Manchester United set to appoint Brentford’s Stephen Torpey to lead academy

KM

I’m afraid I just blue myself
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Manchester United are set to appoint Brentford’s Stephen Torpey to lead their academy.
Torpey has been Brentford’s academy director since January 2024, having previously served as head of academy coaching at United’s rivals Manchester City.
The 43-year-old is set to become the first major hire under director of football Jason Wilcox and replace outgoing director of academy Nick Cox in the role. Cox has overseen United’s youth system for six years and is due to join Everton as technical director after agreeing the move in June.
While Cox has been in the role, his remit extended to recruitment, retention, coaching, medical, logistics and education in a strategic leadership role requiring a broad knowledge across a variety of disciplines.
https://archive.ph/o/4HzQh/https://...25/07/03/manchester-united-academy-head-role/
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6563279/2025/08/19/manchester-united-academy-stephen-torpey/
 
Was hired by Brentford to basically build their academy from scratch. Worked closely with Wilcox at City before too.

stubie said:
Cracking striker for Scunthorpe on CM97/98
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Wrong former low/non-league striker Steve Torpey :lol:
 
Can we sign someone who did not work for City recently? I guess work in Brentford for a year did not recommend a lad, so not sure if Head of coaching is the same responsibility as Academy director, which is another concern for me.
 
KevinJoh said:
Can we sign someone who did not work for City recently? I guess work in Brentford for a year did not recommend a lad, so not sure if Head of coaching is the same responsibility as Academy director, which is another concern for me.
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Did Vivell work for City?

How about the doctor who joined?

Also what is wrong with bringing in staff who the decision makers have worked with and trust?
 
Santos J said:
Was hired by Brentford to basically build their academy from scratch. Worked closely with Wilcox at City before too.


Wrong former low/non-league striker Steve Torpey :lol:
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He did play for FC United though, and scored their first ever goal.
 
Drainy said:
Did Vivell work for City?

How about the doctor who joined?

Also what is wrong with bringing in staff who the decision makers have worked with and trust?
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(Hsshhh … The people suffering from Post Moyesian Stress Disorder are just starting to recover from their retenhagmatisation symptoms.)
 
Grande said:
(Hsshhh … The people suffering from Post Moyesian Stress Disorder are just starting to recover from their retenhagmatisation symptoms.)
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That's s fair concern where bringing someone who isn't qualified just improve your own power base.

A coach or manager's analysis should be moderated by independent review by professional scouts and senior leadership.

An executive is expected to have a more long term perspective and will hopefully be accountable if their people fail.
 
Drainy said:
That's s fair concern where bringing someone who isn't qualified just improve your own power base.

A coach or manager's analysis should be moderated by independent review by professional scouts and senior leadership.

An executive is expected to have a more long term perspective and will hopefully be accountable if their people fail.
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This is a rational view, however the trouble for traumatized people is rather the irrational beliefs that affect them regardless.
 
Drainy said:
Did Vivell work for City?

How about the doctor who joined?

Also what is wrong with bringing in staff who the decision makers have worked with and trust?
Click to expand...

The problem I can see is that we are signing up individuals for positions they have never done or be successful in, just because person above who also never had success in position he operates in is friend of. So, for some reason, and it could be history of our decline, I find that as a problem. And let me remind you that our rich daddy told us we will hire best in class.

At the moment we have previous COO of City and CFOO assigned as CEO of our club to learn the trade.
Also, we have former coach and Academy director at City, and DoF at Southampton (hardly success story) as our DoF to learn.
Also, we have Vivell (at least not from City) in position of Head of Recruitment, also never in that position before as scout or technical director have different responsibilities.
And now we have new Academy director who have been in that position before just for few months, and before that had different position in City.
Also, we already sacked the only man who was signed for position he had experience and success in.

So, I am not saying they will all fail in their new positions, but chances that all of them will get it right are pretty weak.
 
Torpey has actually worked his way upwards in his career thus far and has gone from working with Liverpool's youth to City's before his work was recognised by Brentford who gave him a prominent role as their director of football overseeing the youth teams. Brentford are very thorough with their appointments, so that bodes well for Torpey who it seems has worked hard to climb up the ladder in football as far as working on the structural side of a football club.

The only person on the football side at United who hasn't really had to work himself from the bottom up is Wilcox. Wilcox was given a role at City by his mate Brian Marwood who knew Wilcox from their playing days. So Wilcox went from working with Radio Lancashire and straight into a youth coaching role at City and was later promoted into a academy director role. And now at United he's found himself in a position of authority due to his link with Omar Berrarda.

I'm actually hopeful as far as Stephen Torpey is concerned because he's someone that has done the hard yards and has worked his way up the ladder in football and has got prominent roles at youth level on merit.
 
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