Graham Hyde (right) spent part of his playing career at Birmingham City

Redditch Utd have appointed the former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Graham Hyde as their new first-team coach.

Hyde will assist new manager Simon Redhead and says he is relishing the challenge at Valley Stadium.

"It is obviously a difficult time with the financial restrictions that are in place," he said.

"Its very important everyone at the club remains positive and the challenge to the players is to see if they can prove themselves at this level."

Simon Redhead says Hyde's experience will be very important to the club as they are dealing with a very youthful squad.

"Graham's experience and knowledge of the game is a massive coup for Redditch Utd," he told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

It was inevitable that players were going to leave and with a zero budget trying to replace them will be very difficult Graham Hyde

"We are committed to improving all aspects of the club and this is one of the first major steps forward.

"The future success of the club will rely upon developing young players and Graham will be instrumental in achieving this," he added.

Since finishing his playing career Hyde has earned his FA coaching licence and UEFA A Licence.

He has been working full-time for Birmingham City for the past four years as part of their football education programme coaching 16 to 18-year-olds.

Hyde says he is going into the new challenge with his eyes wide open and is well aware of the size of the task facing them if they are to beat relegation from Blue Square Bet North.

"It was inevitable that players were going to leave and with a zero budget trying to replace them will be very difficult," he admitted.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version