Blues legend Frans Thijssen says he’d jump at the chance to rejoin the club as a youth coach if the opportunity ever arose. Thijssen is currently working at FC Twente back in his native Holland where he is the assistant to their U21s coach Patrick Kluivert, who he expects to have a big future in football management.
The 60-year-old former midfielder has managed the likes Vitesse, Malmo, De Graapschap and Fortuna Sittard since hanging up his boots in the early nineties, and has also spent time coaching in the Middle East.
Speaking in an interview with Dutch magazine Voetbal International, Thijssen says he’d definitely be up for a return to Portman Road if the offer ever came, but only working with youngsters: "If Ipswich Town would ask me and Patrick to get things back on track a bit, then I would immediately say yes.
"But not as a head coach, not any more. That chapter is behind me. Moreover, I am more interested in the technical side. And in that respect, where can you develop players better than when they’re young?”
Meanwhile, former Blues Academy and reserves midfielder David Cawley has signed for Sligo Rovers back in his native Ireland having left the Blues last summer.