Who are the men behind the scenes who
assist Town boss Roy Keane throughout the season?
Below we detail brief background information on each
member of Town's backroom staff.
Tony Loughlan - First Team Coach
Former Lincoln City, Nottingham Forest, Kettering Town
and Dundalk
midfielder who was plauged with injury problems
throughout his career before finally retiring from the
game at the age of just 27.
Started his coaching
career at Leciester City as a part time academy coach in
2001 before moving full time two years later. Loughlan
remained at the Walkers Stadium until 2006 when he
joined Sunderland to work under long time friend Roy
Keane as head coach.
Following the resignation of
Roy Keane at the Stadium of Light in December 2008,
Loughlan was placed on gardening leave before again
linking up with Roy Keane as First Team coach at Town on
23 April 2009 following Keane's appointment as manager.
Antonio Gomez - Fitness Coach
Spanish fitness coach who
spent two years working under Rafa Benitez at Liverpool
before linking up with Roy Keane at Sunderland in mid
2008,
Joined the club in June 2009 to work
alongside existing fitness coach Simon Thadani to
improve the condition of Town's squad.
Steve McCall - Chief Scout
Former Town player who represented the club over 300
times and was part of the 1980/81 UEFA Cup winning side
managed by legendary boss Sir Bobby Robson.
After
departing Town, McCall had spells at Sheffield
Wednesday, Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United before
returning to Plymouth once more for a second spell at
the club.
Rejoined Town in 2001 under George
Burley to become Town's European scout, with spells as
reserve team boss and First Team coach under Joe Royle.
Following the appointment of Roy Keane as manager McCall
reverted to scouting duties once more.
Jim Hollman - Goalkeeping Coach
Goalkeeper who began his
career at Town as a reserves regular and was named on
the bench of several first team squads before dropping
down to non-league levels where he represented
Chelmsford City, Diss Town and Ipswich Wanderers amongst
others.
Hollman eventually turned to coaching and
spent some time coaching goalkeepers at Town in 2001
before joining arch rivals Norwich City later in the
year as full time goalkeeping coach, a position which he
held until late 2007.
Following the departure of
then Town goalkeeping coach Andy Rhodes in the summer of
2008, Hollman returned to Portman Road once more.
Simon Thadani - Fitness Coach
Fitness coach who has an excellent command of the
Spanish language which helped Pablo Counago settle into
the club following his arrival in 2001.
Matt Byard - Physio
Head
Physio who served as understudy for several years to
Dave Williams before taking over the top job himself
following Williams departure.
