Derby County confirm academy coaching structure as former Norwich City ace joins
Latest Derby County news from Derbyshire Live brings you the latest on the Rams academy as they look to develop stars of the future
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
READ MORE: Paul Warne reveals two Derby County transfer deadline wishes and
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.
When life gave us lemons in 2020, we created Lemon-Aid: a brand new newsletter for families in lockdown and beyond.
A lot has changed since then and Lemon-Aid has evolved into your weekly dose of parenting reality.
We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to make Lemon-Aid even bigger and better than ever before.
For the equivalent of two Starbucks coffees, you’ll get relatable parenting tales and tips, a forum to chat to fellow Lemon-Aid readers, exclusive offers and discounts, and much more.
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.”
Leave a Reply