Former Stoke City assistant set to land key job at Championship rivals
Dean Holden is set to return from Turkey to take up a new role
Dean Holden is expected to be added to the coaching staff at Hull City.
The former Stoke City assistant manager has been lined up to join the backroom team under new boss Sergej Jakirovic. He has been working in Turkey, where Jakirovic was also based in the second half of last season, having previously been number two to Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.
Holden is leaving his position at Adana Demirspor having reportedly been offered the chance to take over as manager there following their relegation in the spring. HullLive claims he turned that down with a desire to move back to England.
Jakirovic has replaced Ruben Selles at Hull, whose Championship survival battle went down to the last day of last season. Selles has since been appointed at Sheffield United, who lost in the play-off final.
Hull players reported back for testing on Thursday and will begin pre-season proper on Monday, with the league season getting under way on August 9. Stoke will host Hull at the bet365 Stadium on November 29 and head to the MKM Stadium for a re-match on January 1.
Holden had been a defender with clubs including Oldham Athletic before taking up coaching. He was assistant to Lee Johnson at Bristol City before a spell there as manager in his own right and then joining Michael O’Neill at Clayton Wood in April 2021. He left when O’Neill was replaced by Alex Neil in August 2022, having served briefly as caretaker. He went on to manage Charlton Athletic before linking up with Gerrard.
He will join up with Marko Salatović, Marin Ivančić, Andjelo Roguljic, goalkeeping coach Erbil Bozkurt and Andy Dawson at Hull.
Stoke City Manager Mark Robins says it didn’t take long for his mindset to switch from a close-season break to getting back to work with the Potters in pre-season.
The 55-year-old arrived in the cut and thrust of last term’s Championship and took charge of a match, on average, every five days following his New Year’s Day appointment.
A full pre-season presents an opportunity for the City Manager and his coaching staff to work on the training ground from the campaign’s outset, a chance Robins is relishing at Clayton Wood.
“It’s good to be back, you start getting itchy feet after being away for a couple of weeks,” Robins said.
“You never switch off completely, but I’ve had some good family time as well, which has been nice because we don’t get that very often.
“After a few weeks, though, you’re raring to go and get back in.
“Now it’s time to crack on because we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
He added: “The fresh start in pre-season is always good because that’s where you get your work done.
“Clearly we didn’t have that last season with arriving on New Year’s Day.
“There’s work going on to get the right players in and we will strengthen in the coming weeks.
“That’s important so we can ensure they’re settled in the surroundings, but it’s a family club, with a really good feel around the place and we’ve certainly got the infrastructure to be able to support that process and get them settled really quickly.”
The first player through the door in ST4 was Wales international winger Sorba Thomas, who penned a three-year deal days before he produced a Player of the Match performance for his country against Belgium.
Robins believes the 26-year-old, who has 36 goal contributions to his name in 112 Championship starts, arrives at the bet365 Stadium with a hunger to achieve more in his blossoming career.
“We’ve managed to bring in Sorba Thomas really early, which I’m delighted with,” City’s boss continued.
“He’s been a target for the Club for some while, even before I came in, so it’s a great bit of business for us and I’m looking forward to working with him.
“James Rowberry [Assistant Manager] has worked with him before with Wales and I’ve seen a lot of him for both Boreham Wood and Huddersfield Town.
“He’s young, still hungry and wants to improve all the time.
“He crosses the ball brilliantly, his set play delivery is outstanding and he’s got a really high work ethic.”
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