerud stays or the Eagles decide to change their head coach again, clubs who have been relegated previously have not always found it easy to bounce back to the WSL straight have struggled financially in the Championship and found it difficult to keep hold of key season has also seen the big-spending owners of London City Lionesses and Newcastle throw their weight behind their teams, making the second tier even more competitive.
New York Times
08-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Teams battling relegation ask for ‘fair fighting chance of staying' in WSL amid widening gap
What goes up must come down. At least that is how it appears to be in the Women's Super League (WSL). Crystal Palace edged out south London rivals Charlton Athletic by a point to win promotion last season but have since spent their time in the WSL staring at immediate relegation. Palace are bottom of the league with six points after 15 games, having won just once. They have seven games left to catch Aston Villa or Leicester City, who sit a respective four and six points ahead of them. If their form continues they will follow in Bristol City's footsteps in the 2023-24 campaign — relegated immediately following their promotion, winning just one game all season. Advertisement It is evidence of the difficulty in bridging the growing gap between the top two leagues. The last three clubs to be promoted to the top tier were Liverpool (2022), Bristol City (2023) and Crystal Palace (2024), representatives from each club spoke to The Athletic about how hard it is to make that jump. Possibly a product of how hard this challenge is, the managers of Palace, Laura Kaminski, and Liverpool, Matt Beard, who earned promotion with their respective clubs, have since been sacked. While the Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) — the governing body of the top two tiers in English women's football — are considering removing relegation from the WSL, it remains unclear whether this would improve the top tier's competitiveness. However, potential changes are unlikely to come into effect before the 2026-27 season or have an immediate impact on the teams who have struggled to stay in WSL in the past. GO DEEPER What you need to know about proposals to change the women's game in England Bristol City were relegated last season with only six points in total — nine fewer than 11th placed West Ham United. 'The Championship is a very competitive league, a good league, but it's a massive jump from/to the WSL,' said Gavin Marshall, the chief executive officer of Bristol Sports Group, which owns Bristol City, rugby union club Bristol Bears and basketball club Bristol Flyers. 'I was shocked by the jump because it was bigger from when we were last in the WSL (2020-21) — and that was only two years before' A year on and the sentiment is the same for Palace, who are in their first season in the WSL. 'There is a huge jump,' former Palace manager Kaminski said. 'The calibre of player, the depth of the squad that's required, the physical differences in terms of the amount that you're going to need to press, the amount that you're going to need to defend, the amount that you need to run in behind.' Is the structure of the top two leagues — under the governance of the WPLL since their takeover from the FA in August 2024 — a problem? The WSL has had 12 teams (playing 22 games) since the 2019-20 season in which the league moved from 11 to 12. The league had expanded by one team a year since 2017 when it was still played over the summer months. Advertisement The top tier's smaller size made sense when fewer teams were operating at a high level but many now would like to see it expand to reflect the growing competitiveness of elite women's football and to encourage more clubs to make that next step. 'It is actually harder to stay up than to go up,' said Kaminski. 'The league is too small, it would be great to see an expansion of the WSL.' The WPLL is in its infancy and has yet to formally announce plans to adjust the top two tiers structurally or financially. This could change with the discussions around scrapping relegation. Crucially, promotion from the Women's Championship will remain so the WSL will not become closed. 'There are more teams that can come up, more teams that are ready,' former Liverpool manager Beard told The Athletic two weeks ago. Beard was then sacked with Liverpool in seventh place. 'I would like to see more teams in the Super League and I'd like to see more teams in the Championship too.' 'Twelve teams isn't enough,' Marshall said. 'The big four clubs are so far ahead of the rest so there's a lot of pressure on each game. 