Matt Beard and Liverpool Women Prepare to Kick off 2024-25 Season at St. Helens
Today at 08:52 AM
Expectations are high this season following a fourth-place finish last year for LFCW as the Lady Reds move into a new home stadium.
After an impressive fourth-place finish last season in the FA Women's Super League, Liverpool will look to take the next step in 2024-25 and challenge the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City for the top three and a spot in Europe.
Along with raised expectations, Matt Beard's Reds will also be moving into a new, larger stadium, making 18,000 seat St. Helens their new home and planning to more regularly play at Anfield after years of playing home games mostly at Tranmere's Prenton Park.
"It was fantastic to get our first game out of the way at St. Helens Stadium," Beard said of LFCW's new home, where they played for the first time in their final pre-season warm-up last weekend and will host Leicester City in the season opener on Sunday.
"The whole set-up is fantastic, just everything about it. Tranmere Rovers was a fortress for us but the women's game has moved on, the game is moving on year on year, and I think if we are going to compete at the top end we need a stadium like St. Helens.
"We know we've still got a lot of work to do on that side growing the fan base, but I think this move to St. Helens is a big step in the right direction. It's a modern stadium, a red stadium, and there is a lot more as a football club that we can do there."
Seat colour might not be the most important of criteria for a stadium, but moving from Tranmere's blue stands to red at St. Helens should help the rugby stadium a little to the east of Liverpool proper feel a little more suitably like home for the Lady Reds.
Sunday's season opener against Leicester is set to kick off at 9AM local time, with West Ham on the road LFCW's second opponents the following Sunday and then an WSL Cup match against Manchester United set for Wednesday, October 2nd.
"I really believe it's going to be a fantastic league this year, the toughest ever, so let's get ready for an exciting ride," Beard added. "As for us, every year we just want to improve on what we have done. We've got to make sure we improve on last year."
