Cambridge United can today confirm Barry Corr has returned to the Football Club as Development Coach.
The role will see the former U's striker become the member of staff responsible for managing the transition of the young professionals who have made the step up from the Club's youth team into the senior set up.
The U's currently have an exciting crop of youngsters in Ben Worman, Joe Neal, Tom Knowles, Jordan Norville-Williams, Leon Davies and Harry Darling, who have all earned professional contracts following their progression through the U's Academy.
Corr will now be the staff member who works with them closest as well as future youngsters making the transition, to ensure they continue to make the necessary developments in order to give them the best opportunity of completing a full step up into first team football.
Corr will report into Academy Manager, Tom Pell whilst working daily with Cambridge United Head Coach Colin Calderwood and Assistant Head Coach Mark Bonner, and act as the conduit between the first team staff and Pell, and Youth Team Coach Jimmy Unwin.
Looking forward to the next stage of his career in football, Corr commented: "I’m delighted to be back at the Club and excited about taking on this new role.
“Having initially started my coaching badges over eight years ago, completing them last year with my UEFA A licence as well as studying for a degree in psychology during that time - it feels like a culmination of all that work to reach this stage.
“I hope to add value to the Club’s excellent group of coaching staff across both the first team and Academy and look forward to working with Cambridge United’s talented young players.”
Having completed his UEFA A licence last year, Corr also strengthened his coaching experience within the U's Academy and Shadow Academy throughout last season and will therefore bring good knowledge of the Club's philosophy to his new role.
Head of Football, Ben Strang added: "We identified some time ago that there was a real need for this position. Essentially this role is directly responsible for a group of players who up until now, haven’t always had the level of attention required. That isn’t a criticism of anybody, but merely reality that Colin’s (Calderwood) and Mark’s (Bonner) time is rightly filled by working with a group of first team players and preparing them to win football matches; whilst Jimmy’s (Unwin) role brings a wealth of responsibility and time dedicated to the scholars’ welfare, development, education and so on. Often it is the group in between the two entities that suffer as a consequence.
“As a Club we don’t operate an U23 squad or reserve team, so the gap between a youth team and first team player is a substantial one. Barry will work with our young players around individual work, additional training sessions, and analysis; and will be responsible for overseeing their development when out on loan.”
Strang continued: “We recognise that this is a vital role for us moving forwards in aiding our aspirations of increasing the exposure of academy products in our first team. Barry’s character is exactly what is needed and he has a genuine affinity with the Club. The fact he finished playing so recently and understands our dressing room environment is hugely important and will make him a key asset. He has worked hard in the last few years to gain his coaching qualifications, worked in the Academy last season and is committed to making a big impact in this role.”