CV's Weekly Coaching News
The protracted but seemingly inevitable?– and impressively dignified – exit of?Julen Lopetegui? from Wolves is the natural place to start this week’s round-up. Lopetegui inherited a team deep in relegation trouble when he arrived in November 2022, but the former Porto,?Spain , Real Madrid and?Sevilla ?boss led the club to the relative comfort of 13th by the end of the season. Lopetegui’s departure comes on the back of a perceived failure by the Wolves owners to support him in the transfer market, but he reportedly agreed to prepare the team for the new season until the club found a replacement. Gary O’Neil – who himself led?Bournemouth ?to Premier League safety last season, before being replaced by?Andoni Iraola ?– was later named as that replacement.
?Elsewhere in the Premier League, former St Mirren, Sunderland and Hibernian manager?Jack Ross ?(below) has been confirmed as the head of coach development at?Newcastle United . The Scot had been doing the role on an interim basis since March, and will continue to work closely with the club’s academy director Steve Harper and Under-21 head coach?Neil Winskill .?Manchester United , meanwhile, have promoted Luke Fedorenko to head of academy recruitment – he had been head of local recruitment since July 2021.
Two more departures have been confirmed?from teams no longer involved in the?2023 Women’s World Cup . Denmark head coach Lars S?ndergaard stepped down after his nation’s last-16 defeat to co-hosts?Australia ; his replacement has already been announced as Andrée Jeglertz. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a week after her team’s dramatic group-stage exit at the hands of South Africa, Italy head coach Milena Bertolini confirmed her resignation after six years.
Back in Europe, former Barnsley manager Gerhard Struber was named as the successor to Saudi-bound?Matthias Jaissle ?at?Red Bull Salzburg . The Austrian is no stranger to the Red Bull network; he managed Liefering – Salzburg’s feeder club – between 2017 and 2019, and returns to the city after two and a half years in charge of New York Red Bulls. Southeast of Austria, the former Montenegro international defender Radoslav Batak lasted only two games of the new Serbian SuperLiga season – both defeats – before getting canned by Vojvodina.
COACH WATCH?/ ANDONI IRAOLA
There are as many as four new managers?preparing to make their Premier League bows this weekend. Alongside the promoted pair of Vincent Kompany and?Rob Edwards , and new Tottenham boss?Ange Postecoglou , perhaps the most interesting is Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola. How does he play, and what can Premier League managers expect from their new?adversary? Our experts took?a look at his work with Rayo Vallecano...
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