Newcastle United are set to confirm Diarmuid O’Carroll as their new under-21s head coach.
Head of coach development Jack Ross and professional development coach Neil Winskill have been in interim charge since July after Ben Dawson left to join Steve Cooper’s backroom team at Premier League rivals Leicester City.
Two months on and Newcastle have found Dawson’s successor after agreeing a compensation package for St Mirren assistant manager O’Carroll, who missed The Saints’ 2-1 win over Hearts.
“He is speaking to someone else at an Under-21 position,” said manager Stephen Robinson. “Obviously, we’ve shown today that we’ve got that staff in place to step up if that should happen.
“(First-team coach) Brian (Kerr) has come in and done great for me. Him and Jamie Langfield were a big part of the set-play. Credit to both of them, they’ve worked on the set-plays all week.”
Although O’Carroll’s move is yet to be announced by either club, St Mirren have quickly pressed ahead with his replacement. As per the Daily Record, Brian Kerr will make the step up from his current role as head of academy.
O’Carroll is a big loss to St Mirren and to Robinson with the pair also working closely together at Motherwell and Morecambe.
The 37-year-old was on the books of Celtic as a youngster before and representing the Republic of Ireland at under-21s level, although was part of Michael O’Neill’s backroom team at Northern Ireland during the qualifying campaign for Euro 2024.
O’Carroll could take charge of the under-21s for the first time on Friday when they host Blackburn Rovers at Whitley Park, though that will be dependent on when his appointment is announced.
Then interested in Liverpool, the Ripon-born businesswoman failed with two attempts to broker a deal for the Reds in 2008 and 2015. But Staveley, by her own admission, “fell in love” with Newcastle that day and would become co-owner four years later.
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