Darryl was brought into the club back in 2020 by then manager Mark Yates following an excellent career at a number of levels with the game after coming through the ranks at Ipswich Town where he was part of the side who won the FA Youth Cup.

He is currently in his second year as our men’s academy manager which has seen the group go from strength to strength both on and off the pitch. He has created a fantastic environment for his players to develop in and established an excellent style of play which has seen them reach back to back Joel Richards Memorial Cup finals, which they won this season, as well as clinching the league title on the final day after some good results against some top sides.

His new role of Head of Youth Development will see him continue to manage the men’s academy side as he looks to build on his success with the side as well as taking over our talented youth team side next season. He will also oversee our Under 21 and Stourbridge Standard sides as we look to continue to develop home grown talent which will feed into Liam McDonald’s first team set up.

The club were also very impressed with Darryl’s short tenure as interim manager in the latter part of last season where him and his management team of Lewis Solly and Rich Ball guided us to safety with some impressive wins over the likes of then second placed Mickleover along the way. We’d like to place our thanks on record to Darryl, Lewis and Rich for their work within this time to ensure we had a successful end to the season.

Darryl will work closely with the staff within our U21’s, Standard and First Team to promote talented players to the teams they deserve to represent as well as looking to loan players out to other levels of the pyramid to give them the opportunities to develop further as players.

We have seen a lot of success within our pathway over recent seasons with a number of players such as Fin Holmes and Kam Smith thriving during loan spells at the likes of Studley FC and Wolverhampton Casuals. Harvey Portman also returned having come through our youth set up to enjoy an excellent season at step 3 whilst Alfie Steward was able to make a name for himself aged just 17 following a strong loan spell with Wolves Cassies.

We are excited to see the pathway to continue to thrive under Darryl’s watchful eye where his experience within the game and his excellent coaching still are sure to promote talent right the way through from our junior section to the first team.

Speaking on his new role, Darryl said that “I am very grateful for the opportunity to take on this role which will allow me to develop my managerial and coaching skills further. This role gives me the opportunity to build on the recent success we’ve had across our sides this season and continue to work with some of the really good young players we have at the club.”