Blues boss Paul Lambert says new U23s coach Kieron Dyer knows the club really well and hopes he will pass on good advice to the club’s youngsters having started his new role at Playford Road yesterday.
Dyer will be the full-time U23s coach working with Terry Butcher, who is continuing the part-time role he began at the academy early on in the year.
The former Newcastle and England midfielder returns to Town after just over a year away having previously been the Blues’ U18s coach.
"The football club needed somebody to come in, the academy people needed somebody to fill that role,” Lambert said.
"Kieron is obviously round about it, knows the club really well and hopefully he starts his career in coaching back here and hopefully can pass on good advice to the young ones.”
Lambert hasn’t always spoken glowingly about U23s football but recognises it has a part to play in youngsters’ development.
"As I said before, the only thing I disagree with is playing men’s football, they have to play men’s football to bring them on,” he said.
"The kids who played against Gillingham in the EFL Trophy I thought were very good and where you tend to find it becomes a negative is if they play at that level one week and they go back to their own level the next week.
"I think that’s where it falls down, whereas if you play against men every time it certainly brings them on.”
Dyer’s appointment sees former U23s coach Gerard Nash move to a new position in which he will do analysis on the opposition for the first team and watch the progress of Town’s players out on loan.
The Dubliner has previously been linked with management jobs in the League of Ireland and was in talks with St Patrick's Athletic and reportedly a leading candidate when there was a vacancy at Richmond Park just over a year ago.
"I don’t know if that’s the route Nashy wants to go,” Lambert said when asked about the former academy defender's new position.
"Scouting is a big part of anything and if you don’t get the recruitment right you tend to find it’s the management that gets the stick, but it’s the guys that are recommending the players and recommending the systems that other teams are playing, or their strengths and weaknesses.
"I look at a lot of the games myself anyway, so I don’t know if Nashy really wants to go down that road or he doesn't. That’ll be entirely what he wants to do.”