Chelsea promote 57-year-old academy coach as leadership restructuring begins

Chelsea promote Neil Bath as they restructure the academy leadership

According to the Evening Standard, Chelsea have promoted academy manager Neil Bath to a new role as they seek to restructure the academy leadership.

Bath, who has built a robust youth system that has produced talents like Mason Mount and Reece James over the past few years, is now going to work as a director of football development and operations.

Blues owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali are happy with the work done by Bath and have given him a promotion. The 57-year-old is regarded as one of the best managers to produce top young talents from the academy.

Jim Fraser, who was Bath’s assistant in the academy setup, now takes up the role of head of youth development and recruitment. Jack Francis, on the other hand, has been promoted to the academy manager role that was previously held by Bath.

Since the takeover in the summer, there have been a lot of activities to bring the right people to run the recruitment and academy department.

Although despite the heavy spending on player recruitment in the summer window, things have looked unsettled on the field, Boehly and co. have promised more financial backing for Graham Potter in the upcoming transfer windows.

We can only hope that the new recruitment team along with the imminent arrival of the director of football will make the running of football operations smooth at the club.

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In terms of what we need squad-wise – central midfield and forward line are the two most need. The expiry of the contracts of N’Golo Kante and Jorginho in the summer leaves a huge hole in the former, while the players in the latter haven’t done enough in addition to the long-term injury suffered by Armando Broja.