West Brom are set to hire David Kerslake as their new head of academy coaching, according to The Athletic journalist Steve Madeley.
The reporter claimed via his personal Twitter account on Friday evening that Kerslake, 53, is close to replacing Ryan Maye in the role after Maye quit The Hawthorns at the start of last month.
Changing of the guard at the Albion academy almost complete – understand David Kerslake, ex-Swindon & Tottenham defender and former assistant to the late Justin Edinburgh, is the new head of academy coaching, replacing Ryan Maye. #WBA #WBAFC
— Steve Madeley (@SteveMadeley78) September 13, 2019
Maye was not the only member of the academy staff to quit West Brom over the summer due to reportedly unpopular changes made by sporting and technical director Luke Dowling.
One of the changes that Dowling was reported to have made was forcing academy players and coaches to use a different entrance to the senior players at the club’s training ground [Birmingham Mail].
Who is Kerslake?
Kerslake has been coaching since 2003 and has worked for some decent clubs up and down the English Football League pyramid.
He has been assistant manager at Northampton Town on two occasions, Nottingham Forest, Gillingham and Cardiff City while also having a spell as first-team coach at Watford.
During his time at Cardiff, Kerslake was made caretaker manager following the sacking of Malky Mackay and led the Welsh side in a draw against Sunderland and 2-0 defeat against Arsenal in the Premier League before eventually being replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Kerslake was a right-back in his playing days and featured in the Premier League for Tottenham and has recently worked as assistant manager to the late Justin Edinburgh.
West Brom’s academy mess finally cleaned up?
Kerslake is unlikely to be the only person who West Brom will add to their academy staff in the near future because so many left their roles in the summer due to those changes by Dowling.
As well as Maye, Mark Harrison quit his role as academy manager in June while Under-18s boss Mike Scott, Under-23s coach Jamie Smith, academy goalkeeping coach Mark Naylor and Jimmy Shan all walked out on the Baggies.
It remains to be seen whether or not the changes that Dowling made will produce results but having a team of staff on board that are willing to abide by his rules is better than having those who seemed to find their new working conditions unacceptable.
Most football fans love to see their academy produce players that go on to make it into the first-team but it could be years before there’s any kind of hint about Dowling’s changes being a success.