Fara Williams says the late Matt Beard is the best manager she has ever played for.
While at Liverpool, the two won the Women’s Super League title in 2013 and 2014.
In the BBC broadcast of Arsenal’s match against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, she was asked to reflect on the managers she had worked with.
And Williams – England’s record appearance-maker – replied: “I’ve played under some fantastic managers, for different reasons, gave me different skillsets. Hope Powell and [former Everton manager] Mo Marley early in my career were really good to me, helped me understand the game and progress that side of it.
“But in terms of a manager who put his arm round me and made me feel at the time I was the best midfielder in the world, it was Matt Beard. There was something about the way he dealt with players and man-managed players. I don’t think anybody I played under did it better than him.”
Fara Williams: her playing career
Fara Williams represented Chelsea, Charlton Athletic, Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal and Reading during her playing career prior to her retirement in 2021.
She picked up 172 England caps, and featured at the London 2012 Olympic Games for Great Britain.
Tragically, Beard passed away in September. His most recent role was with third-tier Burnley, but he left the position earlier in that month.
Anita Asante: Vic Akers made players feel super powerful
Asked the same question, presenter Alex Scott named the late Tony DiCicco, the former Boston Breakers coach, and Hope Powell, the long-serving England coach.
Scott spent most of her career with Arsenal, saving a short spell with Birmingham City, and a two-year stint in the USA at Boston.
And pundit Anita Asante named Vic Akers, the man who managed Arsenal to the quadruple in 2007.
She said: “For me it has to be Vic Akers. I’ve had managers that instilled discipline, Hope Powell was one of those, for defensive, tactical understanding, but in terms of a manager that made players feel super powerful, like we could achieve anything, it was him.
“He had such an influence on me developing not only as a young person on the pitch, but off the pitch – I grew up really under his management.”
Asante played in Sweden and the USA during her career, but she first rose to attention as a teenager with Arsenal, and became a central part of their all-conquering squad under Akers.
