Elliott Dickman has hailed the support he has received from Sunderland’s first-team coaches since stepping into his new role at the Academy of Light.
The former youth team boss took over the under-23 lead coach vacancy following Andy Welsh’s departure in January, and has since enjoyed a productive start.
A former academy player during Peter Reid’s tenure at the club, Dickman knows the Black Cats inside out and has played his part in helping Duncan Watmore, Jordan Pickford, Lynden Gooch, Rees Greenwood, Tommy Robson, Josh Maja, Joel Asoro and George Honeyman make their senior debuts in the last 18 months.
And with player development the top of Dickman’s agenda, he has praised the support network in place at the club between the academy and first-team coaches.
“We’ve been quite lucky our manager’s been quite proactive with the young players here,” he said.
“They’re across training quite a lot, we play games against them (the first team), some of them have made their debuts.
“The argument back could be that some of that might be a needs must, but the fact he’s got the confidence to do that can only benefit the young players.
“He’s been fantastic with me personally,” he continued. “It’s been great to talk football with him and have conversations about players.
“It’s a great learning tool for me as a coach and hopefully I can take that back to the players and make them better.
“There’s a great togetherness on that side with (first-team coaches) Robbie Stockdale, Paul Bracewell and the manager – they’ve all been fantastic.”
