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Brian Kidd has today joined the Blues Academy as Technical Development Manager.

His brief will be to coach both the talented youngsters coming through the Platt Lane pipeline and also head up the in-service training of the Academy coaching staff.

Having played almost 100 games for the Blues between 1976 and 1979 and won a European Cup winners medal with United, Brian is a legendary figure in Manchester football circles. He also clocked up a significant number of games for Arsenal, Everton and Bolton before ending his playing career in the United States.

His coaching techniques have won admirers from all over the world and he had wide experience of management too having started at Barrow and then moved to Preston North End.

Brian spent a decade at Old Trafford as youth team boss and assistant manager before moving to Leeds, Sheffield United and last season Portsmouth where alongside Paul Hart he managed to keep south coast side in the Premier League.

Kidd, who was born in Collyhurst and always maintained his family home in the Manchester area, was also England coach in 2003 under former City chief Sven-Goran Eriksson.

His appointment to the Platt Lane staff is a coup for the Blues as highlighted by both Academy manager Andy Welsh and Football Administration Officer Brian Marwood.

“Brian has vast experience at both Club and International level and will help maintain the excellent development programme we have in place at the Academy,” stressed Marwood.

“As a top class coach he was much in demand when it became clear he wasn’t going to stay at Portsmouth and we are delighted that Brian has chosen to come and work with us. I know he scored nearly 50 goals in his playing days at Maine Road and is greatly admired and respected amongst our fans.”

Welsh, who took over as Academy manager following Jim Cassell’s move to international duty, reinforced Marwood’s view.

“I have worked with Brian before and he is both an innovative and forward thinking coach who is amongst the best around. The players and the coaches here are looking forward greatly to working with him. Brian will be a huge asset to us,” he concluded.

Great news. Hopefully he can help players make the transition from academy/reserves to first team like he did at the swamp. We've not been great in that respect imo & I recon one or two more could've made it but fell by the wayside for whatever reason. Hopefully Kiddo can help bridge that gap & show the players what they need both physically & mentally.

Very good move by the club this great news.

Could be one of the best signings we've made this summer

Bloody hell its an ExRag takeover.............Hughes,Kidd!!!
who will be coming on board next?
;-)

crossan wrote:Bloody hell its an ExRag takeover.............Hughes,Kidd!!!
who will be coming on board next?
;-)

you forgot Andy Welsh mate

Can only be a good thing. Widely regarded as one of the best coaches around.

Another very positive long term move taken by the owners.

Good move. You don`t appoint some one like Kidd if you`re not going to look at youth as a long term feed for the current 1st squad. Hopefully some of the smarter(very loosely) hacks will see this.

Ahhh shit another Rag who will be in the ear of our best yoot telling them to go join the rags.

What are we playing at?

ant london wrote:

crossan wrote:Bloody hell its an ExRag takeover.............Hughes,Kidd!!!
who will be coming on board next?
;-)

you forgot Andy Welsh mate

What is he one too?.............nudge,nudge,wink.wink.

This is brilliant news...Kidd has a good eye for the kids (Gary Glitter)

In my opinion he is one of the best coaches in England and his record as a coach, not manager, speaks for itself. He is also a former blue, and a good one too. Very good news.

IanBishopsHaircut wrote:This is brilliant news...Kidd has a good eye for the kids (Gary Glitter)

Maybe Graham Rix is next in line

Good news, welcome back Brian. A lot can be learned from this one (best said in a Yoda style voice)

craigmcfc wrote:Good news, welcome back Brian. A lot can be learned from this one (best said in a Yoda style voice)

A lot from this one can be learned.

Yoda fucking amateur are you.

My hero as a kid (no pun intended). Welcome home.

Let's pretend those misdemeanours of his youth didn't happen.

Excellent news this.

Strange that nobody has posted in this thread who were 'genuinely concerned' that hughes and even our owners wanted to take the academy backwards.

Its a very relevant thread and I can see that the very relevant people are logged in...

Pinched from todays M.E.N.

Notice the bit about scouting; that's the kind of thing I've been referring to in previous threads on this general subject.



City hope Kidd can unearth golden generation
Stuart Brennan

September 08, 2009

BRIAN Kidd is back at City, and aiming to help the much-vaunted Blues youth set-up get even better.

The man who was a hero at both Manchester clubs - something of a rarity - has begun his new role as technical

development manager at Platt Lane under new Academy boss Andy Welsh.

And the appointment, exclusively revealed in M.E.N. Sport last month, means that 60-year-old Kidd's coaching career

has come full circle, as he is back working with youngsters, 18 years after leaving his highly successful role as

United's youth development officer.

He made his name as a coach and talent-spotter with the Reds, being instrumental in taking Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes,

David Beckham, Nicky Butt, and the Neville brothers to United.

His contribution to that era, when United had the best youth system in the country, is recognised by Eric Harrison,

whose job was to develop the players Kidd brought through the door.

In his autobiography, Harrison says: "Brian knew all the youth leagues, built brilliant contacts and put the wheels

into action to make sure that we had scouts at all the key youth games in Greater Manchester.

"Brian was determined to oncrease the balance of local youngsters coming our way because at the time Manchester City

were outdoing us."

Kidd did exactly that and, working alongside Harrison, an experienced youth coach, he also improved his own coaching

abilities to the point where he was appointed youth development officer at United, before becoming assistant manager

to Alex Ferguson.

That job saw him move out of the world of youth football, and apply his coaching ability to the full-time

professionals.

After helping United to four Premier League titles and two FA Cups, he was being openly recommended by Ferguson to

be his successor - until he left to become manager at Blackburn in 1998.

Kidd return

He lost that job after less than a year, failing to stop Rovers from relegation and then seeing them plummet to 19th

in the second tier, and since then has taken up assistant posts at Leeds, Sheffield United and Portsmouth as well as

helping out Sven-Goran Eriksson in the England set-up.

Kidd left his post with the FA in 2004 when he discovered he had prostate cancer, and after a successful battle

against the illness returned to the game under Bryan Robson at Sheffield United and then at Portsmouth.

He left the latter post last month despite being offered a new contract by manager Paul Hart, and was soon linked

with the move to City.

City's football administrator Brian Marwood welcomed the appointment,which is part of the Blues' strategy to scout

and develop more of their own players in future rather than relying on quick-fix transfer sprees like this summer's

£115m bonanza.

"Brian has vast experience at both club and international level and will help maintain the excellent development

programme we have in place at the Academy," said Marwood.

"As a top class coach he was much in demand and we are delighted that Brian has chosen to come and work with us.

"I know he scored nearly 50 goals in his playing days at Maine Road and is greatly admired and respected amongst our

fans."

Welsh recently took over the post as head of the Academy from Jim Cassell - now heading up the Blues' international

expansion of their youth programme.

He said: "I have worked with Brian before and he is both an innovative and forward thinking coach who is amongst the

best around.

"The players and the coaches here are looking forward greatly to working with him. Brian will be a huge asset to

us."

Kidd's new role also makes him a future pub quiz question as the only man to have both played for, and coached, at

both Manchester clubs.

The Collyhurst-born striker joined United as a schoolboy and spent 11 years at Old Trafford, capping his first

season with a goal in the European Cup final win over Benfica.

In 1976 he joined City and spent three seasons with the Blues, scoring 44 league goals.

Im delighted he joined us - I'm sure he will be a success.

Sweet!!!!