New Stoke City coach delivers promise as he breaks silence on appointment.
Dean Whitehead is a key part of a new backroom team under Narcis Pelach at Stoke City.
Dean Whitehead has thanked Barnsley for not standing in his way to return to Stoke City – and promised Stoke fans that the new coaching team will ‘work to our maximum’ to bring back success.
Whitehead is a key member of a new looking coaching staff at Stoke under the leadership of Narcis Pelach, who was appointed coming up to three weeks ago. He hadn’t previously worked with Pelach but they had known each other through mutual connections, particularly at Huddersfield Town, and were keen to get a job together.
It helps too that Whitehead knows Stoke well, having spent four successful seasons in the Potteries from 2009. He was in the squad that reached the 2011 FA Cup final and he played in Europe in red and white in 2011/12, scoring in an away win against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
He went on to play for Middlesbrough and Huddersfield and has been busy building his coaching CV since hanging up his boots, with time spent at Shrewsbury and Cardiff as well as with Darrell Clarke at Port Vale and Barnsley and with Valerien Ismael at Besiktas and Watford.
“It’s been a whirlwind three weeks,” he wrote on social media after Stoke’s 0-0 draw at Swansea to head into an international break. “Thank you Barnsley for not standing in my way and allowing me to join Stoke City, a club that holds a lot of great memories for me and my family. Delighted to be here. We will work to our maximum to bring the good times back.”
