Bramley joins Norwich City as Smith completes backroom team
Bramley led Villa's U18s to FA Youth Cup glory last season
Written by Training Ground Guru — January 19, 2022
LIAM BRAMLEY has been appointed first-team coach at Norwich City as Head Coach Dean Smith completes his backroom team for this season.
Bramley worked for Newcastle United for 11 years - as Youth Development Phase Lead/ Under-16s coach and then U23s assistant - before joining Aston Villa in July 2020.
It was during this time, when he was the Villains' U18s coach and then Elite Development Coach, that he worked with Smith. Norwich’s Head Coach has been light on numbers in his coaching staff after bringing in only assistant Craig Shakespeare when he was appointed in November and was keen to make an addition.
“We’re delighted to welcome Liam to the football club,” Smith said. “He is a young, up-and-coming coach and someone that both myself and Shakey highlighted as a potential addition to our set-up here.
“We were impressed with his qualities at Villa and are delighted to have such a progressive young coach join us here at Norwich. Liam was a name that I discussed with both Stuart [Webber] and Neil [Adams] during our initial talk. We’re delighted that we’ve been able to get the deal done with Villa to bring him here.
“Liam will provide an additional coaching link to the analysis department, working closely with Matt Lewis, who has done some excellent work heading up that area during my time with the club.”
As we've previously reported on our bulletin board, Glyn Lewis has already been promoted to Head of Physical Performance and Nutrition at the club, while Chris Burton continues as Head of Medical Services.
Previously, Norwich had a unified medical and performance department, with Chris Domogalla, who had degrees in physiotherapy and sport science, overseeing both areas. In an interview in September 2019, the German told TGG: "We believed in the unified departments."
Meanwhile, there have been several changes at Norwich’s Category One Academy:
- Iain Brunskill joins as Senior Development Coach. This new role was advertised on TGG's Jobs Board in September and described the position as “contributing to the development of players and coaches across the U15 to U23 age groups” and being “very practical in nature… requiring an experienced individual who is comfortable ‘on the grass’ contributing to the delivery of high-quality coaching and supporting the current coaching structure.” Brunskill is highly experienced, having been Assistant Academy Technical Director at Liverpool from 1998 to 2008, reserve and first-team coach at Blackburn Rovers, Academy Manager at Molde in Sweden and, most recently, a coach with the China national team.
- Bobby Mimms has been appointed Professional Development Phase Goalkeeping Coach. Mimms, who amassed more than 500 senior appearances as a player, has previously coached with West Ham, Blackburn, Bolton and, most recently, SC East Bengal in the Indian Super League.
- Steve Weaver continues in his role of Head of Football Development, working across both first-team and Academy player development.
Smith added: “I have been really happy and impressed with both the set-up and infrastructure that we’ve inherited here.
“Steve Weaver has been instrumental in helping both myself and Shakey settle in. We want him to continue to be the conduit between the Academy and first team to maintain and enable that stream of players between teams.”
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