Huddersfield Town confirm new additions to Martin Drury's coaching staff
The Terriers have made two new hires alongside handing a new role to Jon Worthington
Huddersfield Town have confirmed details of Martin Drury’s coaching staff with two new additions and a new role for Jon Worthington.
Former Barnsley, Hearts, Doncaster, Peterborough and Doncaster coach Dale Tonge arrives as assistant head coach alongside Jon Stead, while Anton McElhone has been appointed as head of medical and performance having previously worked at Tottenham, Celtic, Besiktas, and Aston Villa women, among others.
Worthington will meanwhile step up into the newly-created job of director of player development alongside his existing job as Town’s academy director.
Sporting director Chris Markham said in a club statement: “The formation of the technical staff under Martin was always going to be vitally important, and we set put together – Martin and I – with a specific set of skills and experience that we wanted.
“Through the appointments of Dale, Anton, and Jon – alongside Jon Stead, Chris Elliott and the rest of our staff – we’ve added that.
“Dale brings a lot of experience of coaching in a first-team environment at high levels, including League One, and he brings a complimentary skillset as a coach. Alongside Jon Stead, he will be a great deputy to Martin.
“Anton also has a wealth of experience in his field. We felt strongly that we wanted new leadership for the sports science and medical teams and Anton’s personality and energy shone through in the recruitment process.
“Everyone connected to Huddersfield Town knows how skilled Jon Worthington is at developing players. Learning and development doesn’t stop at 18 or 21, and it’s fantastic that Jon will now step up to contribute on the process with our senior players.”
Drury added: “Throughout the process of becoming head coach, I was clear in how I’d like our coaching staff to be organised.
“Starting with the appointment of Jon Stead, who I’m delighted to continue working alongside, I felt strongly about recruiting highly skilled people who share my determination to succeed.
“I have crossed paths with Dale, Anton, and Jon to different degrees during my career, and their reputations as excellent practitioners is well known across football.
“However, Chris and I still ran a thorough process to find the right people to work for this club and I’m completely happy we have found them.
“Collectively, the staff will focus daily on developing our players individually and as a team, and I’m excited to get to work.”