Newcastle U21s Lead leaves to join Sparta Prague

Newcastle United Under-21s Lead Diarmuid O'Carroll has left the club after 10 months to become First-Team Coach at Sparta Prague.

The 38-year-old joined Newcastle in September 2024 from St Mirren, where he was Assistant Manager. He was also a senior coach with the Northern Ireland senior men’s team and continued in that part-time position.

Writing on LinkedIn, O’Carroll said: “I’ve absolutely loved my time working at Newcastle United, I didn’t envisage it being this short but this opportunity was too exciting for me to turn down. 

“It’s genuinely been a real pleasure working with top staff and with some very exciting young players. I wish everyone at the club nothing but continued success going forward.”

Sparta Prague’s Manager is the former Denmark international Brian Priske. Newcastle are now looking for a replacement for O’Carroll, with the title Player Development Lead (U21s).

The job is being advertised on TGG and the summary states that the successful candidate will have, “Overall responsibility for the day-to-day management of the U21 squad and managing their transition into first-team football; enabling players to achieve their full potential through collaborative working with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT), nurturing our talent to produce players capable of making the transition to first team.”

TGG Jobs: Player Development Lead (U21s) – Newcastle United