Birmingham City have appointed Scott Sellars as their new under-21s coach, ending a lengthy search for a candidate to lead the club's youth development. Sellars, 60, brings extensive experience from Category One academies, including stints at Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Al Jazira in the United Arab Emirates.
Manchester City connection
Sellars joins a growing list of former Manchester City staff at Birmingham City, following CEO Garry Cook, head of infrastructure Nick Smith, and academy technical director Mike Rigg. Sellars previously served as youth team manager at City while Rigg was Director of Football. He even succeeded Rigg as sporting director at Al Jazira when Rigg moved to Blues two years ago.
During his tenure as City's under-18s coach, Sellars helped the team compete with the country's best academies, though they did not win the FA Youth Cup. In the six years after his departure, City reached five FA Youth Cup finals and won the trophy in 2020. Talents such as Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, and Jeremie Frimpong emerged around the time of his exit.
Wolves rise
Sellars is familiar with the West Midlands, having spent years at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He was appointed under-21s boss in 2014, promoted to academy manager in 2019, and later became technical director, a role he held until November 2022. During his time as academy manager, Wolves won Premier League 2 Division 2, with ex-Blues captain Dion Sanderson and Hull City's Ryan Giles in the squad.
Wolves' academy produced first-team regulars like Max Kilman and Morgan Gibbs-White, even as the club invested heavily in overseas players. Sellars completed a two-year Sports Directorship course at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2019, where he studied alongside former Blues defender Michael Johnson. Johnson said: "Scott was very clear in terms of how he saw things. He's very clear in his mindset and knows what he wants and how he wants to implement it."
What can Blues' youngsters expect?
Goalkeeper Jack Ruddy, who worked under Sellars at Wolves' U21s, described him as "one of the best coaches that I've had." Ruddy added: "He had really high standards. He was on your case quite a lot – sometimes you would want him to p*** off – but once you realised he was making you better you knew that he only wanted the best for you." Ruddy noted Sellars' sessions were "always really thought through" and that he prioritised winning at every age group.
Sellars will be assisted by Danny Barham, who led Blues' U21s for most of last season after Mark Kennedy's departure. Birmingham finished 27th of 29 teams in Premier League 2, losing 11 of 20 matches with the worst goal difference (-26) in the league. The challenge is compounded by the loss of star forward Aurelien Guernier, who left this week to sign professional terms with AC Milan.
Sellars is based at the Knighthead Performance Centre (formerly Wast Hills) and aims to improve the pathway for academy graduates to reach the first team. Blues have not had an academy graduate play league minutes in two years, and Sellars will be tasked with developing players who can progress to the Elite Performance and Innovation Centre in Henley-in-Arden.
