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Biweekly Staff Movement Roundup: 2nd to 16th August

18 Aug, 2024
Biweekly Staff Movement Roundup: 2nd to 16th August

On Friday 16th August, the English Premier League returned as Manchester United hosted Fulham at Old Trafford. The Red Devils entered the 2024/25 season having made some significant structural changes behind the scenes; as well as Dan Ashworth arriving as sporting director from Newcastle United, Jason Wilcox was brought in as technical director and the coaching staff supporting Erik ten Hag has been rejigged, the most high-profile name coming on board being former prolific striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. And United aren't the only club in the English top flight who have switched things up this summer. As our biweekly staff roundups have tracked, there has been a huge amount of movement as England's top 20 clubs have prepared themselves for the season ahead.

In this fortnight's article, we'll be charting some of the major technical and coaching appointments that have been announced in the first two weeks of August, ranging from international football jobs to top European coaching positions and appointments in the areas of recruitment and analysis.

Lee Carsley, England 

Following the departure of Gareth Southgate after Euro 2024, the question of who will take on the role of England manager on a long-term basis is still unanswered. However, former England youth coach Lee Carsley will have the opportunity to state his case for the big job, having been officially unveiled as the new interim England manager.

A former Premier League player best known for his time with Everton in the early-mid-2000s, Carsley has been in the England set-up since 2020, managing the U20 and U21 teams and guiding the latter side to the U21 European Championship title in 2023, with players such as Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Emile Smith Rowe playing a key role. In his first interview after the appointment, Carsley said: "I feel privileged to be in the position. Obviously it's a very prestigious job and following Gareth and Steve and the great job they've done, there's a lot of responsibility… the level of players over the years has really improved and you can see that by the way we've done in major tournaments. The next step is winning, and that's got to be the objective."

John O'Shea, Republic of Ireland

Earlier this summer, the appointment of Icelandic manager Heimir Hallgrimsson as the new head coach of the Republic of Ireland men's team surprised many fans. However, his choice for assistant coach is a more familiar face for those within Irish football; highly-decorated former Manchester United defender John O'Shea will take up the mantle ahead of the new UEFA Nations League campaign in September.

O'Shea made 118 appearances for the national team as a player in the 2000s and 2010s, before gaining coaching experience as Ireland's interim manager earlier this year. Alongside O'Shea will be Paddy McCarthy, who currently works as an assistant coach at Crystal Palace and will remain in this role while joining up with the Ireland squad for international breaks.

Seb Brown, Dan Smith and Jack Stephens, Chelsea Women

Emma Hayes' decision to step aside as the manager of Chelsea's Women's side at the end of last season marked the end of a hugely successful era. The task of incoming head coach Sonia Bompastor is a tricky one; she has huge boots to fill. To help her guide the team into a new phase, the club have made three crucial appointments in recent weeks, with Seb Brown, Dan Smith and Jack Stephens all joining the backroom team as goalkeeping coach, assistant goalkeeping coach and opposition analyst.

Brown has experience working in the women's academy at Chelsea, while Smith moves to the west London side after a stint in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad. Stephens, meanwhile, joins as opposition analyst from the Ireland FA — he previously worked as a performance analyst for their women's national team.

Pedro Bruno, Reading Women

The news that Reading Women — who competed in the WSL as recently as the 2022/2023 season — would be demoted to the fifth tier of English women's football for 2024/25 (due to financial troubles) was a shock to many fans. Now, it's been announced that the coach tasked with guiding them forward in the midst of these difficult circumstances will be Pedro Bruno. Having been appointed by the new Head of Women's Football at Reading, Emma Hopkins, Bruno will join the club before the season kicks off in September. He's valued highly by the Berkshire club, having previously worked as U16s Assistant Coach at Reading, and Performance Analyst at Cambridge United before that.

Wes Morgan and Lewis Grabban, Nottingham Forest

Premier League title winner Wes Morgan, a key architect of Leicester City's against-the-odds trophy win in 2015/16, has made the transition into coaching having called time on his playing career back in 2021. Morgan started off his career at Nottingham Forest, and now it has been announced that his first coaching role will be in the youth set-up at his former club.

