The Blues have appointed former AFC Bournemouth, Burnley and West Ham winger Junior Stanislas as a first-team coach.

Kieran McKenna’s backroom staff has been a man short since Lee Grant departed to take over as manager at Huddersfield.

Stanislas, 35, has been coaching in the Cherries’ academy, coaching their U18s, since hanging up his boots in 2023.

The Londoner, who was capped by England U20 and U21 levels, played in the Premier League for Bournemouth, with whom he was promoted to top flight twice, and West Ham.

“Junior has been a fantastic presence around the academy, both as a mentor and as a coach,” Bournemouth academy manager Sam Gisborne said.

“He brought professionalism, high standards and valuable experience from his playing career, and his work with the U18s has been deeply appreciated by staff and players alike.”

The Blues have also added Italian Michele Aragona as set-piece analyst, having been working with Danish side FC Midtiylland for most of last season.

The 26-year-old was at Sampdoria as first-team performance analyst the year before and prior to that was first-team head of analysis and assistant coach for a season at Vis Pesaro, his first job in football.

Town have also confirmed Dan Peacock’s promotion to the role of head of strength and conditioning, following Ivan Mukandi’s departure for Bournemouth’s academy, with Maxwell Cambridge taking his former position as strength and conditioning coach having previously been at Swansea City. Both will be part of the performance team led by head of athletic performance, Matt Allen.

Cillian Callaly, who joined the club last year as first-team analyst from Arsenal, has been promoted to head of analysis following the departure of Jamie Osman.

Dr Ian Ferguson has been appointed club doctor, having previously worked with Cardiff City, Bristol Rovers, the FA in Northern Ireland and Gloucestershire Cricket.

Photo: ITFC

WestSussexBlue added 15:02 - Jul 25 Very Happy with this.
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Cookieboy added 15:08 - Jul 25 It's unbelievable the amount of performance, analysts and dead ball/set piece experts we have. Does this indicate the others weren't up to scratch !!!!
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ipswichdave added 15:16 - Jul 25 Far too many backroom staff. Ramsey, Robson, Burley had 2 at the most. What do we pay McKenna to do!!!
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OliveR16 added 15:20 - Jul 25 ipswichdave - wrong comparison. In football terms that's prehistory.
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BobbyBell added 15:41 - Jul 25 What does the set piece man do? Show them how to hold a shirt or pull an arm? No one seems free to actually move into space these days due to all the wrestling that's allowed to go on. You can't lose your marker if he's holding your shirt.
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Sir_Monte_Carlo added 15:51 - Jul 25 Set piece coaches are extremely important in modern football. If their presence only equates to a single point over a season that could be the difference in gaining promotion or not. How much is a point worth? Read up on Sir Dave Brailsfords philosophy of the "aggregation of marginal gains"
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Bazza8564 added 15:57 - Jul 25 Sport has changed, football has changed. We either keep up or we become dinosaurs. Welcome fella, it's a great football club, we aren't all living in the past!
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Lightningboy added 15:59 - Jul 25 Agree Cookieboy. Set piece coach (rolls eyes)...there's the goal (that white oblong thing with a net on the back)...put the ball in it...yes I know i'll get criticised but could not care less. Everything in modern football is over-analysed to death these days..you only have to look at all the pointless stats they keep bombarding us with on the screen...XG being the dumbest.

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tetchris added 16:08 - Jul 25 Whoever is head of player recruitment needs replacing as obviously not doing their job very well atm :)
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chepstowblue added 16:26 - Jul 25 Set piece analyst......and he's Italian!!!! That means that from a Town corner, we will, within three passes, find the ball back at Palmer's feet. Football is such a simple game, that's been turned into a ludicrous science by stat obsessed nutters. Put the ball into the box and let the big number six get his head on it. The modern game has become almost unwatchable, because at 1-0 down with 20seconds to go, the all important thing is to knock the ball about sideways, to boost the possession stats for the game to 52%, instead of having a go. There are no bonus points for being aesthetically pleasing. Stop the world I wanna get off.

