Liverpool have to negotiate bumps on the road to Women’s Super League

The statistics paint a straightforward picture. After only one Championship defeat all season, Liverpool have been promoted to the Women’s Super League with two games to spare. Given that Matt Beard’s side are on a 19-game unbeaten run, their record suggests an imperious procession to a title secured at Bristol City last Sunday, but the reality was slightly different.

Along the way Liverpool have coped with the life-threatening car crash that left their goalkeeper Rylee Foster with her neck broken in seven places. Meanwhile, the assistant manager, Paul McHugh, suffered the death of his parents.

“It’s not easy to go 19 games unbeaten in this league,” says Beard. “I’m incredibly proud of the players and the staff. This isn’t an easy league to get out of but we have a great group of people here and we’re all there for each other.”

During his first stint as Liverpool’s manager, Beard led the team to the 2013 and 2014 WSL titles but after his departure to the United States in 2015 to take charge of Boston Breakers things began to unravel on Merseyside. An Anfield board fixated on Jürgen Klopp’s highly successful men’s side started cutting costs and corners when it came to the women’s squad. As managers and players came and went, complaints about poor facilities, infrastructure and substandard club housing increased. In 2020, Klopp’s side won the Premier League but Liverpool Women were relegated amid considerable unrest on the part of disgruntled senior professionals.

When they finished third in the second tier last season, 11 points adrift of promoted Leicester, there was a recognition things had to change, that without significant investment Liverpool would never be able to compete with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City