Magpies’ new goalkeeping coach can take Slocombe to the next level
NOTTS County have appointed Tom Weal as their new goalkeeping coach after Jake Kean left to join League One side Burton Albion.
Weal arrives from Premier League Norwich City where he was the head of academy goalkeeping but also had some responsibility within the first-team set-up.
He has also had roles at Huddersfield Town and Nottingham Forest during his career but his move to the Magpies will be his first senior role.
Weal will be tasked with working with number one goalkeeper Sam Slocombe, who is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the National League, and academy graduate Tiernan Brooks.
Speaking about his arrival, Weal said he is looking forward to the challenge at Meadow Lane.
“I’ve had some great times in academy football and have been privileged to work with some brilliant young goalkeepers and backroom staff, including Norwich’s firstteam goalkeeper coach Ed Wootten,” he said.
“This is a massive club that you can see is going places and Ian Burchnall is a very exciting person to work for.
“He has a great team underneath him and I want to be part of the collective effort to get the club back to where it should be.
“I know Ian sees his goalkeepers as having a crucial role in the way he wants the team to operate and that really appeals to me – it means I’ll be responsible for coaching a lot of inpossession stuff on top of simply
Tom comes highly recommended by a good friend of mine at Liverpool, who certainly knows his goalkeeping.
defending the goal, which is great.” Burchnall said Weal had been highly recommended by a friend of his at former Premier League champions, Liverpool.
And he said he was thrilled to have him as part of his backroom staff with the Magpies chasing promotion back to the Football League.
“Tom comes highly recommended by a good friend of mine at Liverpool, who certainly knows his goalkeeping,” he said.
“He’s done a lot of coaching in top academies and has had first-team involvement at Norwich on top of his day-to-day work.
“This opportunity will allow him to be consistently in and around a first-team environment, which will really benefit him.
“When we interviewed him Tom spoke really well about the way he’s worked in the past and how he feels he can improve our goalkeepers.
“He may be young, but he’s an experienced coach who will be able to take a fresh look at Sam Slocombe and Tiernan Brooks and hopefully take them on the next level.”
Ian Burchnall