Clarke named League of Ireland club academy coordinator

Reporting to High Performance Director Ruud Dokter, the current director of club operations at St Joseph’s Boys will liaise with domestic clubs about improving underage structures.

Will Clarke is returning to the FAI to take up a newly-created role as League of Ireland Club Academy Coordinator.

Reporting to High Performance Director Ruud Dokter, the current director of club operations at St Joseph’s Boys will liaise with domestic clubs about improving underage structures.

Clarke, who holds a Uefa A licence, is familiar with the League of Ireland from previous work as assistant to Eddie Gormley at Bray Wanderers, Jim Crawford during his spell at Shamrock Rovers, and also when Vinny Perth took charge at Longford Town.

He worked with the FAI as their development officer in south Dublin from 2007 and 2009 before taking up the full-time role at the club he played for, St Joseph’s Boys.

They strengthened their ties with Bray in 2019.

The FAI have concentrated over the past decade on transferring the responsibility for youth development from schoolboy clubs into the hands of the League of Ireland cohort.

The appointment of highly-respected Clarke will aid that objective but clubs, coupled with the underage leagues involved in the national competitions, will need more than just Uefa’s solidarity grants from a cash-strapped FAI to even begin introducing a professional environment budding stars are used to in other countries.

Meanwhile, Shelbourne have pulled off a major coup by snaring Alan Caffrey as technical director from St Kevin’s Boys, the underage partner of their neighbours and rivals Bohemians.

Caffrey has an impressive track record from his time as head of St Kevin’s, overseeing the likes of Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick, Dara O’Shea, and Jack Byrne on their way to becoming senior Ireland internationals.