Reports over the last fortnight have led to Roberto Di Matteo being lined up as the replacement for Paul Ince as manager at Milton Keynes Dons. A small detail today has suggested that Eddie Newton, currently Chelsea’s Under 16 coach, will be Roby’s Assistant Manager should he be given the job on Friday as expected.


Eddie has been a youth coach at Chelsea for the last few years after retiring, working with some of the younger age groups until the last couple of seasons, when he has taken on more work with the Under 16s. When then Under 16 coach Paul Clement was promoted to Youth Team Manager to work with the Under 18s, Chelsea hired Dermott Drummy from Arsenal’s academy to lead the Under 16s. However, with the departure of Jose Mourinho and his staff from the club early in the season, and the resulting temporary restructuring of the management, Eddie was in sole charge of the Under 16s.

The team responded by playing some sensational football, and the development of a number of boys took on great progress, ultimately shown in that 6 of the 9 players in this year’s new intake worked with Eddie for most of last season. When the management was settled again, Eddie and Dermott worked in tandem with the Under 16s and oversaw an impressive end to the season.

If he does move on, he wouldn’t be the first Chelsea youth coach to go on to better things. Steve Clarke was Under 18 coach for a while, as was well respected Scottish manager Jim Duffy. And, of course, should Eddie be Roberto’s Assistant, MK Dons would have both of Chelsea’s goalscorers from the 1997 FA Cup win over Middlesbrough.