Liverpool have parted company with women’s team manager Matt Beard after a disappointing season so far.
Beard led Liverpool to fourth place in the 2023/24 campaign but the club currently sit seventh in the Women’s Super League table.
Telegraph Sport understands that Beard’s departure was a football decision by the club.
While Liverpool hold Beard in high regard for his success throughout his two spells there, it was thought that a change was needed to help them reach the next level.
Amber Whiteley has been placed in interim charge of the team until further notice. Whiteley previously acted as caretaker manager in 2021 after Vicky Jepson was sacked.
Liverpool are not expected to make a quick decision on a long-term replacement for Beard, with the club’s owners FSG favouring a “processed-driven approach”, as was the case when they hired Arne Slot.
Whiteley is understood to have ambitions to become a manager in the future and may view the next three months as an audition for the role. Liverpool are only three points off fifth-placed Brighton and play Arsenal in the quarter-final of the FA Cup next month.
In a statement to the League Manager’s Association, Beard said: “I would like to thank Liverpool and the board for the opportunity to come back and manage at such a wonderful club. I am proud with what we managed to achieve over the last three-and-a-half years, including promotion back to the WSL. I could not have asked for more from the players and staff, and thank them for all their sacrifice and support.
“To our wonderful fans – what a journey it has been across two spells. We would never have achieved anything without you and I thank you for all your love. I will reflect fondly on my time at Liverpool whilst considering my next steps, and look forward to continuing to support Amber and the team from afar for the rest of the season.”
Liverpool broke their transfer record last summer when they signed Canadian international Olivia Smith for a fee of about £200,000.
But Beard has previously spoken about how Liverpool’s budget was “quite far behind” other top clubs in the WSL.
Liverpool are known for their sustainable approach to transfers on both the men’s and women’s side.
“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 earlier this season.
“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.
“It’s one of those things. I know we don’t have the biggest budget in the division and I feel we have done well with the budget we have.”
This was Beard’s second spell at Liverpool after previously winning back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014.
He returned to the club in 2021 and secured promotion from the Championship back to the WSL in his first full season back.
Whiteley will conduct Liverpool’s pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of their WSL game with Crystal Palace on Sunday.
