Tom Cleverley has moved to confirm permanent positions on his coaching staff for a number of those who’d taken up interim roles upon his initial appointment in March.
Tom has named Damon Lathrope as Assistant Head Coach and Armand Kavaja as First-Team Development Coach. Both joined the first-team coaching staff at the same time as Tom.
On the appointments, Cleverley said: “Damon’s got a fantastic eye for the game. He’ll assist me in all of the Head Coach duties; day-to-day sessions, game plans, opposition analysis, people-managing the players. He’s been different class.
“Armand is someone whose skills are exceptional on an individual player development basis. He’s very good one-to-one and has a great background in that kind of technical work and has a fantastic pedigree when it comes to developing young players. He’ll play a key part in that link between the academy and the first-team.”
The role of analysts in football has evolved at a pace, with the modern game absorbing as it does much more in the way of numbers to the way coaches look at the game.
Cleverley named Michael Johnson and Chris Douglas as the First-Team Analyst lead duo; again, both Michael and Chris have been on board since Tom’s interim role began.
“This side of football is very much part-and-parcel of the game now,” explained Tom.
“I was one of those coaches, I’ll admit, that was thinking you can get too techy and too carried away with it – but no, it’s a real benefit and these last few weeks have shown that, to the point where we use a drone for footage of our training now, as it gives a really clear idea of team shape. So you could say I’m already fully converted!
“I want to be a new-school coach who can still apply old-school – not old-fashioned – beliefs.”
On Michael and Chris, Tom explained: “Michael is excellent. He joined from Port Vale in November. And it’s key that he sees the game through a similar set of eyes as myself. Analysts need to tap into the brain of a coach so they can almost predict what’s going to be wanted.
“Chris was recruited more recently from Reading, and he stepped across with me from the Academy. We’ve got a great connection with him and he understands our process fully.”
This leaves open the question of a replacement for the Jimmy Gilligan type of role; a relatively experienced pair of eyes able to contribute advice and support at key times.
“I’m really open-minded about who that person might be,” Cleverley smiled.
“Ideally they’re going to have many more years of experience within a top-level coaching set-up than me. And most importantly of all, coming from a winning environment.
“That process is ongoing right now, and we’ll update on that once we’ve found someone we know is going to add value to what we already have.”
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