Backroom staff member leaves Sheffield Wednesday for Championship club
Sheffield Wednesday’s backroom staff is a little lighter in number.
A member of Henrik Pedersen’s backroom team at Sheffield Wednesday has moved on to an opportunity in the Championship after over two years in his Hillsborough role.
Having left his role as head of academy coaching at Accrington Stanley, Ben King joined as a set piece analyst during Danny Röhl’s time as Owls boss and worked closely alongside set piece coach Andy Parslow, who too has moved on and has since joined up with Polish side KKS Lech Poznań, where he works as a first team coach. King has joined Bristol City’s new coaching set-up as an outright set piece coach.
Wednesday welcomed former Rotherham United manager Matt Hamshaw on as a coach in the last weeks, with one of his focuses being set plays. With progress limited last year in the wake of the departure of some important playing personnel last summer, the Owls have performed reasonably well in the early season set play table so far - though more is being demanded of them by Pedersen.
Robins head coach Michael Skubala told the Bristol City media team: “We are really pleased to welcome Ben to the team. We know his expertise can help us at both ends of the pitch and we are looking forward to working together and improving even further on our already strong set pieces. Ben will continue to work closely with Pat Mountain and Luke Morgan who have been instrumental in our success so far in that area.”
King said: “I am really pleased to be here and am looking forward to working with this talented group of players and staff. The Championship is extremely competitive and we are all looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Speaking to The Star last month, Pedersen maintained that the club are looking to improve their set play output with Hamshaw taking on the bulk of responsibility. Wednesday have advertised for a new analyst in the last weeks, though it remains to be seen whether a new hire would come in as a direct replacement for King.
“Matt is working really, really well with them and there starts to be a new ownership for this, for the consistency to work with this in daily routines,” Owls boss Henrik Pedersen told The Star. “To go on to put more appreciation in this and see this as a very, very important part of to be a top team in the League One. Because we have to be better here.
“We have to be top here. And that's why we invest a lot of time in this. And why he also is here. There's many other reasons. He works really, really well with the players. I can feel there's a good atmosphere around it now and I'm sure we will progress.”