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PROGRESS: Chris Powell with England manager Gareth Southgate (right)

THE Football Association (FA) and Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) have confirmed the next phase of an Elite Coach Placement Programme working across England men’s teams throughout the 2019/20 international season.

Former England international Chris Powell has joined Gareth’s Southgate’s senior men’s coaching staff from September 2019 through to next summer’s UEFA EURO 2020. Aidy Boothroyd will have his MU21 set-up strengthened by Michael Johnson, who re-
cently guided Guyana to the finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the first time.

Elsewhere, Jason Euell will work alongside Keith Downing at MU20 level, newly appointed MU18 head coach Ian Foster will welcome Marcus Bignot to his coaching setup while Omer Riza and Matthew Thorpe will work with Justin Cochrane’s MU16s and Lee Skyrme’s MU15s respectively. Further placements will be confirmed later in the season.

The highly respected Powell will be alongside Southgate during the matches against Bulgaria and Kosovo at Wembley this weekend. This is the next stage of a programme initially rolled out in 2018 to help solve the challenge of under- representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) coaches.

The overall aim is to ensure the diversity of support staff better represent all players across teams but also to continue to grow the talent pipe-line of BAME coaches working at the top level of the game across international and domestic football.

Les Reed, The FA’s technical director, said: “We’re pleased to be able to roll out the next phase of this scheme in partnership with the PFA. We gathered some useful feedback from coaches who have worked with our men’s teams as part of this scheme over the past year and that has allowed us to further develop this programme to ensure it continues to be mutually beneficial to all parties.

“The PFA has helped us to recruit a talented group of coaches who will now bring their various experiences and skill-sets to the England men’s player pathway for the full season ahead.”

Gordon Taylor OBE, the PFA’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to see Chris Powell and Michael Johnson in prominent England international coaching roles, they will both bring invaluable experience and insight to the respective squads.

“This joint initiative aims to give the best visibility possible to further the progression of elite BAME coaches.”

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