Ashton welcomes Holden into new role

He has thrown his support behind Holden, who makes the step up from his previous assistant head coach role.

Ashton says Holden was a stand-out candidate, as he offered an insight into the recruitment process. There was a high volume of applicants, with an eventual shortlist of ten soon whittled down to four. These were interviewed in detail before Holden stood out as the ideal candidate.

City Chief Executive Officer Ashton explained: “Anyone who knows Dean knows he’s his own man. One of the things that made him stand out during the interviews was that not only does he know the staff and players here, he knew and was very clear about the direction of travel he wants and what he believes needs to be done to make this team successful.

“Dean Holden is his own man and we believe he is ready for this job.”

Ashton continued: “We have run a thorough and rigorous process. We had wide-ranging candidates but again following a rigorous process we are convinced we have the right person for this football club, in Dean Holden.”

He added Holden has “outstanding coaching attributes” which will come to the fore alongside his new assistants Paul Simpson and Keith Downing, who bring a wealth of experience to the Robins.

The pair arrive from England’s youth setup, with Downing joining from the Football Association where he led England Under-19s to victory in the 2017 European Championship, while Simpson steered England to victory in the Under 20s World Cup the same year.

Ashton added: “Both bring wide-ranging and vast experience of the game. Both are winners at a national level and have been successful with England with different age groups…they bring different type of coaching skills and experience and knowledge of what it takes to the Premier League.”