Overview
- Everton confirmed on Wednesday that Dean Rastrick has taken up the newly created role of Academy Director after a six-month strategic review led by technical director Nick Cox.
- The club removed the standalone Under-21s head coach position and folded responsibility for the U21s into Dave Hughes’s wider remit as Head of Academy Player Development.
- Several senior academy appointments were announced to centralise functions: Carl Darlington as Head of Academy Coach Development, Ben Dickson as Head of Academy Recruitment, and Nick Chadwick as PDP Senior Coach and Loans Programme Manager.
- Paul Tait left the club after 16 years with Everton’s youth setup following the reorganisation and received public thanks from Cox for his service to the academy.
- Everton says the reorganisation is designed to create a single, accountable leadership team to standardise coaching, recruitment and loan pathways and to lift development standards across Finch Farm.