Matt Beard of Liverpool wins Manager of the Season after virtually doubling his team’s total points.

After Liverpool finished fourth in the Women’s Super League, manager Matt Beard of Liverpool maintains that his Barclays manager of the season title is “great recognition for everyone.”

Liverpool finished the season with four straight victories, including triumphs over Chelsea and Manchester United, which enabled them finish ahead of the latter. This was their highest place since they won the WSL title in 2014.

Beard received the award at the League Managers Association dinner in recognition of his team’s season-long success.

Beard expressed his gratitude and humility to the PA news agency.

“It’s wonderful to see that the work we have done has been acknowledged as always. Without the staff and the players, we couldn’t accomplish our goals, so this award is about the group as a whole, not just about me, so everyone should feel honoured by it.” “It’s not exclusive to me.

Although I am the leader of everything, the staff and players have put in countless hours of labour for the team.

It’s an intriguing one; given how much work is done behind the scenes with people we don’t see, perhaps we should give out a backroom team award instead of a manager’s one.

“To be honest with you, I feel a little ashamed about it all, but without the people in my life, I couldn’t accomplish what I do.”

Liverpool came within one spot of qualifying for the Champions League, which Beard maintains is the next clear aim for them as they look to build on a successful season, thanks to their fourth-place result behind Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal.

“The Champions League is the logical next step for us,” he continued. We have no illusions about how difficult that will be; considering their spending, Manchester United can be included in that.

“We need to improve upon our performance in the upcoming season because we performed considerably better statistically than we did the previous one.

“Our goal is to finish in the top three, but it will be difficult because only Man United has done so. For me, the more important thing is to see how we can increase our point total from this season.”

Before spending several weeks at the men’s AXA training site, Liverpool shared the training ground with League Two team Tranmere. However, in advance of the 2023–24 season, the men’s squad returned to Melwood, its old location.

Beard maintains that their success on the pitch this season has been largely attributed to their move into their own facilities.

“Whenever you share a facility like we did at Tranmere, it’s their training ground, so we constantly have to work around them,” he remarked, adding that he had a fantastic working relationship with the staff there.

“Having your own bespoke facility is vitally important so we’re not having to move training sessions or classroom sessions for whatever reason. Even during pre-season when we were at the academy, we had to work around the (under-21)s.”

“There has been a significant influence on the players as well; the facility itself is of the highest calibre and has witnessed a great deal of history.”