Stephen Elliott appointed Head of Academy Football at St. Patrick’s Athletic

The former Republic of Ireland international will combine his new role along with managing the St. Pats U20 side. 

St. Patrick’s Athletic announced the appointment of Elliot as the new Head of Academy on Wednesday evening. 

Elliott, who is a UEFA A license holder, will work closely with current Director of Football Ger O’Brien. 

The former Sunderland striker has over 300 appearances in professional football during his 15-year career in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

Elliott has previous coaching experience at Sunderland and has worked in a Head of Academy position before with Darlington. 

The 40-year-old when speaking to the St. Patrick’s Athletic media team spoke of his delight about his new role. 

“I'm delighted to be here. When I spoke to the club and (Chairman) Garrett Kelleher about the possibility of coming in, it really intrigued me.

Then once I chatted to Ger O'Brien (Director of Football) and Alan Mathews (Technical Director and Board Member) about what the role involved, it really got my juices flowing.

I'm really excited about coming in and helping an already successful Academy thrive”. 

As mentioned, Elliott will be taking the reigns as U20 Head Coach after Pats announced that current U20 Head Coach Niall Cully will depart to take up a new position with Championship club Plymouth Argyle. 

On the new role, Elliott stated, 

"It will be great to be hands on the training pitch and work closely with the U20s players and staff.

I watched the boys train last night and spoke to the squad briefly, it's an exciting and talented group of players, many of whom are already in and around our First Team, we want to help continue their progression and help them prepare for the next step.

Having been around the club for the last couple of days, I really feel there is something special happening here and I'm just delighted to be part of it."

St. Pats have been busy this week already with the signature of Luke Turner from Cliftonville on Tuesday.

Irish winger Cristiano Fitzgerald signs for Estrela da Amadora https://t.co/m1Tg0kBVQbpic.twitter.com/l5wbF92jKA

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) January 31, 2024