'You've probably got seven home games that you've got a chance of getting a result in and you can feel the pressure on the team really from the start of the season as a result of that.' Since Manchester United's promotion into the WSL in 2020 — one season after the team was re-formed — there has only been one season in which the top four finishers were not them, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal — last term when Liverpool beat United to fourth. The top four's dominance can be seen in the struggle for newly-promoted sides to win points against them. Including this season, the Championship winners have only gained eight points out of a possible 87, with six of those points coming from Liverpool's first campaign back in the WSL in 2022-23. Advertisement Crystal Palace, meanwhile, scored for the first time against a top four side last month against Manchester United but eventually fell to a 3-1 defeat. They are yet to pick up a point against the top group. With just 22 games to play, the setup does not allow much margin for error, especially for newly-promoted teams. The transfer window before the season starts is a good opportunity to help clubs do so by improving their squads. 'When you come up from the Championship into the Super League, you need to get your recruitment right otherwise it will be a struggle,' Beard said. It was this issue — recruitment and investment — that were factors in Beard's surprise departure from Liverpool, sources told The Athletic. GO DEEPER Matt Beard's Liverpool departure: Investment concerns, too cautious, but a contagious passion The club still had the global appeal of the men's side and two WSL titles (2013 and 2014). For other teams trying to make that jump from the Championship that don't have that similar pull, it can be even harder. 'When you are the team (coming) up you are unproven in your capability,' Kaminski said. 'Trusting me and the club to be able to build the team that is going to compete in the early stages of the summer — it can be a challenging sell no matter who you are.' Palace were still able to recruit players such as ex-Liverpool and USWNT under-23s player Katie Stengel, 32; Lexi Potter, 18, on loan from Chelsea and 27-year-old Shae Yanez from Bristol City. Potter became the first female player in the country to sign a professional deal at 17 with Chelsea before the 2023-24 season while Stengel and Yanez boast WSL experience. '(To recruit players) we highlighted and really emphasised the importance of defensive shape and organisation, that gives people a sense of security and realism,' Kaminski said. 'We knew we were going up into a league with the best players in the world. So if you didn't talk about defending, you'd be in a Disneyland really.' Advertisement Marshall also recognised the lesser pull that Bristol City had when they were promoted in 2023. 'We lost out on players where they had other options because they thought they would probably get relegated with us,' he' said. 'Players are very well aware that it's very difficult to come up (to the WSL) and establish yourself, you've probably got to be prepared to pay a premium to bring players in.' Providing a financial incentive as a method of enticing players is not realistic for many Championship clubs. 'It comes down to money,' Marshall said. 'We know we can't compete with some of the teams financially in the WSL, it's particularly difficult if you don't have that men's team in the Premier League. 'There is also a massive gulf in terms of the coverage that the Championship gets, our attendance is only 30 per cent of the value that they were when we were in the WSL.' A record broadcasting deal will improve the coverage in the second tier and boost coffers. Sky Sports and the BBC agreed a five-year, shared domestic broadcast rights deal with the WSL worth £65 million in October 2024. As part of the deal (which begins at the start of the 2025-26 season), Sky will have the option to show Championship games for the first time. GO DEEPER WSL agrees 'significant' new broadcast deal with Sky Sports and BBC 'The league needs to expand, but it needs to be sustainable and for clubs to invest,' Kaminski said. 'We don't want to be hopping backwards and forwards every single season, you need to have a fair fighting chance of staying up.' Liverpool have invested off the pitch and it has paid off. In 2023, the women's team moved back into an elite training centre at Melwood, which was used by the men's team for 70 years before they moved to Kirkby. Investment is happening in the Championship too, as can be seen by the league's top three, who are separated by six points in the race for WSL. Birmingham City, London City Lionesses and Durham are all backed by ambitious owners. Advertisement Birmingham's co-owner Tom Wagner, of investment firm Knighthead, has pledged to back the women's side and multi-club owner Michele Kang, who bought London City Lionesses in December 2023, has set the goal of winning the WSL. Last month Patrick and Frances Connolly, who won £115m in the 2019 EuroMillions lottery acquired a 25 per cent stake in Durham. With seven games, and one in hand on tenth placed West Ham, left to close a four-point gap, Crystal Palace's WSL season is far from over. 'The mental challenges that we faced in the group in terms of staying motivated and confident when you're losing a run of games, it's a little bit underestimated just how hard that is,' Kaminski said. '(But) we've had one mission in mind since the start of the season. That the ambition and vision is to stay in the league.' The team will be hoping they achieve safety under former interim Norway men's and women's manager Leif Smerud. But there is still a way to go: for Palace and the Championship to do the same on the top tier.
