Simon Ireland Joins as First-Team Coach

Simon Ireland has joined Argyle as our new first-team coach.

Ireland joins Head Coach Ian Foster's backroom staff and becomes the second addition to Foster's coaching team following goalkeeping coach Darryl Flahavan joining the club in January. 

Ireland, 52, has most recently been set-piece coach at Sky Bet Championship rivals Huddersfield Town, and prior to that has worked at Brighton and Hove Albion, Nottingham Forest, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday.

At Brighton, Ireland was Under-21 Manager; at Forest, he worked as part of Aitor Karanka's staff as first-team coach and at QPR he was Head of Coaching and Coach Education. Ireland held a similar first-team coach role at Wednesday under Darren Moore.

Originally hailing from Barnstaple, Ireland will now link up with Foster's coaching staff immediately, initially until the end of the season.

Upon the announcement, Director of Football Neil Dewsnip commented: "We are delighted that Simon has agreed to join Argyle as first-team coach, initially until the end of the season.

"Although this appointment has taken time, we have always been adamant that we would wait for the right person, who could make a genuine difference, and in Simon we believe we have found that.

"Simon joining will allow me to revert to my normal role in the Directors' Box. We are at a crucial period of the season and this addition will strengthen our aim of securing safety in the Sky Bet Championship this season.

"I would like to welcome Simon to the club and wish him every success in his role."