Derby County confirm academy coaching structure as former Norwich City ace joins

Derby County have announced their new structure for the club’s academy which has seen the arrival of former Norwich City defender Craig Fleming.

After former Rams defender Jake Buxton was appointed lead under-21s coach last month, Keith Briggs will support him as under-21 individual player development coach.

Danny Maye has joined the club from Southampton and will take up the role of lead under-18s coach. Maye has spent the last 12 years at the Saints where he was recently their under-21 assistant coach.

Lewis Bourne, the lead youth development coach who has a strong understanding of the current under-18s, will now be their individual player development coach.

Adam Robinson will continue as professional development phase coach working with both the Rams’ Under-21s and Under-18s players. Ross Atkins remains as head of academy goalkeeping supported by academy goalkeeping coach Josh Barnes.

Richard Astle will be given a broader role as head of player and coach development. He will now oversee the player and coach development programmes across the entirety of Derby’s academy.

And finally, Fleming who has played more than 600 league games in his career, is joining the club as head of academy technical development.

Fleming was on Ralph Hassenhuttl’s first-team coaching staff at Southampton for three years and will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge.

He will help the academy and first-team coaches to articulate and instil a playing philosophy that prepares players for the first team throughout their development.

Academy manager Matt Hale said of the appointments: “We’ve put a really strong professional development phase technical team together which I’m confident will give the players every opportunity to maximise their potential.

“With the appointment of Craig Fleming, working closely with Richard Astle to design and implement a specific Derby County playing philosophy, it is an exciting time to be part of the academy and its future.

“We’ve placed a real emphasis on individual learning. With Keith Briggs and Lewis Bourne leading on individual player learning plans and tasked with developing independent thinkers, which is the players themselves. Our players will get a very specific individualised programme.

“The concentration from Jake Buxton and Danny Maye will then be on the game areas, focussing on tactical awareness and leading their respective age groups to ensure the programme gives the group a suitable holistic experience relevant to the modern game.”

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Liam Rosenior has been reunited with former Derby County goalkeeper Ryan Allsop after he joined Hull City from Cardiff for an undisclosed fee.

Hull boss Rosenior has landed the 31-year-old on a two-year deal with the Tigers having the option of extending his contract by a further 12 months.

Allsop worked with Rosenior during his time at Derby when the latter was assistant to then-manager Wayne Rooney.

But Allsop left in the summer of last year when the Rams were still in administration and joined Cardiff where he went on to make 44 appearances.

Speaking after the move was completed, Rosenior said the goalkeeper’s distribution had been a significant factor in the deal.

“I’m absolutely delighted Ryan has joined us and he’s going to add a lot of competition and quality to our goalkeeping department,” Rosenior said.