Watling may be young but has extensive coaching CV

AT 35, you’d be forgiven for thinking Middlesbrough's new coach Harry Watling is inexperienced.

- By CRAIG JOHNS

On the contrary, Rob Edwards’ new coach may be young, but he already has an extensive coaching CV.

It includes managing once in the USA and once in the National League, as well as twice coaching in senior set ups at QPR and Rangers.

He's coached in numerous top youth academies too, including Chelsea, where he first met fellow assistant coach Adi Viveash.

Watling describes himself as ‘passionate about developing talent and delivering high-performance results at elite levels} on his LinkedIn page.

At 33, he was one of the youngest coaches to gain his UEFA pro license and he has been praised for embracing innovative and unique training methods - many of which he posts with detailed explanations on his Instagram page.

Edwards described him as a “genius” on the training pitch, and a quick flick through his social media page very much gives that impression.

As far as his role at Boro is concerned alongside the vastly more experienced Viveash, Boro head coach Edwards has explained that neither will specialise in anything in particular. Instead, Edwards plans to be heavily involved himself and says they'll all work together to plan all sessions moving forward. They'll all be equally hands-on, it would seem.

In terms of individual strengths and using them to help get those extra percentage points out of games, however, Watling might have already shown one area in which he can help vastly improve Boro - scoring from set-pieces. It’s been a weakness of Boro’s that was bemoaned by both Neil Warnock and Chris Wilder, and didn’t show any signs of improvement under Carrick.