Aston Villa coach to take up position elsewhere – Sky Sports
Unai Emery is about to see one of his Aston Villa coaching staff members take up a job elsewhere.
The Villans are continuing to fight on multiple fronts heading into the final few months of the campaign, battling as they are in the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
Emery will therefore want all hands to the deck, but he may well have been dealt a blow of sorts if an update shared on Sky Sports News [12 February, 11:18am] is anything to go by.
Aston Villa coach to take up Portugal role
The Villa figure in question is set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, who looks set to take on a new job with Portugal.
However, he will balance that new position with the one he currently holds as part of Emery’s staff at Villa Park.
Sky Sports presenter Rob Wootton said: “Austin MacPhee, we are hearing, will be the news assistant manager of Portugal.
“Roberto Martinez will be his boss there. He will continue in his role at Aston Villa with Unai Emery, but will also be assistant at Portugal.”
Becoming assistant coach of a major national side can be considered a huge reward for MacPhee, who has played his part in Villa’s success in recent times.
Who is Aston Villa set-piece coach Austin MacPhee?
MacPhee previously worked in a similar position with Scotland, but he reduced his workload in that position for family reasons.
He is now ready to up his workload once again, however, and is set to replace Anthony Barry – now part of Tomas Tuchel’s England staff – as Portugal assistant.
While he is still not widely heralded away from Villa Park, MacPhee was previously hailed by Dan Bardell as an “absolutely brilliant” asset.
Having worked exclusively with Aston Villa for the past five months, the West Midlands outfit will now have to ‘share’ him – for want of a better word – with Portugal.
Villa supporters will no doubt wish him the very best in this dual-role, which hopefully will not have any sort of negative impact at Villa Park.