Former Liverpool Women boss Matt Beard says he has “maybe three months” until he has to consider jobs outside of football.
Beard left his role with the Reds in February – the second time he has managed at the club – having previously had spells with Chelsea Women, West Ham Women and Bristol City Women among others.
It has left the 47-year-old searching for a new job and he has spoken about how difficult it has been for him and his family without his steady income. Beard has previously said he may need to go back to a former job as an estate agent to make ends meet.
Appearing on the most recent Pitch of Pod podcast with Jordan Nobbs and Nikita Parris, Beard was asked how long until he has to consider a job outside of football.
“I’ve got maybe three months or so,” he replied. “At the end of the day, I’ve got a family that I need to support. My agent has had a few calls about certain roles so I’m confident come end of the season, there’ll be some opportunities.
“But if I need to do something different then I need to do something different because I’ve got to provide, but hopefully it doesn’t come to that.
“I love coaching and managing, so I want to continue to do that, whether that’s here or abroad.
“Would I consider like a sporting director role or director of football? Potentially, but I’m still only 47. I’ve still got a lot to offer, I’ve just completed my pro licence and got my diploma from the LMA in football management.
Highlights of the Women’s Super League match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur
Beard moved to the NWSL after his first stint at Liverpool between 2013 and 2015, before spending a year with the Boston Breakers.
“I’m open to furthering my horizons and maybe my education. Going to America taught me so much, especially a different style of play, so I’m open to what’s next.
“I needed to try something different. If you look at my CV before I left Liverpool, I’d won every trophy in the domestic game.
“Going to America, I chose probably the toughest job you could ever choose, going to Boston Breakers.
Matt Beard has had two spells with Liverpool
“I think they’d won two games in something like two seasons and I was going into a different league with a completely different style. If you look at the NWSL now, it’s still quite transitional but there’s a lot more quality in the league.
“It’s getting more competitive and it’s getting better and better every year. When I was there, the standard was quite poor but it taught me so much.
“If you look at my time at Liverpool, we’d won back-to-back league titles and we had a tough third season but I learned so much because how do I motivate myself? We were getting beaten every week at Boston and I learned so much from that side and going back [to Liverpool] was the best thing, I think.
“If you look at what we achieved in the three years, we got promoted at the first attempt in the Championship, finished seventh the WSL the year after and then fourth last year.
Matt Beard also took interim charge of Bristol City, although the club were relegated
“It was an amazing journey. I’m disappointed I never got to finish it, but I’ve got a great relationship with the people at the club. Sometimes, that’s just football.
“You’re only as good as your last results and your last job, and it’s very rare that someone inherits a team that they’ve inherited at Liverpool. I was always confident, despite the amount of injuries I had this year, that we would finish in that top five or top six, and it will happen just because of the quality they got there, but you’ve always got something to prove.
“If I went into a job thinking, ‘oh, I’ve done this, I’ve done that’ – you can’t do that. You’ve got to really make sure that you’ve got yourself some goals and they’re realistic.
“I’ve definitely got something to prove, 100 per cent, and I can’t wait to prove it.”
