Stoke City legend Ryan Shawcross has been appointed under-21s head coach on a permanent basis, assisted by fellow club hero Liam Lawrence.
Shawcross returned to Stoke as a youth coach last summer, working at first with the under-18s before stepping up alongside Alex Morris with the 21s. He took charge of the team when Morris moved over to join the first team coaching set-up in the spring and will keep that role now that Morris is staying over with Steven Schumacher’s backroom. He will be on the sidelines on Friday evening for the under-21s’ first friendly of pre-season, at Kidsgrove Athletic (7pm).
Lawrence started his coaching career with Stoke back in 2020 and has worked with the under-15s and 16s before moving up the age groups. Dave Hibbert will lead the under-18s assisted by Darren Potter and all four will take on individual, unit and team training sessions to prepare rising talents to stake a claim for a place in Steven Schumacher’s first team.
Academy director Gareth Owen said: “Ultimately he’s a leader. He was captain here for so many years and he’s brought that into his coaching.
“The academy and the football club is in such a privileged position at the PDP (professional player development) level for under-18s and 21s. We’ve got four people who firstly care passionately about the club and passionately about young people having opportunity, then bringing the craft knowledge having played in the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two, the National League, they’ve had injuries and had to deal with that.
“I think, uniquely, we’ve got four people who have played in different positions at a top level. Dave Hibbert is a striker, Ryan Shawcross a centre-half, Liam Lawrence a wide player and Darren Potter a midfield player. We can shape training on a team basis with the 18s and 21s, they know what the professional game is about, we can use their craft knowledge and position-specific training, we can have individual-specific training as well. We think that team is second to none.
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