Richie Kyle joined the backroom team in November 2022 as assistant manager to Rob Edwards.
He was Edwards’ number two at Forest Green and Watford, with the pair having worked together for the Football Association as in-possession and out-of-possession specialist coaches with England U16s and U20s.
They had first met through Edwards’ links to former playing club Blackpool, where Kyle was Under-18s coach and head of coaching before progressing to first-team level, helping the Seasiders to promotion from League Two at the Hatters’ expense in 2016-17.
Still living in the area, Edwards shadowed Kyle and helped him coach the Seasiders’ youth team in the months after retiring as a player.
Kyle, who had started coaching part-time in Everton and Blackburn’s academies, had a brief spell as Canadian women’s national team assistant manager in 2021 before returning to this country to help Edwards lead Forest Green to the League Two title.