Decision explained as Stoke City go forward with two goalkeeper coaches.
Darren Behcet was brought to Stoke City by Steven Schumacher but has been asked to stay.
Darren Behcet is staying to work at Stoke City despite the sweeping changes in the coaching set-up as Jon Walters explains his importance to the first team and beyond.
Behcet was brought to Stoke from Plymouth last December along with Steven Schumacher, assistant head coach Mark Hughes, first team coach Peter Cavanagh and fitness coach Elliot Turner.
But he has been asked to stay when the others left on Monday, making space for new head coach Narcis Pelach and a new backroom team including coach Dean Whitehead and fellow goalkeeper coach Paul Clements.
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If it is new for Stoke to have two keeper coaches, sporting director Walters believes both will prove to be valuable as they cover the goalkeeping side of the club from top to bottom, including recruitment and in the academy. Behcet was heavily involved in the scouting of Viktor Johansson, for instance.
Walters said: “I see someone in Darren as a huge asset to the football club. I think for the first few days of meeting him and getting to know his ambitions that we’ve got a class operator. I said to Narcis that, for me, he’s part of the football club.
Narcis wanted to bring in his staff and we have to give him the best tools to be successful, which the owner wants to do, but I see Darren as a huge asset to the goalkeeping department at the football club as a whole.
“If you look at any Premier League bar one or two, there are two goalkeeping coaches. We spoke to a number of clubs about how it works, top clubs, and they all have different ways. A goalkeeping department normally has four in there – three senior ones and a younger one – and we’ve got Tommy Simkin out on loan who needs huge development, we’ve got a recruitment department, we’ve got an academy set-up to keep building.
“There is lots to do in a goalkeeping department that you probably don’t see from the outside but Darren, for me, is a huge part of it.”