He'll be joined by fellow former Forest player Wes Grabban, an EFL stalwart who racked up 56 goals in 149 games for the Nottingham-based club before retiring in 2022. Exactly what the pair's Academy roles will entail is currently unclear, but Forest will be hoping their vast experience playing for the club will help create a meaningful connection with its young players today.

Chris Hackett, Oxford United

On the day before the start of the English Football League season, newly promoted Championship side Oxford United confirmed exactly who would make up their coaching team for the new campaign. Many of the coaches supporting manager Des Buckingham were integral in leading the club up from League One last season, with the most significant change being the appointment of Chris Hackett, who has been involved within the club's coaching set-up since 2016 at a less senior level, as Assistant Coach. His close association with the club and experience easing youth players into the first team in recent years will mean he's well equipped to make the step up, with Buckingham himself saying "He has an incredible trust with the players, and we believe he is the best person to lead on developing individual talent and getting the best out of the group."

Danny Murphy, Luton Town

This isn't the Premier League midfielder-turned-BBC pundit; Danny Murphy is an experienced medical professional who previously worked as Newcastle United Head Physio, following stints at Charlton Athletic, West Ham, Crystal Palace and England U21s. On August 12th, he was appointed Head of Medical at Luton Town, with the newly relegated Championship side — who impressed many neutrals in the Premier League last season — restructuring their backroom staff. With Simon Parsell moving onto the new role of Medical Co-Ordinator, Murphy has been given the Head of Medical position ahead of 2024/25, which Luton go into as one of the favourites for promotion back to the top flight. Meanwhile, Chris Phillips will become Head Physio and Ollie Sharples will move up from the club's academy to become First Team Physio.

David Bridges, Jack Coles, George Bush and more, Lincoln City

There's been a huge backroom staff shake-up at Lincoln City, as the League One club attack the new season quietly confident that they could challenge for promotion to the second tier. Across coaching, recruitment, analysis and loans, there has been plenty of change; David Bridges has been appointed Assistant Head Coach, where he'll serve under Head Coach Michael Skubala. Meanwhile, George Bush has been made the new First Team Performance Analyst, Jack Coles comes in as Head of Recruitment, and Calum Oakenfold will step up to become Head of Academy and Coaching at the club. Chief Executive Liam Scully said: "The restructuring and recruitment across the sporting and business operations side of the club is an important step forward as we continue to grow the football club. We are incredibly excited and humbled at the quality of people we have been able to attract to the club."

Dan McNamara, Wolves Women

Internal hires aren't always the most headline-grabbing appointments in football, but Dan McNamara's new role at Wolverhampton Wanderers is a history-making one. Having been in charge of Wolves' Women's first team for the last six years, his position has been made full-time, converting him into the first-ever permanent women's manager in the history of the football club.

Up until now, McNamara has been part-time at Wolves whilst also working as an aircraft technician, but his transition into a new role marks a key turning point for women's football at the west Midlands club.

John Dempster and Mark Delaney, Coventry City

More internal appointments in the west Midlands; when long-term Coventry City assistant manager Adi Viveash departed earlier this summer, it was reported that manager Mark Robins was disappointed to be losing his right-hand man. And after assessing the options, he and the club have decided that rather than bring in someone from outside the club, they'll replace Viveash by promoting two other coaches: Under 21s coach John Dempster and Under 18s coach Mark Delaney. The pair will now take on more senior roles in the first team coaching set up as Coventry look to challenge for the Championship play-offs once again in 2024/25, after a successful season in which they made it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, and almost beat Manchester United to reach the final.

Lee Wallace, Hearts

Scottish Premier League club Hearts have appointed former player Lee Wallace as the new assistant coach of their U18s side. Wallace registered over 200 appearances from left-back for the Edinburgh club, and having spent some time recently coaching with Hearts' U16s outfit, he's stepped up to join the U18s team.