Set piece coaches are becoming quite the common hire amongst Premier League teams.
The likes of Arsenal’s Nicolas Jover and new Brentford boss Keith Andrews have each won acclaim for their efforts in revolutionising their team’s goalscoring threat from set pieces.
And after advertising for the role and conducting an extensive recruitment drive, it looks like Newcastle United will soon be expanding their coaching set up to include one.
Our set pieces and unique routines have been consistently impressive for some time now, but are we about to see them go to the next level?
According to [The Athletic](https://t.co/eKQtrS29Wm), Newcastle United look set to make FC Midtjylland’s Martin Mark the club’s first designated set piece coach.
The 31-year-old has been tracked for some time and it’s believed his innovative work in Denmark has ‘caught the eye’ as Eddie Howe looks to bring in another specialist coach.
Currently, set piece coaching is conducted by the trio of set piece analysts Kieran Taylor, coach Steven Purches, and Jason Tindall.
But now the experienced Dane Mark is in line to become just the latest expert appointment to the coaching hierarchy, after Performance Director James Bunce last season.
The appointment is said to have been part of a dedicated recruitment drive by the club, with multiple candidates being looked at over the past few months.
With close to a decade of coaching experience at Danish side FC Midtjylland, Mark will be heading to Tyneside with plenty of expectation to succeed.
Mark was appointed to the role of ‘Head of Set Pieces’ back in 2022, though the side was earning quite the reputation for their set piece contributions even prior to Mark’s promotion.
Back in the 2014-15 campaign, the _Ulvene_ scored a remarkable 25 goals from set pieces.
But as part of the coaching staff who helped Midtjylland win the Superliga back in the 2023/24 season, Mark oversaw the team score 29 set piece goals en-route to title success, with 32 in the season prior.
Meanwhile our aerial threat is something that should perhaps be a lot better than what it is, considering the likes of Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Alexander Isak and Joelinton are in the squad.
Hopefully , with help from Mark, the Magpies might soon rival Arsenal for the title of the Premier League’s set-piece kings!