BEATTIE APPOINTED FIRST-TEAM COACH

FREEVIEW: JAMES BEATTIE 1.7.16

Former England striker joins United backroom staff...

We are delighted to welcome James Beattie to Leeds United as the Club’s new first-team coach.

The former England international, who worked alongside Garry Monk and Pep Clotet during their time at Swansea City, becomes the latest summer addition to the United backroom team.

Beattie, a Premier League striker with Southampton, Everton and Stoke City during a prolific playing career, also spent just over a year as manager of Accrington Stanley after initially joining the League Two side as a player-coach.

The 38-year-old departed Swansea last December and was quickly identified by Monk as the man to assume the position at United in time for pre-season training getting underway earlier this week.

“I’m delighted to be here,” Beattie told leedsunited.com . “It’s a huge club and I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“I’ve worked with Garry and Pep before and I know how they work with the high standards and the values that they’ll bring to the club.

“This club has got untold potential to be whatever it wants to be, and we see that as a challenge.

“I feel that the level of training and coaching we can bring to the club is of a very high standard.

“We’ve got a young squad that we are looking forward to developing, coaching and providing guidance. We need to get them playing in the right way and try to help everyone create something really special.”

Reflecting on his coaching career to date, Beattie added: “I’ve had a taste of management at Accrington, which was a brilliant experience.

“I learned a lot of things about the job – we were right up against the coalface – and I got a lot of respect from people within the game for that.

“Then I went to Swansea, where I spent a lot more time on the grass, coaching elite players. I really enjoyed that and the building of relationships with them.

“I’ve come in this week to a fantastic training facility. It gives us an environment where the players will be encouraged to develop and to flourish and to bring out their own natural personalities and talents.

“We’ll be doing a lot of work tactically, physically and technically and hopefully that will set them off on a pathway to get Leeds back where they belong."

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