Aston Villa appoint Austin MacPhee as dedicated set piece coach
Villa boss Dean Smith has bolstered his backroom team with the appointment of Austin MacPhee as set piece coach.
Smith had been keen to appoint a specialist coach to improve his team’s success at set-pieces and MacPhee was identified as the preferred candidate.
The 41-year-old Scot, a former midfielder who played in the USA, Romania and Japan, was a long-time assistant with Northern Ireland, enjoying particular success during the reign of Michael O’Neill.
MacPhee has also worked as a No.2 in Scotland with St Mirren and Hearts and most recently the Danish club FC Midtjylland. It was during MacPhee’s time at Hearts he earned a reputation for developing imaginative corner and free-kick routines and Smith, who worked with a set piece coach at Brentford, is hopeful he can now continue that work at Villa.
The head coach is continuing to work with sporting director Johan Lange to bring in a replacement for assistant boss John Terry, following the latter’s departure last month.
A shortlist has been drawn up, with Smith thought to be keen on recruiting a coach who can bring something different to his backroom team.
Villa are prepared to take their time with the process with Craig Shakespeare and long-time No.2 Richard O’Kelly currently backing up the head coach.
