Frank Lampard appoints Jody Morris as Derby assistant manager and wants him to help Rams youth progress
New Rams boss has brought in former Chelsea teammate Morris to help his blueprint of promoting homegrown talent
FRANK LAMPARD has appointed Jody Morris as his No.2 at Derby County – with orders to help his Rams youngsters ‘Bridge’ the gap between youth and first team football.
Morris, 39, has carved out a reputation as one of the best in the business at getting the best out of young talent after winning four FA Youth Cups and back-to-back titles with Chelsea’s all-conquering Under-18s, as assistant manager, then manager.
Lampard wants to lean on that expertise and sees Morris as crucial to Derby’s new blueprint to promote homegrown ahead of expensive recruits.
“Jody has been hugely successful with Chelsea’s youth team and he has won everything there is to win in the last few years,” said Lampard, who played alongside Morris at Stamford Bridge.
ZZ STROP Zidane resigned as Real Madrid boss after clashing with Florentino Perez over David de Gea and Eden Hazard
“He is great at developing young players and that is something we are really going to look to do here. I am delighted to have him on board.
“I have known him for so long now and his qualities and personality will bring so much to this club.”
most read in football
Morris returned to Chelsea, who he represented 170 times from 1996 to 2003, as a coach in the youth set-up in 2013.
His first role was with the under-21s and then moved to the under 18s in 2015, as assistant manager before taking charge for the past two seasons.
The 39-year-old developed a team that dominated the youth ranks, winning the FA Youth Cup and Premier League southern title in each of the past four seasons.
Last month, Morris's team retained those titles and added the inaugural Premier League under-18 Cup.