New York Times
06-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Matt Beard's surprise Liverpool departure: Investment concerns, too cautious, but a contagious passion
Matt Beard was not shocked last Wednesday when Liverpool's board of directors told him he would no longer be the head coach of the women's team. He was at peace with the decision. Since 2021, when Beard returned to the club that he had guided to successive Women's Super League titles in 2013 and 2014, he had been 'passionately pushing a boulder up a hill', according to one source who, like all referenced in this piece, wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships. Advertisement In his first season, he won promotion to the Women's Super League (WSL), and a seventh-placed finish in their first season back in the top flight was followed by a magnificent fourth-placed finish last season. This season, however, Liverpool struggled to recreate the fight and fire that defined the 2023-24 campaign. In their first 10 WSL games, Liverpool won two and lost five — matching the total number of defeats accrued the previous season. Injuries to key players, including defender Grace Fisk and forward Sophie Roman Haug, served as mitigating factors for inconsistent performances. Yet the last few months were soundtracked by the 47-year-old regularly emphasising his limited budget in comparison to league rivals and that his side had 'over-performed' to finish in the top four. Beard's recurring candour was not the reason for his exit, according to people familiar with the decision. In fact, wins against Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United after the winter break were viewed as positives among higher-ups, particularly as safety from any potential relegation battle was confirmed. But the manner of the 2-1 defeat by then relegation-threatened Leicester City in January and the 4-0 defeat by a completely dominant Manchester City before the international break reminded many of this season's stagnant progress. Liverpool opened the scoring inside three minutes against Leicester but capitulated under their opponents' attack. After February's defeat by City, Beard said his response to their attacking threats was too slow. Talks were held throughout the season between Beard and the board regarding short-term targets, such as overtaking Brighton, who sit fifth in the table, and long-term ambitions. But after the City defeat, Beard reiterated to the board that hitting such targets was difficult without more financial backing. The board, meanwhile, believed there was more to get out of a squad full of internationals and that the inconsistent performances were not all down to an injury-ravaged squad. Both parties felt the road had run out. Beard and Liverpool FC were approached by The Athletic for comment. After leaving the club, Beard issued a statement through the League Managers' Association (LMA) saying he was 'proud' of what he and his team had achieved and thanked staff and the players for 'their sacrifice and support'. Beard's departure was said to be amicable, albeit twinged with a degree of sadness. On Friday, after interim manager Amber Whiteley, who will remain in charge until the end of the season, held her press conference at Melwood, a mention of Beard's name was tinged with sentimentality as staff shared their favourite moments: that time he made them all laugh in training with a terrible joke, or when Beard, often animated on the touchline, had nearly restrained himself from bemoaning a foul before turning around in the direction of the official fast enough to almost burn the rubber off his shoe soles. The memories eventually rolled into one: a man whose passion and vision for the club was contagious. A recurring assessment of Beard's exit is of the manager being a victim of his own success. However, those close to him reject the idea of Beard being a victim. The highly competitive Beard, who when appointed in 2021 was given a five-year plan to restore Liverpool to the upper echelons of the WSL, was responsible for driving expectations as much as standards. Advertisement This competitive edge, though, led to tensions, particularly in his belief that it was a lack of investment that was inhibiting Liverpool from closing the gap on the traditional top four of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United. The club paid a club-record fee of €250,000 (£212,000) for 20-year-old Canada international Olivia Smith from Sporting CP last summer to bolster Liverpool's attack. They also signed Cornelia Kapocs from Swedish club Linkoping and defender Gemma Evans from Manchester United for undisclosed fees. However, at the start of this season, Liverpool still ranked in the bottom four among WSL clubs for squad investment, ahead of Everton, West Ham and newly promoted Crystal Palace. In January, as Chelsea broke the world transfer record by buying USWNT defender Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave, Liverpool were the only club that did not make a permanent signing, instead bringing in three loan players: experienced Scotland midfielder Sam Kerr (Bayern Munich), 20-year-old Spain midfielder Julia Bartel (Chelsea), and 23-year-old Spain defender Alejandra Bernabe (Chelsea). Before the start of this season, Beard stressed that the exploits of the season prior were not an establishment of a theme. 'We over-performed' became an unofficial mantra. Lack of investment became a regular talking point in press conferences, Beard's voice grinding down as the season progressed. 'I have worked at this football club long enough to know how things work and I've said before, it's not always about the money,' Beard said during the most recent January transfer window. 