Powell joins Spurs in big academy shake-up
TOTTENHAM have appointed former Charlton manager Chris Powell as a youth coach, as part of a restructure of their academy following the departure of John McDermott.
In June, McDermott left his role as head of coaching and development to join the FA and Spurs today announced a shake-up of their youth department following an internal review.
Academy manager Dean Rastrick will assume overall responsibility for the youth programme, with Powell taking up the new position of head of coaching from Under-17 to U23 level.
He will work closely with former Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason, who steps up from U19s coach to become head of player development for U17s to U23s.
Powell is the second Black, Asian and e t h n i c mi n o r i t y (Bame) coaching appointment at Spurs this summer, after Ledley King joined Jose Mourinho’s backroom staff as a first-team assistant.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said: “We have taken considerable time to review our staffing structure over the past few months, following John McDermott’s departure to the FA, in order to clearly identify roles and responsibilities in each area of the academy moving forward.
“We have a proud record of producing academy players that can step up to our first team and we believe Dean is the right person to ensure our player development principles and philosophies — intrinsically linked to our identity as a club — will continue to evolve and be implemented as we move forward into the new season and beyond.
“We have an incredibly talented coaching team in place throughout the academy and we believe this structure will also allow them to continue to grow and develop over the coming years under Dean’s tutelage.
“We are also pleased to welcome Chris Powell, someone our academy has known for a number of years in his various coaching roles, and his experiences during a successful playing career will prove invaluable to our young players.”
Powell, 50, retains a role as part of Gareth Southgate’s England backroom staff. A Spurs fan, his most recent role in club football was as assistant to Alan Pardew at Dutch side Den Haag.
Spurs say Rastrick, Powell and Mason will work with U18s coach Matt Taylor, U23s coach Wayne Burnett, senior academy coach Paul Bracewell and academy coach Perry Suckling in a new “academy leadership team”, which has
“the aim of continuing our proud record of producing and developing talented players”.
Spurs also confirmed that Nigel Gibbs has left his role as assistant head of player development to take up a coaching position at Club Brugge.
Meanwhile, Benfica are confident they will sign former Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen. The 33-year-old left the club last month after eight years and the Portuguese side believe they have won the race to sign him ahead of Roma, Inter Milan and Napoli.