Chris Davies clarifies Birmingham City’s structure with two new coaches
Tom Huddlestone won’t be asked to dust off his boots for training after joining Birmingham City in a strictly coaching role.
Ex-England international Huddlestone only retired in the summer after a two-year spell with Manchester United, where he performed a player-coach role for their under-21 side. Huddlestone is among the few ex-Premier League players who have taken that unorthodox step into coaching.
He officially retired when he joined Wigan as a first team coach in the summer and will hold the same role in Blues’ backroom team. Huddlestone has been headhunted by Blues to replace Ashley Cole.
“That will just be a coaching role,” Blues manager Chris Davies confirmed. “He did a hybrid role at Manchester United and went to Wigan, where he’s developed even further, and with England under-21s as well.
“Ashley Cole has left to join England so we’ve recruited Tom. He was a top class player in his time. He’s an intelligent guy, calm, thinks about the game, and he’s going to add a lot to our coaching group and support the players.”
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Huddlestone’s appointment won’t affect Jonathan Grounds after the ex-Blues defender was promoted to join Davies’ staff recently. Grounds will continue to be the link between Blues’ under-21s and the first team.
Davies added: “Groundsy will remain with us. He is very much focussed on the link between the academy and the first team and that pathway. That will be his main area of focus, whereas Tom is coming into it as a first team coach.
“Groundsy has been excellent in the time that he’s been up with us. We’ve developed a good coaching unit and it’s our job to develop and improve every single player here.”