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The phrase “summer of change” has been used generously when discussing Liverpool in recent months.
It’s an apt description given the plethora of alterations made to Arne Slot’s playing squad and staff, in addition to the new-look women’s side formed by Gareth Taylor. But perhaps it’s most applicable to Liverpool’s youth set-up.
Last week, the club announced plans for a £20 million ($27M) upgrade to its academy infrastructure, while the coaching set-up has been transformed following the joint departures of Barry Lewtas and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson at the end of last season. Between them, the youth coaches spent 22 years at the Reds’ Kirkby Academy and for the last five the pair have run the Under-18s and Under-21s in tandem.
“It was a natural evolution,” said Academy Director Alex Inglethorpe. “I’m incredibly grateful to both Barry and Bridgy, who have both gone on to show how well-regarded they are by both immediately picking up roles elsewhere.”
While Lewtas chose to remain in youth coaching and has taken up a position with England’s underage unit, Bridge-Wilkinson’s next career move has seen him strike out in an entirely different direction.
After a decade working in youth soccer, the former Port Vale and Carlisle United midfielder joined Lee Grant’s intriguing project at Huddersfield Town.
“It felt really weird at first,” admitted Bridge-Wilkinson, speaking for the first time since departing Liverpool over the summer. “Ten years doing the same thing, going to the same place, is obviously a big change to what you're used to. So it's been a bit different but very exciting because I didn't know where I was going to go or what I was not going to do.”
The switch to Yorkshire has been a monumental change for Bridge-Wilkinson. While developing talent and nurturing young players is still a key principle of his role, at first-team level results are king. “You have to be a bit more pragmatic,” he admitted.
“But we as a coaching group believe that by improving players, that will increase performance levels and results will follow.”
That was very much the case at Liverpool, when Bridge-Wilkinson played a huge role in the progression of elite-level talents such as Conor Bradley, Jarell Qunsah, and Tyler Morton.
“I do look back on it with pride,” he reflected. “It wasn't just me of course, but just to be there and work with the players that we were fortunate to have… you look back and you think really fondly and that we were able to play a small part in the journeys of so many good players.”
Bridge-Wilkinson joined Liverpool as an Under-14s coach and moved up the age groups until settling at Under-18s. In addition to mentoring players who have gone on to play significant roles for Jurgen Klopp and Slot, the highlight of his half-decade working with the Under-18s was a run to the 2021 FA Youth Cup.
A recent study revealed that Liverpool was the club that afforded youth graduates the most minutes in the 2024/25 Premier League season, with the progression of underage players pushed at all levels in recent years.
“I think that having Jurgen as a first-team manager who believed in youth and was willing to play youngsters is the biggest element,” said Bridge-Wilkinson, who modestly brushes aside praise of his undeniable contribution to that statistic.
“I was very fortunate; I joined the academy and a lot of these processes and this work was already being done. I was only there for the 10 years, but even prior to that with Alex's guidance and the guidance from above; the club have tried to produce young players that were capable of playing Champions League football.”
So why was this summer the right moment to call time on his stint at Liverpool?
“Without saying that I got comfortable or anything, I think sometimes you just need a change. You need to do something that stimulates you a little bit. You don’t see many coaches doing more than five years at that level.
“Obviously, I loved my time at Liverpool, all the different guys that I worked with, and being around it and the culture that was created. But I did feel that I needed to make a change for myself. I wanted to be reinvigorated. I had an idea in mind about trying to get into first-team football, to have a go at being in that type of environment.
“It was sad to say goodbye to Liverpool, but it was exciting at the same time. I got this opportunity at Huddersfield, which came about a lot faster than I envisaged.
"It’s nice that people were recognizing me and my achievements and what I was doing. People were keen to bring me into different environments and that was quite nice after all these years that people still remember.”
For Bridge-Wilkinson, the origins of his move to Huddersfield can be traced back to his first steps in the world of soccer. The experienced youth coach first met Grant when he was a youngster at Derby County nearly 30 years ago. In choosing the Terriers, Bridge-Wilkinson also returned to the club that offered him his first opportunity in coaching, and which he left to join Liverpool in 2015.
After a conversation with Grant, the former goalkeeper who embarked on his first head coach role this summer after years working under Kieran McKenna at Ipswich Town, Bridge-Wilkinson was convinced this was the right move for him.
He was sold on Grant’s methods, tactics, and coaching philosophy, and joined as part of an intriguing coaching line-up that includes ex-Republic of Ireland international Paul McShane, Jonathan Robinson, who also worked at Liverpool and was Steven Gerrard’s assistant at Al-Ettifaq, and 33-year-old goalkeeping coach Chris Elliott.
In an innovative approach, all are assistant coaches, charged with looking after a distinct section of the team. Bridge-Wilkinson oversees the midfield unit in a system he admits is “a little bit different”.
“I can say that being in it now, it is really enjoyable,” he continued. “We all take different parts of the session, there's no sort of, I only coach this moment. I still coach the game, I still coach certain parts of sessions and different drills
“We all share that workload. It just means that the players have got somebody that they can go to and can really help them. We are really clear on who's with which coaches in terms of going through the clips, going through their development plan, helping them with certain moments in games where we can say actually this is something we can improve, this is what we can plan to work on in training.
“It's about making sure that we're liaising together to ensure that we're working between the units and that all of our work is aligned so that it fits into the team, the style, the philosophy and the way that we want to play.”
On Grant, Wilkson-Bridge added: “First and foremost, he is a fantastic human being and regardless of anything else, that's so important.
“I think he's a fantastic coach. Although the role is still new to him, it looks like he's been doing it for years. It's something that he's made for in the way that he handles himself, the way he communicates, the way that it gets across what he wants, how he wants things doing.”
Results on the pitch would underline that early optimism around the Accu Stadium. Five wins from seven in the league, one point off top spot, and a Carabao Cup tie against Manchester City in three weeks' time, offering rich reward for dumping out Leicester City and Sunderland in the previous rounds.
“We've had a good start,” said Bridge-Wilkinson. “But we know that we can still be better, which is the exciting part.
“We know that there are parts of the game that we can improve on, and while we're saying that, we're still picking up some really nice performances and results and we'll just keep driving it day in, day out to make sure we're in our best place for the next possible game.
"We're going to try and ride this wave for as long as we can, try and lift the club to the next level and then see where we are. We want to try and get promotion."
After years of decline in West Yorkshire, suddenly there’s a buzz around Huddersfield once again; a feeling that perhaps the club has assembled one of the brightest and most resourceful coaching groups in the country.
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