Brentford Under-18s head coach Lydia Bedford has discussed her first six months at the club.

Bedford took charge of the young Bees, who compete in the South East Youth Alliance League, in June, with her arrival coinciding with the U18s formally moving on site to train full-time at the Robert Rowan Performance Centre.

She moved to west London after leaving her position as an assistant coach with Arsenal Women, as the Gunners challenged towards the top end of the Women’s Super League. The side also reached the semi-final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League where they faced Wolfsburg.

And, with Bedford stepping into one of the most senior coaching roles ever held by a woman at a Premier League club, she explained how her move to Brentford materialised.

“As a club, Brentford were trying to operate in a different way and they seemed to have, in all of what they've done, even by removing the academy years ago and focusing on trying to make the first team progress, think outside the box,” Bedford began.

“When I was on my pro licence, both Justin Cochrane and Kevin O'Connor, who are first-team staff here with the men, were part of that course that I was on.

“In the game, we build connections with different people that can obviously have positive influences and, when I was out of work at Christmas, Kev was one of the first people I reached out to say, ‘Look, can I come and spend a day at the club and see what you're doing?’

“And he was then the one who said that there was a job coming up in January and that I should think about applying. Without that relationship, I might not have even seen the advert go out.

“It wasn't necessarily a realm that I was looking to work in but, once I got into the interview process and started to connect with the people at the club, I really felt what you could see from the outside as being really true.

“I felt that the club wanted me as part of that process. I felt that, if I got the job, it was going to be on merit and not anything else - you could see that coming out in the process.

“Sometimes, you can put on a face for five minutes and you can say that the club wants to have these values but, during the interview process, you could feel it.

“There were four stages to the interview and, in each one of those, you could feel it coming through. It felt like a really good step for me to come into a club that was going to do something a bit differently.”

As well as her time at Arsenal, Bedford was previously head coach of Leicester Women and guided the Foxes to Women's Super League safety. She has also spent time coaching England Women's sides at under-15, under-16 and under-17 level.

But, taking her first steps into the men’s game, Bedford has detailed how any potential problems have been handled by her and the club.

She said: “Brentford have done a great job of thinking about all of the things that could have been barriers. I sit here right now and, in all honesty, I don't think I've faced barriers based on being a female.

“I'm facing barriers based on the fact that we’ve recruited 15 players that don't know each other straight into the building and we're trying to get them to mould on the pitch.

“But I don't look back and think any of that relates to me or me being female. It's just more about where we are as a club. This is a project that we're growing and developing.”

Bedford added: “It's been an easy transition. Most of what you feel comes from yourself. I remember walking in on day one and I had that imposter syndrome.

“I looked across the canteen and there's all these faces and these parents; part of me was like, ‘What do they think about me doing this role?’

“But you're where you are for a reason. I've earned the opportunity to be here, and I know I've got the skills and attributes that will help those players get better.

“So, it's just about focusing on the football and not worrying about what people's perceptions are.”