According to Football Insider, Richard Beale has performed a U-turn on joining Reading as their new assistant manager and has instead chosen Aston Villa. The former West Brom manager had opted to get back in familiar territory and manage the Aston Villa U-18s instead.
Richard Beale was sacked from his role as West Brom’s interim manager, with some prospects emerging for him to take up a new role elsewhere. Beale started his career with Birmingham City as their developmental coach.
He has since gone on to manage their U-21 team as well as acting as caretaker manager for about two games back in 2014. He has never held a big managerial position for the first team apart from being a caretaker manager for Birmingham and West Brom, with seven years apart from those two interim roles.
Meanwhile, he has now left West Brom and was closing in on joining Reading as their new assistant manager. He would have replaced former assistant manager Nigel Gibbs, who had gone in the opposite direction. Had he taken up the role, the 46-year-old coach would have been the assistant to Noel Hunt at the League One club.
While Beale was closing in on joining Reading, he has performed a U-turn of sorts and has accepted a role with Aston Villa. The 46-year-old coach will manage the U-18s at the Birmingham-based side, a role he previously held at the club back in 2018.
Beale will return to familiar territory with his appointment as Aston Villa’s U-18 manager. He might have held assistant manager roles at different clubs throughout his modest career so far, but Beale does excel with the youth setup.
Aston Villa have a promising youth setup, and the U-18 team will be a crucial part of their future, as that particular team is an important step up towards the first team. Whether he achieves success there remains to be seen, although between 2018 and now, the 46-year-old coach has accumulated massive experience to help the U-18s.
