Household, mates, gamers and followers gathered to pay their respects to the previous Liverpool Ladies supervisor Matt Beard on Friday as he was laid to relaxation at a memorial service in “the town he noticed as his house”.
Some had flown from abroad to affix Beard's spouse, Debbie, youngsters Harry and Ellie, stepson Scott, and mom, Margaret, at Liverpool's Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral. Others had travelled after video games and coaching for a service which celebrated a pioneering determine in girls's soccer, who died final month, aged 47.
As Beard's coffin, draped in two Liverpool scarves, was carried into Sir Frederick Gibberd's modernist “cathedral for a brand new world”, it was flanked by a 50-strong phalanx of present and former gamers who had performed underneath him, many from Liverpool and West Ham. They have been joined by Liverpool Ladies's first-team squad, together with the top coach, Gareth Taylor, and his teaching workers, and the membership's sporting director, Richard Hughes.
In an emotional eulogy, Mark Beard referred to as his brother a “lovely soul and a one-in-a-million persona” who “at all times discovered a strategy to make you snort and smile”.
Beard, he stated, had gone into girls's soccer quickly after shifting into teaching in his 20s when an harm lower quick a enjoying profession and had “by no means regarded again”, changing into one of many recreation's “most inspirational managers”. Beard began his teaching at Millwall Lionesses in 2008, later taking cost of Chelsea, Liverpool over two spells, West Ham United and Burnley. He grew to become Liverpool Ladies's most profitable supervisor, main them to back-to-back Ladies's Tremendous League titles in 2013 and 2014.
“He received the whole lot there was to win, however extra necessary than the titles was what he dropped at individuals,” he stated.
An inquest confirmed final month that Beard had died by suicide, and his brother paid tribute to workers on the Countess of Chester hospital, the place Beard was handled, and the town of Liverpool, which he stated had supported the household of their grief. “Please, please, please let Matt's passing be a lesson to us all,” he stated. “We're all human, so be extra considerate.”
Beard's household requested that as a substitute of flowers, gestures of remembrance be made by donations to a psychological well being charity, and the operating order for the service had the contact particulars of help providers together with the Samaritans, the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Helpline and the peer-to-peer help group Andy's Man Membership.
Present and former gamers joined coaches, pundits and followers within the cathedral, together with Emma Hayes, the previous Chelsea and present US girls's nationwide staff coach, and footballers together with England's Lucy Bronze, Liverpool's Gemma Bonner and Arsenal's Olivia Smith. Liverpool males's all-time high goalscorer, Ian Rush, additionally attended the service, alongside Manchester United Ladies's head coach, Marc Skinner.
That folks had travelled from far and large was testomony to Beard's significance to the ladies's recreation, stated the commentator Jacqui Oatley. “Matt was simply such a particular individual, and he was so vital within the evolution of the ladies's recreation on this nation,” she stated.
The previous Liverpool and England ahead Natasha Dowie, who received two WSL titles underneath Beard and returned to Liverpool throughout his second interval on the membership, stated after the service that he had handled everybody with the identical heat and kindness, whether or not they have been a chief govt or a fan.
“How will Matt be remembered?” she stated. “A cheeky smile, somebody that made you snort, a twinkle in his eyes, an ‘All proper, darling', a giant hug, which made you're feeling like one million {dollars}. He was a father determine … and I used to be very fortunate to have performed underneath him.”
Beard was a “type, caring, humorous, cheeky” man, who had an actual affect on everybody he met, stated the Canada head coach and former Liverpool participant Casey Stoney. His dying, she stated, needed to be a second for individuals throughout soccer to recognise the significance of reaching out for assist. “However I believe the largest affect I hope individuals take from that is that we're all human and all of us need assistance generally and all of us want to speak,” Stoney stated. “I hope individuals begin taking the time to get out of their busy lives and attain out. I want I had performed extra of that.”
As Beard's coffin was led out of the cathedral to a non-public ceremony the place he can be laid to relaxation, followers raised scarves and joined Beard's niece Lucy for an elegiac rendition of Liverpool's membership anthem, You'll By no means Stroll Alone. He was, stated the Liverpool Ladies fan Michael Smith, a supervisor who had made followers really feel like a part of his household, approaching to supporter coaches and giving out signed shirts from the gamers. “He was an icon within the girls's recreation and on this metropolis,” he stated. “However he was so good with everybody he met. He wasn't only a supervisor, it was like he was a good friend.”
