Birmingham become latest club to hire dedicated Set Piece Coach

Imps become set-piece kings

Before joining Rangers, Fry spent three-and-a-half years at Lincoln, transforming their fortunes from set-pieces, which helped them romp to the League One title last season despite his departure midway through the campaign.

He initially joined the Imps as a Goalkeeper Coach in the 2022 close season, having previously been Head of Academy Goalkeeping at Wolves.

However, in the summer of 2024 he was given the role of Set Piece Coach and that season Lincoln scored 30 goals from set-pieces – the highest total in the Football League. They also recorded the best differential between set-piece goals scored and conceded in any of Europe’s top domestic leagues.

Last season, more than a third of their goals came from set-pieces as they won promotion.

The Championship new boys use an AI tool which analyses thousands of set-pieces from around the world. The information they gather influences the team in training and on matchday.

Speaking in January 2025, then Head Coach Michael Skubala told TGG: “It’s a tool we’re using to try and give us an edge in the league. League One is a league that is very direct and very aerially dominant.

“So we try and find an edge wherever we can, but we have to bring it in-house and use it to make sure that it’s not just a piece of paper and the edge becomes the alignment between the resource and how we deliver that on the pitch.”

Fry is passionate about the role of set-pieces in the game. In January, while at Rangers, he said that work on set-pieces did not receive the “respect” it deserved.

He went on to say: “Let’s work on the things that perhaps others don’t value and that will give us an edge. It’s the only time where the ball is still and there’s an opportunity to put people in positions where they need to be.

“As a coach, you feel you have more control over those situations but you need to work at it and it takes time. You’re a little blessed by the fortunes of some things – whether he heads it in the goal, over the bar, or the keeper makes a save.

“If you get your processes right, you continue to work on it and create a culture that people embrace, then you’re on the right lines.”

He added: “We’re really well supported by data. We’re informed by data but not driven by data. We look at data and how that can help us, where the opposition may have strengths and weaknesses and how we can expose that.”

That month, then Rangers boss Danny Rohl, who played a big part in Fry’s appointment, praised him, saying: “Scott is doing a fantastic job and that is the reason why he is here. We made a good choice. it is not just about the topics and the content. He is also a good human and a good addition to my coaching team.”

He added that scoring from set-pieces formed a critical part of Rangers’ strategy in tight games.

Birmingham finished 10th in the Championship last season – nine points adrift of the play-off places – and will kick-off the new campaign bidding to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2011.