Arsenal have appointed former Leicester City manager Lydia Bedford as an assistant coach months after she was sacked by her former club - much to the surprise of Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall.
Bedford was made head coach of the Foxes in November 2021 and was initially rewarded with a new contract for steering them to safety last term, which should've kept her at the King Power until 2024.
However, after another difficult start to the campaign for Leicester, the club announced a reorganisation with Bedford subsequently replaced by their director of women's football and former Everton boss Willie Kirk.
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Now, Bedford joins the Gunners' coaching staff as they continue their fight on all four fronts. Arsenal are in FA Cup action this weekend against Chelsea, before they take on Emma Hayes ' side once again a week later in the Conti Cup final.
Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall admitted at the time he was surprised to see Leicester part ways with Bedford and said they were one of the better-coached teams in the division. "I was surprised to see that they changed," he told the media back in November.
"From the outside, just purely looking at the results, I think we all know it’s a result-based business, so there’s not a surprise if you don’t win any games that they might change the coach, but I was surprised, given that when you prep for playing them, I think Leicester was one of the better-coached teams in the league.
"They looked very well structured with all players trying to make the most of that idea. When we have been preparing for them, I think that I’ve seen a lot of development of the Leicester side, so for me, I was very surprised when I got the news yesterday and I hope that Lydia, as a fellow coach, can see that progress even if she didn’t get the reward from it points-based but I think she has improved them performance wise."
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