Lydia Bedford confident Leicester can avoid WSL relegation

New Leicester City Women manager Lydia Bedford has given her first interview since taking charge, following the sacking of Jonathan Morgan last month.

Morgan was dismissed after the Foxes failed to register a single WSL point from their opening eight games, following their promotion to the top-flight. Since then Emile Heskey has been in temporary charge, with his only game in the dugout a victory over Man Utd in the League Cup.

Bedford - who previously coached at Tottenham and London Bees before joining the international setup - has now been hired on a permanent basis.

“It’s a really exciting project,” Bedford said. “Today’s the first day but I was able to come in last week and observe the team and the staff, which has been a great start for me.

“It’s such a great opportunity and I’m just looking forward to getting going with the girls and working hard to get us out of this relegation battle and make sure that we stay in the WSL where we belong.

“The facilities speak for themselves. They are one of the best in the WSL and certainly being here last week and seeing that we’ve got grass pitches that we can get out on at whatever time and facilities that are our own to use is a fantastic asset for any coach working with players.

“I think now this is an opportunity to go back to club football at a time when the game is professional and hopefully I can bring the experiences from pre-professional and take it into what is now a really attractive league and help the team within that.”

Although Bedford joins with the Foxes bottom of the WSL table, there is still hope for them staying in the division. The Foxes only trailing 11th place Birmingham City by a single point and have been unfortunate in several games this season.

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