James Brayne was appointed Individual Development Coach in March 2024.

In the new role, Brayne will be focused on developing players on an individual basis, working with academy players to help prepare them for men’s first-team football and working with first-team players to help them strengthen key areas of their game.

Brayne joined the club from Birmingham City, where he spent more than a decade in the Blues’ academy across two spells, and previously worked within Manchester City’s academy for almost three years.

While in his most recent role as Head of Coaching and Player Development U15-U21, he led the academy coaching programme that saw Birmingham ranked number one in the EFL productivity rankings, based on a three-season assessment between 2018/19 and 2021/22. Jude Bellingham, now of Real Madrid and England, notably graduated through the Blues’ academy during this time.