Middlesbrough have announced the departure of Alan Fettis, after three years serving as Middlesbrough's goalkeeper coach.
Fettis joined Boro's coaching team from Manchester United in the summer of 2022 as part of Chris Wilder's team. But the then-Boro boss insisted at the time he was a club appointment, with the aim of developing longer-term ties in key areas of the club. Fettis therefore survived the change in management later that year, and initially this summer after Rob Edwards' arrival.
It's not clear why, but Boro confirmed on Friday afternoon, however, that Fettis had parted company with the club. In his absence, academy head of coaching Chris Pennock will take up the role in the interim as Boro begin the search to replace the former Northern Ireland international.
In a short statement, Boro wrote: "First team goalkeeping coach Alan Fettis has parted company with the club. We would like to place on record our thanks to Alan for all his hard work and dedication, and wish him all the best for the future."
As a player, the 54-year-old was capped 25 times by Northern Ireland and had playing spells with the likes of Hull City, Blackburn Rovers, Nottingham Forest and York City. Moving into coaching after retirement, he had spells at Derby County, Cheltenham and Sunderland before joining Manchester United as an academy coach in 2011, where he remained until his move to Teesside.
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In 2016, former Boro keeper Victor Valdes credited him with saving his career, saying: "It's difficult to explain, but it was hard being alone. The easy way out would have been to end my career. I want to say in a public way thank you to the U21 coach Alan Fettis – without him I may have given up football.
"He made me keep going and stopped me when I was thinking about bringing my career to an end. I feel like a professional goalkeeper again after all those hard days in Manchester."