Who is Chris Powell? – Tottenham’s new assistant head coach

In Tottenham’s statement confirming the appointment of Ryan Mason as Interim Head Coach last week, the club also confirmed the appointments of Chris Powell as assistant head coach.

But who exactly is Chris Powell?

Chris Powell began his footballing career with Crystal Palace but failed to cement himself into the team. He then moved on to Southend United where he enjoyed a very successful six-year spell.

Powell won promotion to the Championship, supporters’ player of the year, and was voted an “All-Time Cult Hero” during his time at the club.

After that, Powell moved to Derby County where he played for two seasons. While at the club, Powell finished second in the First Division (the equivalent of the Championship).

Powell then went on to Charlton Athletic, a side he spent three separate stints at. In his first, a six-year run, Powell and Charlton won the First Division and he earned a place in the Division One Team of the Year.

Powell then made a questionable career decision when he signed for West Ham. Fortunately, he only spent one season there. Unfortunately, they won the Football Championship Playoffs, securing promotion to the Premier League.

Powell then spent an unremarkable year with Watford making only 15 appearances. Powell moved to Leicester, after another year with Charlton, and spent two years with the Foxes, winning the Football League during his time there.

Powell then decided to retire from his long career. Spanning 24 years Powell made 672 appearances including five international caps for England. Powell also won five major honours during this time.

After retiring, Powell earned his coaching badges so he could enter the field of management. After retiring in 2010, Powell started his managerial career in 2011.

He started his managerial career with League One side Charlton Athletic in 2011. In his second season in charge, Powell managed to get Charlton promoted to the Championship.

In 2014, Powell was sacked as Charlton lingered at the bottom of the Championship. However, to be fair, he was not backed in the transfer window the summer before his sacking.

It was also speculated that the sacking had more to do with Powell not giving minutes to the players the owner of Charlton wanted him to be playing.

After his stint with Charlton, Powell spent just over a year with Huddersfield Town in the Championship. Powell was signed after the Terrier’s former boss, Mark Robins, resigned after the first match of the season.

Huddersfield finished 16th in Powell’s one season at the club, showing a little improvement from the previous campaign in which they finished 17th.  The season Powell was sacked, the club finished 19th.

Powell spent just over a month as caretaker manager of Derby. During this time the club, were unbeaten. Powell was Assistant Manager for the club prior to Nigel Pearson’s sacking and reverted back to the role after the appointment of Steve McClaren.

Powell’s last head coach job came with Southend United. Despite a fantastic start to life at the club, becoming the first manager to win his first three games, Powell lasted just over two months.

After that, Powell, a boyhood Spurs fan, was appointed as head of Coaching U17-U23 with Tottenham in 2020.

So far, Powell has done an excellent job. Spurs are, at the time of writing, second in Premier League 2 having just beaten Liverpool’s squad 4-1. Spurs U18’s, at the time of writing, have a game in hand on fourth, three games in hand on third and are only eight points off third place at the moment.

Powell is also a member of the England Senior National team coaching staff, working alongside Gareth Southgate and Steve Holland since 2019.

More recently, Chris Powell found himself named as the Assistant Senior Interim Manager of Tottenham Hotspur.

Powell’s long career both as a player and manager nicely balances out Ryan Mason’s little experience.

His expansive knowledge of the sport combined with Ryan Mason’s tight connection with the current players and Spurs fans spell good things for the remainder of the Lilywhite’s season.

With their combined enthusiasm for Spurs, and a bit of luck, Tottenham could find themselves going back into Europe’s greatest football competition next season, the Champion’s League… we hope.

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