Edwards leaves England U16s to join Forest Green
Edwards had worked for the Football Association since October 2019
Written by Training Ground Guru — May 27, 2021
ROB EDWARDS has been appointed Head Coach of Forest Green Rovers, meaning almost half of the England age group lead coaching roles are now vacant.
The 38-year-old had worked for the Football Association since October 2019 and was England Under-16s coach, as well as assisting the U20s in recent months. Prior to this, the former Wales defender was U23s boss at Wolves.
His assistant at Forest Green will be Richie Kyle, the ex Lead Out of Possession Coach for the England development teams, who has been assistant with the Canada Women’s team since January this year.
Edwards' exit means the FA are now without coaches for three of their seven men’s age group teams.
U21s boss Aidy Boothroyd left last month following England’s disappointing performance in the Euros, while his assistant, Aaron Danks, joined Belgian side Anderlecht earlier this month.
England U15s coach Lee Skyrme was appointed B team Individual Coach at Southampton in February. The full list of England lead coaches is at the bottom of this article.
Forest Green chairman Dale Vince said he had received more than 100 applications to replace manager Mark Cooper, who was sacked after five years at the helm in April.
“We wanted to move away from the recruitment merry-go-round of been-there-and-done-it league managers to focus on coaches at the cutting edge of the game,” Vince said.
“Rob and Richie bring an understanding and openness to all aspects of coaching – like sports science and analytics. This is the start of our next era.”
- England U21s: Vacant
- U20s: Lee Carsley
- U19s: Ian Foster
- U18s: Kevin Betsy
- U17s: Justin Cochrane
- U16s: Vacant
- U15s: Vacant