'Really, you need to be around no less than 20 per cent off what the top budgets are if you want to be winning trophies. We are quite far behind that top budget.' While Liverpool bucked their usual club model for transfers by forking out a hefty fee for Smith — a player Beard championed as integral to the club's future — Liverpool's spending philosophy as a club under Fenway Sports Group has been to only spend what they make. This methodology is applied to the women's team on the basis of sustainability, according to those familiar with the situation. Advertisement According to accounts published this month, the expenditure of Liverpool's women's club for the year ending May 2024 was £4.2million ($5.38m at current conversion rates), a figure that constitutes just 0.7 of a per cent of the £600m total administrative costs of Liverpool FC. However, with a turnover of £4.9m, the women's club recorded an operating profit of just under £645,000. According to accounts posted by Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United in the past two seasons, their women's operations have functioned on losses, with total expenditures registering between £6m (United) and £15m (Arsenal). The 2023 re-purchase of Melwood as the training facilities for the women's team and girls' academy and relocating to the 18,000-capacity St Helens Stadium from Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park are viewed as necessary infrastructure improvements before any further squad investment. More than £10m has been invested into Melwood's repurposing, according to sources, while a 10-year lease was signed to play home matches at St Helens, a Merseyside town about 11 miles from Anfield. Match metrics, such as possession and field tilt, differed marginally from last season to this under Beard and his win percentage this season suffered a staggering drop from 55 per cent to 29 per cent. This season, Liverpool's average goals per match dropped from 1.6 (fifth-best in the league) to 0.9 (ninth-best). Big chances created suffered a similar drop, while the number of accurate long balls per match dropped from 30.7 (league-best) to 20 (fifth-best), according to FotMob. While players must take accountability for performance, Beard's preference for a back three and wing-back system prioritised defensive stability, which was believed to be constricting attacking talent and limiting chance creation for players such as Smith to better shine. Despite the slump in results, players continued to respect Beard and enjoyed playing under him. He is admired for his honest and direct communication, but also his loyalty to players, with a dedication to protect them at all costs, and the faith he places in young talent. However, club officials felt the impact of Beard's methods had begun to wane. With eight league games remaining in the season and no threat of relegation, the club hope to see how players respond to Whiteley, who confirmed in her first press conference that she has placed her name in the hat for the full-time role. The next few months are viewed as a live audition. Whiteley, a former women's under-21s head coach and technical director of the LFC Regional Development Centre, is admired behind the scenes for her faculty in developing youth talent and attention to detail. She is more softly spoken on the touchlines than her predecessor and is attack-minded, as seen by her use of a back four in the 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace last weekend. But while players enjoyed the freedom, the FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal on Sunday represents a sterner test to assess the merits of a system change. Advertisement Whiteley was profuse in her praise of the lessons learned under Beard. 'I don't think I could have worked with anyone more different to me being in place with Matt,' she said on Friday. 'It's made me a lot more open-minded. I've seen a completely different way of doing things. I'm so grateful to Matt for everything that he's given to me personally over the last three-and-a-bit years. I'm going to miss him.' The women's backroom staff has remained intact despite Beard's departure. The stability and familiarity of the staff, coupled with Whiteley's experience — she was interim manager during the 2020-21 season after Vicky Jepson left the club by mutual consent — is seen as advantageous for the players amid the managerial change. In Liverpool's announcement of Beard's re-appointment in 2021, tellingly, nowhere was the word investment used. The onus of restoring the club to a competitive level was placed at Beard's feet. '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,' the statement read. When assessing the future, it is important to glance backwards. Inside the club, the seasons ahead are eagerly anticipated, particularly with UEFA's introduction of a Women's Europa League from next season. Whereas last season, finishing fourth in the WSL earned Liverpool little more than respect, a fourth-placed finish next season is a ticket into Europe, which will both be financially beneficial and an advantage in the transfer market. While competing in Europe is a key component in any discussions on investment, it is Beard who is credited by many with helping Liverpool move towards that road to Europe. Those at the club remember Beard fondly for re-establishing high expectations on the pitch and burnishing the team with a reputation as a viable competitor. Off the pitch, Beard was a key component in the club's rejuvenation following years of stagnation and its eventual nosedive into the Championship in 2019, the same year the men's team won their first Premier League title in 30 years. He helped usher the club into its next era, at Melwood and St Helens, and was never shy to demand what he saw as right. Throughout it all, Beard's vision and passion permeated everything. For many within the club, it will continue to do so.
