Cassell staying with City

Youth supremo shuns offers

Last updated: 29th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Cassell staying with City

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Jim Cassell, the man behind Manchester City's highly-acclaimed youth set-up, has opted to stay with the club.

Cassell has been replaced as head of youth academy at Eastlands by Andy Welsh, which led to speculation that he would leave the club.

But Cassell, who has helped the likes of Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards achieve their first-team dreams, insists he has no issues with boss Mark Hughes or Welsh, and he will stay on.

Cassell, who is now in charge of setting up City's academies around the globe, admitted he turned down approaches from three other clubs.

"I don't have a any kind of problem with Mark Hughes, Andy Welsh - or anyone else at City," Cassell told the Sunday Mirror. "I'm not a friction kind of person.

"But because I have changed roles at the club some people have assumed all is not well.

"If I was unhappy I could have exploited it by taking a lucrative job with another club. I had three approaches asking me if I was interested in taking charge of their academies and I turned them all down.

"I came to City when we were about to be relegated to the Second Division. Now we are probably on the verge of the most exciting era in the club's history and I want to be part of the trip from bottom to top."