Everton have made a trio of appointments among their junior teams with Gareth Prosser becoming their new Academy Director, Paul Tait the U21s head coach and former Blues player Leighton Baines the U18s head coach. The changes have been overseen by Kevin Thelwell, who took charge as Everton’s new director of football in February and are also understood to be part of the club’s strategic review into football operations.
Prosser previously worked with Thelwell at Wolverhampton Wanderers where he was involved in the Elite Player Performance Plan development, resulting in their academy achieving Category One status in 2012 and retaining it four years later. At the time, Wolves were one of only six Category One academies to achieve an unconditional three-year licence and under Prosser and Thelwell, they were also at one stage ranked as the third-best academy in the country.
In March 2019, Prosser left the West Midlands side to become General Manager of the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC), set up by the Premier League, English Football League and Football Association to quality assure the youth development programmes of all professional clubs in the country. He holds a UEFA Pro Licence – the highest coaching qualification in professional football – and recently graduated from the University of Salford with a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
