Former Sunderland and Leeds United midfielder backed to impress after surprise Newcastle United exit
A former Sunderland midfielder was named as a coach at National League club Gateshead on Tuesday.
Former Sunderland midfielder Liam Bridcutt has been tipped to make a big impact after landing a coaching role working under new Gateshead manager Carl Magnay.
The duo played alongside each other at Chelsea during the formative years of their playing careers and have now reunited at the National League club after he was named as successor to former Newcastle United goalkeeper Rob Elliot following his decision to join League One strugglers Crawley Town earlier this month. Bridcutt spent four years with Brighton after leaving Stamford Bridge and joined Sunderland for a fee believed to be between £3million and £4million in January 2014, making his debut just days later in a 3-0 win against Newcastle United.
However, the midfielder’s time with Sunderland came to an end when he joined Leeds United on a permanent deal during the summer of 2016 after spending time on loan at Elland Road. Bridcutt featured the likes of Nottingham Forest, Bolton Wanderers and Blackpool before announcing his retirement last year and has been working as a sessional coach at Newcastle in recent months. However, he will now form part of Magnay’s backroom staff as the new Gateshead manager prepares to kick off his reign with an away game at Altrincham on Saturday afternoon. Speaking at his unveiling on Tuesday, Magnay revealed why he was keen to work alongside his former Chelsea team-mate at the International Stadium.
He told The Echo: “Liam is local to the area, he has been since he signed for Sunderland and he’s been here for best part of a decade now. He’s settled his family so from that point of view he’s perfect. I’ve always had massive respect for Liam as a player when we played together at Chelsea and then he’s ha a fantastic career, he’s played at the top level, he’s been exposed to a lot of top managers and ways of playing. Towards the back end of his career, he was player-coach for three years, working very closely with players and management as he was coming to the end. I just like his aura, he’s very calm but he can be firm, he specialises in out of possession and defensive organisation, which is very important. Everyone wants to talk about being in possession, being nice on the eye and breaking teams down - but Liam is going to bring that steel and that tactical edge without the ball so he compliments what I want to input really well.”
Magnay also revealed he is hoping to add another coach to his backroom staff over the near future.