Gary Caldwell leading search for new Exeter City's U18s coach

THE search is on for the next Exeter City Under-18s lead coach with manager Gary Caldwell ensuring the club will conduct a thorough process to get the right person for the job.

It was announced that current incumbent Nicky Ajose will be leaving the Grecians after accepting a role with a Women’s Super League team, believed to be Manchester City. The 33-year-old former striker took on the roll after Brad Lee-Miller left for a role with Aston Villa in January, but now the search has started for Ajose’s successor.

“We have opened it up and it is a process the club have to go through to candidates outwith or candidates that are within the club and there will be an interview panel similar to what we did with Dan Green’s role, where we interviewed people,” Caldwell said. “There will be people within the first team and people within the Academy on that panel to get the right candidate because that 18s role is a really important role at this club.

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“Obviously then, it will go into Dan Green’s PDP (Player Development Pathway) group and then into the first team.

“We are all working together and I think the club, since I have been here, it is s big thing for me to be really aligned with the Academy and what they do and with Greener coming in, Parkesy (Ian Parkes) coming in, I think that has really helped that alignment and now, being able to get an Under-18s coach in to get that pathway really clear I think will be really important, but a process that we have to get right.”

Interested applicants for the role have until Monday, November 11 to get their applications in with interviews then being held from November 14-19. As one of the most productive Academies in football, certainly in Leagues One and Two, there are sure to be many interested parties throwing their hat into the ring.

“I think it’s a great role,” Caldwell added. “For any coach, you are working with a team (of players) day in, day out and that excites a lot of coaches because you have got your set team. Sometimes, the PDP group are a split group, they are sometimes with the first team, sometimes on their own, sometimes with the 18s, so it is quite fragmented.

“With the 18s, I think you can have a clear plan with that group of players, you have the same group of players pretty much day in, day out, you have a clear games programme because of the league they are in, so I think it is a really good role for someone and an important role where you would work very closely with the first team and Dan Green’s PDP group.

“We see that pathway very clearly from 18s to PDP to the first team and we see it as a really important role that we have to get right.”

Meanwhile, the Grecians have been handed a home draw against AFC Dunstable in the second round of the FA Youth Cup.