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stiffy501 added 16:35 - Jul 25 set piece analyst, hope he can teach us to score/defend a corner and find someone in the squad who can have a decent shot from a free kick !!
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Town1Inter0 added 16:50 - Jul 25 Am amazed by the plethora of football dinosaurs on the comments section. Football has moved on from playing a 2-3-5 formation and hoofing it up the field and the ball sticking in the mud, for a striker to run on to. How do they think we achieved back to back promotions?
4

Stato added 17:44 - Jul 25 what a stupid comment. we achieved back to back promotions without much infrastruture on the coaching side.
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ArnieM added 17:45 - Jul 25 Football may have moved on, but is it any better as a spectator sport? I'd say 100%, no. Its worse and it costs an extortionate amount to watch!
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BeattiesBackPocket added 18:00 - Jul 25 Arsenal had a set piece coach last year they scored the most goals from set pieces it’s the way football is now if it gives us an extra 10 goals a year it’s worth it
3

armchaircritic59 added 18:02 - Jul 25 Chepstowblue, I assume you no longer watch football in any capacity, whether live in person or at home. Like any sports, and in some aspects of life too, " tiny margins " can make big differences, particularly over time. We all have our choices, if we don't like certain things, then normally we don't do them. I'm 70, and at least I try to move with the times, even if occassionaly I fail!

4

blues1 added 18:38 - Jul 25 Tetchris. What are you on about? We have a strong squad. Need a,couple more players, 3 at the most and are no doubt working hard to get the right ones in. If you think you could do it better why not contact Ashton and tell him you could have signed every player we need by now. Dread to think what we'd end up with.
2

darkhorse28 added 19:43 - Jul 25 Blues1 people are allowed opinions that aren’t the same as yours. Our talent ID in the EFl has been pretty good, Cook obviously helped with a couple of gems.., but last year it was awful. Really poor, and we have those financial liabilities that will drag down the PSR for a few years. I don’t think suggesting the criticism isn’t justified, because the person giving it, isn’t Pep doesn’t help. You don’t need to be a Michelin star chef to know hat looks and tastes good. Let people have opinions, and discuss and debate things.., you might learn something.., maybe a lot. Muric, Clarke, Phillips, Greaves, all poor signings relative to what we needed. Greaves might work out well, but he’s staying because he was so poor, not because he was nay good. Relative what what Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley are doing, which is by top flight experience for LESS money.., we made one hell of a mess of recruitment, and we’ve done nothing to remedy that. That’s a legitimate concern…, even if the fantasy you built up in your head, about Ashton being world class, does make it feel bad!

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Lukeybluey added 19:52 - Jul 25 Would love us to be better at set pieces... last season I don't really think we really laid a glove on any opposition from them. Defensively I think we were ok.. cant remember conceding too many...?
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Lukeybluey added 19:54 - Jul 25 I also think it's quite good that we're making quite a few changes... It's probably easy to stagnate after relegation as the impetus to push harder might not be there, so fresh faces would probably add that...
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Tampa_Florida_Blue added 20:10 - Jul 25 @chepstowblue. I’m along the same lines. I found championship football much more enjoyable to watch. That not because we was not winning last year, but the championship style of football is much more flowing.
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PhuketPete added 02:05 - Jul 26 Substantial backroom changes were likely inevitable as we progress along MA’s multi-year pathway to becoming a sustainable top-tier outfit that can also compete for European football and occasionally challenge for a trophy. Even now, despite rapid and huge progress, we may be less than half way thru the journey. I just hope that at the end of it, we are more than a just a cash generating feeder for bigger clubs - which seems what Brighton’s owner is content with (imagine how frustrated their fan base must be at the constant sales of their best, clearly at the expense of those dreams two years ago of becoming an established top 6 side competing in Europe).

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