Brentford have appointed female coach Lydia Bedford as manager of their men's Under-18s side in a historic decision.
Bedford, 35, leaves her current role with Arsenal Women, having been part of boss Jonas Eidevall's coaching staff for three months. She was previously England Women's youth team head coach before taking charge of Leicester Women in November 2021, helping them avoid relegation from the Women's Super League.
The 35-year-old's second season was less successful, as she lost her first six league games and was promptly replaced by ex- Everton boss Willie Kirk. Now Bedford - who has said her goodbyes to Arsenal's players this week after informing them of her landmark departure - has the opportunity to make history, entering an exclusive group of female coaches to work with men's teams at the elite level.
Discussing the appointment, which will also see Jon-Paul Pittman join as assistant coach from Forest Green Rovers, Brentford director of football Phil Giles said: “I’m really pleased that we’ve managed to attract such talented coaches as Lydia and Jon-Paul to our under-18 team for next year. It’s an important time for the under-18 team as next season will be the first where they’ve operated out of the Robert Rowan Performance Centre and integrating them smoothly alongside the first team and B team will be essential.
“We undertook an extensive recruitment process for these roles. Lydia and Jon-Paul were the two best candidates, and thankfully we were able to finalise their recruitment to the staff. I’m sure they will excel, and we all look forward to working with them through pre-season and beyond.”
It's widely believed that no female coach has ever managed a men's professional team in England. Former England international midfielder Jill Scott recently took up a coaching position within Manchester City's academy.
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The current England Women's Under-17s manager, Natalie Henderson, previously worked with Newcastle's boys and she is regarded as the first woman employed full-time by a Premier League academy. Manisha Tailor has also coached at Queens Park Rangers in a number of roles since 2016.
At Forest Green Rovers, the trailblazing Hannah Dingley has been the club's academy manager for the past four years. Rovers chairman Dale Vince revealed in 2021 that he was considering appointing an unnamed female coach to become the Gloucestershire club's first-team boss - until he learned that someone had put her CV in with her knowledge.
"The woman that we really liked for the job dropped out, or in fact was never quite in," Vince explained to PA Sport after sacking manager Mark Cooper. "It's an amusing story. When we got in contact, it turned out she hadn't sent the CV in herself and her agent hadn't either.
"Somebody else had sent the CV in and she's not ready to leave the job she's in. She was in the Women's Super League, I can say that much. She was definitely shortlist material, no doubt about it."
That same year, Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes was tipped for the Wimbledon mens job but made it clear that she wasn't interested. Hayes, though did note: "I think the football world needs to wake up and recognise that women, while the game is played by a different gender, it is exactly the same sport and the qualities involved with having to manage that is exactly the same then it would be for a men's team."
