Gardner: New boss to boost club academy

BIRMINGHAM City have appointed a new academy director after Mike Dodds left the club last week.

Former Blues assistant coach Paul Williams has returned to the club he left in 2017 to oversee academy operations at St Andrew’s, the club have announced.

Williams has replaced Dodds, who gave 12 years’ service to the club and was promoted in December following Kristjaan Speakman’s departure for Sunderland.

Williams was first-team coach at Birmingham in 2017/18 and worked with current technical director Craig Gardner who was a player at the time.

Gardner believes Williams’ appointment is a positive step towards a bright future for Birmingham’s academy.

“Paul is an extremely knowledgeable, likable and well-connected member of staff who is highly thought of by those in the game,” Gardner said.

“His experience with England at development level and further work across a number of clubs, has provided him with a broad scope of the game and helped shape his views on academy football.

“His insight and the expertise will be a huge benefit to all of our coaches and young players. Paul has a clear vision of how the academy should function and there’s no doubt that he will ensure we have an academy to be proud of.”

Williams holds the UEFA Pro Licence and has worked with England age group teams.

The 50-year-old helped coach the likes of James Ward-Prowse and

Luke Shaw in the Saints academy and would later hold roles at West Brom and Norwich.