Academy coaching update

Our Academy management and coaching structure has been confirmed ahead of the new season.

Academy Manager Dean Rastrick will assume overall responsibility for the Academy programme, with a number of staff joining him to form a new Academy leadership team.

Dean possesses over a decade of experience in developing young players at the Club having joined us in July, 2010, as Academy Performance Manager. He has worked in youth player development for more than 20 years in total, having previously held senior Academy positions at Luton Town, Derby County and Norwich City.

We are also pleased to confirm the appointment of Chris Powell to our Academy coaching staff.

A highly respected former player, coach and manager with a wealth of experience in the Premier League and Football League, Chris joins us as Head of Coaching, Under-17 to Under-23.

He will work closely with our former Academy graduate and First Team player Ryan Mason, who steps up from his previous role as Under-19s Coach to become Head of Player Development, Under-17 to Under-23.

Dean, Chris and Ryan are joined by existing staff Matt Taylor (Under-18s Coach), Wayne Burnett (Under-23s Coach), Paul Bracewell (Senior Academy Coach) and Perry Suckling (Academy Coach) in our new Academy leadership team, with the aim of continuing our proud record of producing and developing talented players for our own First Team and the wider game.

Chairman Daniel Levy said: “We have taken considerable time to review our staffing structure over the past few months following John McDermott’s departure to join the FA, in order to clearly identify roles and responsibilities in each area of the Academy moving forward.

“We have a proud record of producing Academy players that can step up to our First Team and we believe Dean is the right person to ensure our player development principles and philosophies – intrinsically linked to our identity as a Club – will continue to evolve and be implemented as we move forward into the new season and beyond.

“We have an incredibly talented coaching team in place throughout the Academy and we believe this structure will also allow them to continue to grow and develop over the coming years under Dean’s tutelage.

“We are also pleased to welcome Chris Powell, someone our Academy has known for a number of years in his various coaching roles and his experiences during a successful playing career will prove invaluable to our young players.”

A former England international with over 750 career appearances to his name, Spurs fan Chris represented Crystal Palace and Southend United before winning promotion to the Premier League three times with Derby County, Charlton Athletic and West Ham United, while he also played for Watford and Leicester City, winning League One with the latter side in 2009. Appointed manager of Charlton in 2011, he guided the Addicks to the League One title in 2012, before later managing Huddersfield Town in the Championship.

A spell on Derby’s first team coaching staff followed in 2016 before he took over as manager of another of his former clubs, Southend United, in 2018. Most recently in club football, he served as assistant manager to Alan Pardew at Dutch side ADO Den Haag, while he retains a coaching role under Gareth Southgate with the England national team.

Meanwhile, we can confirm that Nigel Gibbs has left his role as Assistant Head of Player Development to take up a coaching position at Cercle Brugge. We wish him well for the future.

Following their return to small group training in line with Premier League protocols last month, our Development Squad and Under-18s players resumed full group training on Monday (10 August).