New WU23s boss Lydia Bedford's first interview

New England women's under-23s head coach Lydia Bedford will take charge of the Young Lionesses for the first time this month.

Ahead of April camp, when England will challenge for the WU23 European Competition title in Spain, she sat down for her first interview in her new role, touching on her spell in Canada with Calgary Wild and her ambitions to manage the Lionesses one day.

When this job came up, what was it that made you want to take it?

I left in 2021 to go and get senior experience in club environments and I've spent four years away. I think seeing the success of the senior team over the last few years and knowing how closely I'd be able to work with Sarina and her staff in this role, it seemed like a bit of a no-brainer. It's a great opportunity to learn from who I consider to be the world's best and to also help to provide the next group of players that hopefully go on and compete to win more.

How did going away and getting that management experience help you and how do you think it'll help you in this role?

I guess the proof of the pudding is the people that I now see here that I knew four years ago, or maybe I've bumped into along the way when I've come back and helped every so often. I think I'm a different person to what I was four years ago – far more experienced – and I think that life experience of going out and living it is actually what really helps you to know how to prepare the players.

I packed my whole life up last year and moved my dog across the world and now I know what it feels like to arrive at a country and not be able to earn money until you've got a number that allows me to get paid in Canada and not have a driving license and need to open a bank account. All of those things that players do all the time when they come to England and you experience that as a club coach here when you bring them in. But for our young players now, like a Vivienne Lia who's out in Sweden, I know what it feels like to do what Viv's done. Having coached in lots of different environments since, I think you grow from every one of those experiences and you have a bit more of an idea of what's important to you.

What do you make of the group of under-23s that you've got?

I think the talent coming from our pathway now is spectacular. If you look at the last few years, I was lucky enough to go to the under-17s World Cup and someone like Erica [Meg Parkinson] was there and now, within two years, she's taken her first step into the seniors. There's so many players now in this group that are having the opportunity to play senior football, and obviously, we want more of them playing on a regular basis but I think every one of those players is on a professional contract, so it's a really exciting time. We’ve now just got to keep preparing them for that final step into Sarina’s squad.

In terms of your role now, you're developing younger players to get to that senior role. What is the most important aspect you'd say to developing a younger player to get to that kind of position?

I think game time is always the biggest differential thing. You see that when young players do get opportunities to play, generally they're more ready for that step up. It's really just trying to find each and every one of them to be in the right situation to allow them to get that opportunity. That's not easy for all of them. Some of them go on loan, some of them manage to find that at their home club but obviously that's the club's choice but I can help to support the players in terms of what their next steps might be.

Do you get more fulfilment out of returning to England and delivering those skills that you've developed as a coach in England and as an English woman?

I think I've got fulfilment out of every decision that I've made in my career so far and each and every one of them has been great in their own way. It's really nice. It kind of feels like a full circle moment to be able to come back and walk straight in. The oldest of the under-23s right now are actually in the age band that was my original under 15s group that I took up to under-19s before COVID hit. It's nice to see them now as adults. I'll spend more time with them over the next ten days, but I'm looking forward to hearing how those last four years have been for them.

As a female English coach, the job I always wanted was to be England manager one day growing up and you've got to go and get experiences that are going to help you along the way and from this perspective, why would I not want to come back and be in an under-23s environment and help our senior team get to that that next tick on the box which is to win the World Cup next year? It’s a really exciting opportunity and I'm looking forward to singing the English national anthem.

You mentioned that the ultimate dream was always to be England manager. When you left, did you ever think you'd come back in another role?

I think, in my mind, the only roles I'd come back for was under-23's head coach and then, hopefully, maybe in the future, an opportunity to assist the seniors or maybe one day, be the head coach. I think to do that, you have to have had some success in club land and for me, right now, this is just another experience that’s going to help me on my journey to finding out what the kind of end destination is, but at 38, the end destination hopefully is in 20 or 25 years’ time. I've got a long coaching career ahead of me.

I think that kind of wave, you live the club world for four years and it's really full on and then here you get a really focused great support, great structure and good players. I can really focus on coaching and developing players and then who knows what's next for me. I think you can't plan that. Just enjoy what you're doing, and right now, having the opportunity to work closely to Sarina and see how she works is something that really motivated me to come back.

How do you judge success with the under-23s when results don't tell us everything?

I think if next year, when Sarina’s picking our team from Brazil, there's players that through this opportunity in the next 12 months are more ready to go – and not just there to take a box, actually ready to compete and push the players above them – then the pathway's doing the right thing. I think that we should always want to win games of football. We’re England, we're European champions, so my message to the players in the morning meeting today was: we're here to win; we want to win the semi-final; we want to go on and win the final.

We all know some things are out of your control in football and some things just happen but that should be the mindset, so you should be seeing a winning under-23s team but it can never be a win at all costs type of thing. We’re also balancing individual development and the right thing for players which for Erica and Keira this week is going to experience the seniors. I think that's a great opportunity for the next player to get an opportunity to come and see what the under-23s are like. We've got so many talented players beneath in the pathway.