Colin Omogbehin named as assistant head coach at Fulham following Scott Parker's departure

ENGLISH Championship side Fulham has promoted Nigerian Colin Omogbehin to the position of assistant coach from being in charge of the U23 side making him the number two man to head coach Stuart Gray.

In charge of the Fulham U18 team until 2019 when he was moved up to the U23s, Mr Omogbehin is a coach who is highly passionate about bringing the youth through the ranks. A former player himself whose career was cut short by a persistent knee injury that ended his playing days at the age of just 23, he spells at Millwall, Fulham and Luton.

He started his full time coaching career at Palace in 2003 and helped to develop young talent including Victor Moses, Nathaniel Clyne and Wilfried Zaha. Like Zaha, Omogbehin was raised in Thornton Heath, a couple of miles directly north of Croydon town centre but living so close to Selhurst Park did not guarantee him an easy career.

Mr Omogbehin said: "When I retired I wrote to several clubs to offer my services as a coach but none of them got back to me, so I decided to set up my own grassroots team with a vision in mind to develop young players that could hopefully have careers in the game and also make them become good young men that society can be proud of. After a while clubs wanted my players but they didn’t want to give me an opportunity, it just was not happening despite me getting qualified and working hard.

“I love developing young players and my buzz comes when I’m asked to talk about my boys. When I see them making their debuts and becoming first-team regulars, it’s the best feeling ever, I cannot describe how proud I feel.”

At the end of last season, Fulham got relegated from the Premier League, which has prompted manager Scott Parker to announce that he is leaving the club. As a result, Fulham have put Stuart Gray in temporary charge of Fulham until a new manager is appointed, with Mark Pembridge and Mr Omogbehin named as his assistants.