In what’s become more or less an annual tradition*, the Chelsea Academy are set for their next coaching reshuffle at the end of the season — the U23s have two games left in the PL2 while the U18s, who saw their 6-month unbeaten run end last weekend, have the two-legged FA Youth Cup final to contest, as well as four league games in the second phase of the U18 Premier League.
* It’s all planned progression in a way, as the Academy places great emphasis on developing not just players, but coaches as well.
The biggest rumored change, as per the Daily Mail, is current U23 head coach Adi Viveash taking on an as-yet unspecified “different role”. Viveash is finishing his third season in charge of the oldest kids in the Academy, having taken over from Dermot Drummy (who’s now Crawley Town manager) in 2014. In the previous three year cycle, Viveash was the U18 head coach, while in the previous three years before then, he worked with the U14-U16 squads.
Should Viveash be indeed shifted to a new role either within or outside the club (but probably not as Steve Holland’s replacement, though that would be an intriguing development), his replacement would presumably follow a similar progression, with either current U18 head coach Jody Morris or last year’s U18 head coach Joe Edwards, who’s helping out with the loan army this season while completing his UEFA Pro License in coaching.
Both Jody and Joe are former Chelsea players, and that tradition is set to also continue with the assumption that Frank Lampard will eventually return to the club in such a role as well. The Mail prognosticate that it could be as soon as this summer as part of the aforementioned shuffle, though considering that Lampard is still in the middle of studying for his coaching badges, his role, should it come to pass, is likely to be with the younger age groups (under 14s and the like).
Frank Lampard could be set for Chelsea coaching role as academy eye summer changes https://t.co/Vu1la3YW7E pic.twitter.com/QMNn59X4PI
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) April 12, 2017