'Why I left Chelsea for LFC'

Beard has swapped the bright lights of London for Merseyside and moves from his previous role in charge of Chelsea FC Ladies.

At the resumption of the Women's Super League, the Reds are currently second from bottom, but the new boss has a clear idea of how to improve the club's fortunes for the better.

With a Merseyside derby against Everton in the not too distant future, Beard can't wait to get started and implement his ideas:

Matt, welcome to Liverpool Football Club, how much are you looking forward to this challenge?

It's an exciting challenge for me and I'm delighted to be here. Me and my family have relocated to Merseyside and we are looking forward to it.

How did the move to Liverpool come about?

I left my role at Chelsea just over three weeks ago and I had a meeting in London with Jen Chang, the club's director of corporate relations and communications. I was impressed with the ambition of the club and the way they are looking to take the ladies team forward and for me it was something I wanted to be a part of.

Like our first-team boss Brendan Rodgers you used to work for Chelsea...

Unfortunately for me, Brendan had already left when I went to Chelsea but looking at Swansea's performances last season I'm sure it is going to be exciting times for Liverpool and hopefully that's something we can emulate with the ladies team in the future.

How much did you enjoy your spell at Chelsea and how tough a decision was it to move down to Merseyside?

It was a tough decision. I enjoyed it at Chelsea and the players I had there were fantastic and they would run through brick walls for me. We were having a good season up until the point that I left but I just felt I taken the team as far as I could take them. Liverpool matched my ambition and I want to challenge Arsenal and win trophies. From everything I've heard and what I've seen so far at Liverpool FC we are definitely going to be in a position to do that over the next couple of years.

Tell us about your background in football?

I started coaching at Charlton Athletic when I was assistant manager of the women's team. They had a very good set-up and we won the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Charity Shield. I went to Millwall Lionesses and got them promoted. I then took the role at Chelsea a couple of years ago and now I'm at Liverpool. It will be a tough challenge here, especially over the next couple of months but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to.

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What do you hope to bring to Liverpool?

I like to play good football. One thing you get from my teams is commitment, hard work and passion. We like to get the ball down and play the right way and hopefully my philosophy falls into line with the club philosophy and that's to win matches and turn the ladies set-up around.

You have only had a short time to get to know the players and you had a friendly match at Watford which you narrowly lost 1-0, so how has it gone so far?

I had my first training session last Friday and I can't fault the players for their attitude. The fitness level is a big problem leading up to the start of the season so we are going to have to adapt one or two things because of that. In the first half at Watford we got overrun a little bit but I was pleased with our second-half performance. They responded to what we said at half-time so there were lots of positives to take from the game.

You resume the Women's Super League programme on Saturday with a trip to Bristol Academy - they are currently third in the table so how tough a test will this be for you?

Bristol are a good side. I know their manager quite well and I fancy them to be in the top two this year. They are organised, they've got some cracking players so it's going to be a really tough test for us. We will be organised and set up right. We are going into the game to win it but it will be a tough test.

There is no relegation from the league this year - you come in with Liverpool FC Ladies second from bottom in the table so what are you hoping for leading up to the end of the season?

We just have to take it one step at a time. I've set ourselves some targets with regards to points. The players will also be setting their own targets but the most important thing is not to concede goals. If you don't concede you can't be beaten. We need to work hard defensively. I've watched all of the games we have played in the first part of the season and conceding goals has been a problem and the manner we have conceded them. We need to get the shape right defensively then as we progress over the next two-and-a-half months we need to strengthen the squad. Results don't lie and that's something we will be looking to do. The players that are here now are all playing for their future at the football club.

After the game at Bristol you have got three home games to look forward to including your first Merseyside derby - that should be some game...

I'm looking forward to that. I have enjoyed watching the derby games on TV so it's going to be interesting. Everton are a good side and have been traditionally one of the strongest teams in the women's game. Every game we play is going to be a tough task for us. We haven't got the biggest squad and we've got one or two injuries as well, but the players aren't under pressure. I'm not under any pressure this season so we'll take stock of what we have got and reassess it from there.

We saw at the Olympics how well the ladies Team GB did - how much has their performances done for women's football?

I think it's slowly but surely progressing. We have had the live TV coverage and England have traditionally done well. The attendances have been good and the quality of the football, not just Team GB, has been really good. There have been some cracking games. Technically the football is just as good as the men's game but the difference is there is not as much power and pace. Every year it is moving in the right direction and hopefully the Olympics experience can improve the women's game in this country as well.

We saw Team GB beat Brazil in the Olympics and the quality of football was pretty high, wasn't it?

They proved they can compete at the top level. If you look at the team it was an English side apart from one player so I think England will definitely benefit from this experience. If you look at Steph Houghton, who scored a few goals in the tournament, she went from a few thousand followers on twitter to more than 50,000 so the Olympics has helped raise all their profiles.

Do you think that could help Liverpool in the future by encouraging a lot of girls to take up the sport?

I would say so, yes. My first impressions of coming to Liverpool are the facilities are fantastic. We train at the Academy and it's the best training ground I've worked at. We've got a good centre of excellence set up so everything is there for us.