Solskjaer's right-hand man moves from first team to Academy
Dempsey (centre) was assistant to Solskjaer at Cardiff, Molde and United
Written by Simon Austin — December 8, 2020
MANCHESTER UNITED assistant Mark Dempsey - who worked with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Cardiff and Molde before joining him at Old Trafford - is switching to a new role with the club’s Academy.
Dempsey joined United shortly after Solskjaer was appointed manager in December 2018. He is one of three assistants to the Norwegian, along with Mike Phelan and Martyn Pert, with Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna as first-team coaches.
After coming through United’s youth ranks, Dempsey made two senior appearances for the club under Ron Atkinson before playing for Sheffield United, Rotherham and Macclesfield Town.
He assisted Solskjaer at Cardiff City in 2014 and then at Molde and has also been a manager himself, with Haugesund, Djurgarden, Start and Kongsvinger.
After joining United, Solskjaer said of his assistant: “Demps - I've worked with him now since 2011 when I moved back to Norway, he came with me to Molde.
“He's a Manchester United lad through and through, he came through with Norman Whiteside and Mark Hughes in that youth team. He knows what this means.”
TGG understands that Dempsey will mainly work with the older age groups in the Academy, helping their transition into the first team. In other additions to the Academy:
Rick Ashcroft is joining the club in the New Year to work with United’s U14s. Ashcroft has previously worked as Head of Coaching at Rochdale and was most recently the Lead Foundation Phase Coach at Burnley.
Adam Lawrence is joining us in early 2021 to work with the U16s. The Pro Licence coach has worked at Charlton for the last eight years and was most recently their Head of Coaching.
Stuart Leicester has taken on the role of Lead Coach with the Manchester United Schoolboy Scholarship (MANUSS) scheme and Neil Harris joins on a full-time basis to work with the U13s.
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