Tommy Rowe returned to Man Utd last summer in a player-coach role but he is now working in a different position.
Tommy Rowe came through the academy.(Image: @tommyrowe.10)
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Tommy Rowe is now Manchester United's Under-15 lead coach after spending last season as a player-coach.
Rowe, who was born in Wythenshawe, came through United's academy and returned to Carrington last year in the innovative player-coach academy role with the Under-21s.
After more than 600 professional appearances with the likes of Stockport County, Peterborough, Wolves, Doncaster and Bristol City, Rowe returned to United's academy to give on-pitch feedback, help coach the U21 group and drive standards on and off the pitch.
Rowe was credited as the best United had seen in the hybrid position, which has previously been held by Paul McShane and Tom Huddlestone, but he is now in charge of the U15s.
United are not currently planning to recruit a replacement for the U21 player-coach role this season.
United initially appointed McShane to the player-coach academy position in the summer of 2021. The experiment was deemed a success by United and when McShane stepped back from playing and focused his attention on coaching, a replacement was needed.
Huddlestone was his successor and spent two years in the role but he left at the end of 2023/2024, which opened the door for Rowe to come into United and take the position.
Liverpool subsequently followed suit by welcoming Jay Spearing back to their academy.
Rowe impressed staff at United upon his return to Carrington and he underwent intensive French lessons to communicate with Sekou Kone following his arrival from Mali in 2024.
"Rowy has been excellent with him and they have a brilliant relationship," Travis Binnion told the Manchester Evening News. "I think Rowy must have been on holiday in the south of France with how good his French is coming on. The amount of meetings he’s had with him is brilliant.
"We’ve given him that responsibility. They do analysis, but they’ll translate it for him with the language tutor. He’ll [Rowe] sit in the language lessons so he can pick it up and they'll do clips with the translator."
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