"Women's football is not a step down from anything."
Those were the words of Chelsea Women's boss Emma Hayes when she was linked to the AFC Wimbledon job back in 2021. Hayes, who joined the Blues in 2012, is one of the most decorated managers in the women's game, having so far scooped 14 major honours during her tenure at Kingsmeadow.
Over the past decade, Hayes has taken on the mantle of the Women's Super League's most venerated matriarch and it's perhaps little wonder more than one EFL club has reportedly placed the Chelsea icon near the top of their wishlists in recent years.
The disparity in the fortunes of the Blues' men's and women's sides this term - with Hayes leading her team to yet another domestic double while Frank Lampard's men hobbled to a 12th-placed finish - has even prompted some Chelsea fans to question whether her managerial credentials render her better equipped to coach in the Premier League than some of her male counterparts.
"Women's football in its right is something to celebrate and the quality and the achievement of all the females I represent, it is an insult to them that we talk about women's football being a step down," Hayes elaborated further when quizzed on the Wimbledon links.
“The quality and achievements of all the females I represent, it’s an insult to them and the dedication, the commitment and the quality that they have that we talk about women’s football being a step down."
Two years on from Hayes' comments, the question of whether or not appointing women to coaching roles at elite men's clubs constitutes progress has once again reared its head. Although this time, it's Lydia Bedford - not Emma Hayes - who is in the spotlight.
On Thursday, Bedford was unveiled as manager of Brentford's men's Under-18s side, making her one of just a handful of women to take on a senior coaching role at a Premier League club.
Bedford began her coaching career in 2008 and completed her UEFA Pro Licence before being appointed manager of newly promoted Leicester City in the Women's Super League in November 2021. During her first season at the King Power Stadium, Bedford impressively guided the struggling Foxes to safety, although a rotten start to the subsequent campaign saw her ousted from her post in November 2022.
In March this year, Bedford joined Jonas Eidevall's coaching staff at Arsenal Women, helping the Gunners to a top-three finish in spite of their sizeable injury list. And now the 35-year-old - alongside assistant coach Jon-Paul Pittman - will be tasked with moulding Brentford's crop of young talent into future first-team stars.
Bedford's appointment is likely to polarise opinion within the football world. Some will see her move as trailblazing; a positive first step into male-dominated terrain and a necessary milestone on the road to assimilating more women into the world of men's football.
Others will argue that her experience of managing in the WSL makes her overqualified for her new role and perhaps does little to combat the assertion that the women's game is far inferior to the men's.
And, of course, the 'Get Back in the Kitchen' brigade will be spewing their usual vitriol on social media, horrified by the notion a woman might just be the best candidate for a job in an industry historically monopolised by men.
Perhaps a viewpoint that straddles the first two of those schools of thought is, in this instance, the right one. Bedford has long been regarded as one of the brightest young managerial talents in the women's game.
Her CV, while impressive for a young coach, is not as storied as the likes of Hayes'. While the Chelsea boss has repeatedly exhibited her tactical adeptness and ability to build and re-build numerous iterations of a winning team, Bedford still needs the time and the platform to really get into her own managerial groove.
She does, however, have plenty of experience coaching women's youth teams and has proven she can identify and nurture young talent. Those credentials marry very well with the criteria Brentford will likely have been searching for during the recruitment process.
Rather than adopting a blanket approach when assessing whether women should or shouldn't coach in the men's game, the focus should always be on the individual and their suitability for the role in question.
Last year, Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher caused controversy when he declared an England manager should always be English. Dutchwoman Sarina Wiegman's success with the Lionesses has proven exactly why that assertion is a nonsense.
Ultimately, there is little correlation between nationality and managerial ability. Sometimes it is about simply finding the right person for the job.
Of course, women coaching in the men's game are still something of an anomaly. Whether Bedford's gender affects the way her young charges perceive and interact with her remains to be seen but, at least for now, her and Brentford seem like a perfect fit.
