Tony: Peter Hard To Replace

Academy director Tony Carr says whoever is appointed as the next U17 boss has a "hell of an act to follow."

With Peter Brabrook retiring this summer, the club are looking for a replacement - and Tony knows it won't be easy.

"We have worked hand in glove together for five or six years, and he has been a great asset to the youth system," he says.

"Retirement, at the end of the day, comes to everybody and Peter will be very upset that the curtain has been drawn on his coaching career at the football club, but he leaves the coaching scene with all our best wishes.

"With everyone else at the academy he has helped to reside over and be part of a very successful period, and Peter has played his part in that.

"We thank him for his services and we will see each other still, so the door is not shut in that respect - but no one can go on forever.

"We have got an open book on who comes in at the moment; we have no shortage of letters already asking for the job but we will take stock for the next couple of weeks.

"We will sit down and look at the applicants, and we have one or two ideas of our own that we might feel suitable, Glenn and I, but we won't rush it.

"No one has been earmarked for the job, though; Peter came to the end of a distinguished career and it is just a matter of us sitting down now to get a replacement - who has one hell of an act to follow.

"We will take our time to ge the right person; it is an important job, a vital link in the youth development process, and we have to make sure that whoever ends up taking the job is the best."

Explaining what they are looking for, Tony says:

"It is a massive job because the applicant has to be a player developer, not just a coach; they have got to know how to treat young players and look after them.

"They have to know how to get into their psyche and find out what makes them tick; it is not just about getting out on the training field for a couple of hours a day.

"There are lots of other areas as well, and we want someone who sees youth football as a career, not just a stepping stone.

"Hopefully whoever gets the job will relish it, because it will be a fantastic opportunity for somebody."