‘Best-in-class’ youth developers Curtis & Wiles join Man Utd Academy

Wiles (pictured) has joined as Lead U14s Coach, as well as being responsible for the programme of development across the U13s. He has previously worked as First-Team Coach at Salford City for the last two-and-a-half years. 

Meanwhile, Tommy Rowe joined earlier this season as an over-aged player-coach for the U21s, following in the footsteps of Tom Huddlestone and Paul McShane. Rowe was born in Wythenshawe and came through United’s Academy from 1996 to 2003 before playing at senior level for Stockport, Peterborough, Wolves, Bristol City and Doncaster Rovers.

Writing on LinkedIn, Rowe said: “Returning to my boyhood club has felt like a real full circle moment in my career and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to give back into the Academy where it all started for me. It has been really special to see so many of the coaches, who I owe so much to, still connected to the club.” 

In August, TGG revealed that a quartet of Academy coaches with more than 50 years’ combined service had left United as part of a club-wide restructure by minority owners INEOS. The coaches were Neil Harris, the Lead Youth Development Phase Coach, Stuart Leicester, the Lead Coach on the Manchester United Schoolboy Scholarship Scheme (MANUSS), Chris Backhouse, the Foundation Phase Lead Goalkeeping Coach, and Rich Ashcroft, the Lead Youth Development Phase Coach.