A Continual Process – Bedford Speaks Following Contract Extension
- Lydia Bedford agreed to a contract extension with LCFC Women this week
- The Foxes manager initially took charge in December
- Leicester confirmed their place in the WSL for a second term at the end of last season
- Bedford is now looking forward to improving the team further this year
The 34-year-old signed a new contract this week to extend her stay as Foxes manager until at least 2024 after successfully guiding the Club to securing their Barclays Women’s Super League status last term.
Taking over in December, she oversaw an upturn in fortunes, picking up a crucial four wins and February’s Barclays Manager of the Month award in what was her maiden spell as a first team manager in women’s club football.
Now preparing for a first full season in charge, she sat down with LCFC TV at King Power Stadium to reflect on the season just gone and to look ahead to the upcoming campaign as the squad returns for pre-season.
“I’m really looking forward to the season ahead, it was a great six months and a real eye opener,” the former England Under-19s coach began. “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learned lots along the way, which I think will really help us going into this season.
“It’s been a great opportunity and I’m excited to get going again this week. All the players are really excited to get going again too, we’ve got a great platform across pre-season.
“We’ve spent a lot of time pulling it together, so we just want them in the building now and to start things happening. It’s been quite a consuming off-season with recruitment and getting ready for the players to arrive.
“But I think all of that preparation is really important because you want it to be seamless from the day that they walk back in. We’re pleased with the work that we’ve put in the background and hopeful that we’ll be in a really good position ready to peak at the start of the season.”
Bedford: A Great Platform To Move Forward
LCFC Women manager Lydia Bedford sits down with LCFC TV after signing a contract extension to keep her at the Club for a further two years.
Delighted to be continuing her journey working at Leicester, she believes they are geared towards an even better season as they look to reach the next level in their second top-flight campaign, which will begin in early September.
She added: “From our perspective it’s about building on last season. It’s a great platform for us to be able to go forward. We spent some time as staff thinking about what is going to make a real difference.
“I think our two main focuses in pre-season are to get our players in a position where they can physically compete for 90 minutes and to do our best to turn some of those really close results from losses into draws so that we can be picking up points every week.
“I’m really pleased with how the players pulled together, especially towards the last few months of the season, which were tricky for us, but I think it provides us with a great platform of learning to take into next season with the recruitment and everything coming together.”
Bedford also outlined her excitement for the team to be moving forward in their development, both on and off the pitch. Able to resume pre-season at the impressive Belvoir Drive training ground adds an extra edge to achieving their targets.
“It’s a fantastic facility,” she enthused. “From a recruitment perspective, it helps to sell what the Club is doing for the players and, when we’re planning pre-season and we’re thinking about games, we’ve just got everything on our doorstep ready to utilise and that puts us in the best position.
“The environment we are in means we have no excuses. Every detail of pre-season we can control – we can get out on the pitch whenever we want, so I think it’s important that we utilise that to its full strength, we don’t take it for granted and we make that part of our firing force to be ready for the season.”