Birmingham City academy receives further unwanted developments | OneFootball

Birmingham City’s academy director Paul Williams has offered the club his resignation, according to Football Insider.

The 51-year old has decided he wants to leave the Blues amid a takeover bid from Laurence Bassini, in a deal worth up to £38 million, with his resignation reportedly coming last week.

The former Nottingham Forest coach had only been in the post since August 2021.

It has been a difficult period surrounding the club, with uncertainty clouding Lee Bowyer’s reign as manager of the team at present.

Williams previously played senior level football for 16 years, having broken through at Derby County.

Following the conclusion of his career, the former defender moved into a backroom role as a coach.

He is particularly experienced working with underage groups, which led to him taking over the role in Birmingham’s academy, replacing Mike Dodds last year.

Williams has managed Forest, as well as having taken charge of England underage sides, including the U18s and U20s.

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He has also been assistant coach at the likes of Brentford, Swansea City and Sheffield Wednesday.

Birmingham’s academy was downgraded to a Category Two status during his time at the club.

The academy has also produced plenty of senior players for the Birmingham side in recent years, including Jordan Jones, Connal Trueman, Odin Bailey and Nico Gordon.

Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham also came through the club’s academy.

Despite that, their Category One status was removed in May.

The Verdict

This is another development for the Birmingham academy that comes as unwanted news.

The downgrade in status the club received earlier in the year was a big blow, but now losing such a highly touted director in Williams only adds to the uncertainty surrounding the club.

This will now have to be one of the first orders of business that the new owners must look to resolve, with the academy having acted as a big piece of pride for the club in recent years.

However, this should have no consequences on the future of Bowyer whose future is still up in the air as pre-season gets underway this week.