Sheffield Wednesday have confirmed the addition of a new member of staff, with Craig Mudd joining the club to assist Henrik Pedersen.
The talented young coach is understood to have joined up with the Owls for training this week and is the first new face to have been brought into the coaching set-up since the mass departure of Danny Röhl and the majority of his team earlier this summer.
The news has been warmly welcomed by Pedersen, who has spoken of the importance of getting new coaches through the door as soon as possible and ha relied on the hard work of Andy Holdsworth and Giles Coke in stepping up from the academy ranks in recent weeks. Further additions to the coaching team are hoped for, with Daryl Flahavan known to be a target for the position of goalkeeping coach.
NEW FACE: Henrik Pedersen has spoken about his delight at getting Craig Mudd to Sheffield Wednesday (Image: Steve Ellis)placeholder image
NEW FACE: Henrik Pedersen has spoken about his delight at getting Craig Mudd to Sheffield Wednesday (Image: Steve Ellis)
There’s not a mass of information out there on Mudd, but here’s what we know on Wednesday’s new face.
Who is Craig Mudd?
Schooled in North Yorkshire and the proud owner of a UEFA A License he achieved in 2019, Mudd played for Rotherham United as a youngster and spent a short time with Crawley Town before hanging up his boots in 2008. His interest in coaching appears to have been sparked while doing so when achieving a PFA scholarship during his YTS with the Millers and he first started coaching as under-9s coach at Leeds United from 2005.
From there he graduated to under-13 coach before heading abroad as director of coaching over in Mexico City, where he spent nearly four years both coaching and overseeing aspects of player recruitment for youth football from under-nine level to under-15s. The set up he worked for, Sport Concepts, had links with the West Ham academy.
It is from there he joined Manchester City.
What did he do at Manchester City?
Returning to the UK in 2012, he picked up a part-time role as a junior academy coach at the Etihad Campus, primarily assisting with the coaching of children from under-seven to under-nine. He graduated to the lead coach position and worked his way up through roles in the under-14s, the under-15s and was promoted to work as assistant coach of the under-21s in 2022.
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Craig Mudd
In that role he worked with a host of players including reigning Wednesday player of the year Shea Charles, as well as Liam Delap, Rico Lewis and Morgan Rogers. This summer the turnover of backroom staff in the Man City first team offered him the opportunity to spend time working closely with Pep Guardiola at the Club World Cup.
What’s this about a link to Wednesday royalty?
It’s tenuous-ish. During his time with City’s under-21 side he worked alongside lead coach Ben Wilkinson and acted as his second-in-command. Wilkinson, who was also temporarily promoted to work with the first team at the Club World Cup, is the son of legendary Owls figure Howard Wilkinson.
What has Pedersen said?
Pedersen told swfc.co.uk on the appointment: “Craig has joined us from Manchester City and I am really pleased with this appointment to my technical team. Craig has a lot of qualities, fundamentally he is a fantastic human and will really fit in with our values at Sheffield Wednesday. He is a hungry young man and a hard worker.
“On the football side he is very strong with the methodology and tactically he understands how we want to play football. He will be a good mirror for me in our development for the next step of the team. Craig has a really impressive background, he is very well respected in the game and an excellent coach. Already, he has made a positive impression in the few days he has been on the training pitches with the boys.”
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