Exit confirmed as Stoke City finalise Mark Robins' back room team
Mark Robins's first team coaching set-up at Stoke City has been confirmed with two arrivals, two staying, one shifting and the exit of Dean Whitehead.
Paul Nevin and James Rowberry will both have the title of assistant manager and be joined by first team coach Alex Morris and goalkeeper coach Darren Behcet.
Former Stoke midfielder Whitehead, who was brought in by Narcis Pelach having known each other through Huddersfield Town connections, had stayed on to help Ryan Shawcross during his caretaker spell but now leaves. Shawcross heads back to be lead coach of the under-21s after overseeing an excellent few days, including a win over Sunderland and draw at Burnley.
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Nevin, aged 55, was a lower league forward as a player in the early 1990s but has built a strong reputation as a coach. He worked under David Moyes at West Ham and Patrick Vieira at Strasbourg before taking on England under-20s, where recent call-ups have included Stoke youngsters Emre Tezgel, Nathan Lowe, Tommy Simkin and loanee Ashley Phillips.
Rowberry, aged 39, retired as a player in his early 20s to concentrate on coaching and is leaving his role as head of Elite Coach Education with the Welsh FA to join Stoke. That role has seen him mentor coaches including Shawcross and Stoke under-18s boss Dave Hibbert over the last few months.
He is, however, staying on as assistant manager to Craig Bellamy with the Wales senior team.
Rowberry's CV includes eight years working at Cardiff, from youth to first team level, and a spell as head coach of hometown team Newport County.
Morris, a boyhood Stoke fan, had spent pretty much his whole footballing life at Crewe Alexandra as player, coach and manager before being brought in to Clayton Wood in the summer of 2023 by Alex Neil. He was initially in charge of the under-21s with close links to the first team but he moved over to the first team full-time when the side were caught in an urgent battle to stay up under Steven Schumacher.
Behcet was brought in by Schumacher from Plymouth Argyle and Stoke's hierarchy were keen not to lose him when other changes were made in September. He took on a wider brief over the last three months but will now go back to focusing on his work with Viktor Johansson, Jack Bonham and Frank Fielding.
Whitehead had left Barnsley to join Stoke in September. He was back working with Darrell Clarke, with whom he had previously won promotion at Port Vale. He has also worked under Valerien Ismael at Watford and Besiktas and also coached at Shrewsbury, Huddersfield and Cardiff.
Robins’ first game in charge of Stoke is at home against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday (12.30pm), when a big crowd was already expected due to a cut-price ticket offer. The changes are likely to see another boost to the attendance, while Plymouth are now in the process of appointing a new manager themselves - while director of football Neil Dewsnip, Schumacher's old teacher, is also set to depart.
Robins will host his first press conference as Stoke boss at 4.15pm this afternoon.
