Coventry City are delighted to announce Dean Austin as the Club’s new Head of Recruitment.
Dean joins the Sky Blues with immediate effect.
The 52-year-old brings a vast range of experience from 35 years in football to his new role at the Sky Blues, where he will spearhead City’s transfer activities, with past roles in the playing, coaching, analysis and administration areas of the game.
After initially playing for St Albans City, Austin began his professional career at Southend United in 1990 with back-to-back promotions, making a move to Premier League Tottenham Hotspur in 1992, where he would go on to play 154 times in all competitions.
In 1998 he was signed by Crystal Palace and he would make 142 appearances for the Selhurst Park side, scoring 6 goals, before finishing his playing career at Woking in 2002/03.
Dean would then make a move into coaching and the administrative side of the game, where he has had a wide range of roles. He started in the Watford academy before becoming Director of Football and then Manager at Farnborough Town in 2004/05.
In 2005, Austin returned to Southend as Head of Recruitment and Coach and they would achieve two promotions from League Two to the Championship while he was at Roots Hall. In 2008, he would move to Watford as assistant manager to Brendan Rodgers and would also move to Reading alongside the Northern Irishman.
In 2010, Austin moved to Crystal Palace as first-team coach and Under 21 manager, followed by roles at Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City as a scout and then Notts County as Assistant Manager.
In 2015, Dean re-joined Watford and was part of the coaching team as the Hornets were promoted to the Premier League. He joined Northampton Town in 2017 as assistant coach and would take charge as Manager in April 2018, a post he would leave in September that year.
In September 2019 he made a return to Vicarage Road as an assistant to new manager Quique Sánchez Flores, leaving when the Watford boss was dismissed in December of that same year.
In July 2021 Dean became Director of Football at his hometown side of St Albans City, where he began his footballing journey, and it’s from there that he joins the Sky Blues from.
Austin holds a UEFA Pro Licence and LMA Diploma in Sports Management, and is also undertaking the FA Technical Director Level 5 award, as well as working with many famed managers during his career.
Manager Mark Robins said:
“We are delighted to welcome Dean to Coventry City.
“Dean brings a wealth of experience across football to the Club in what will be an important role for us both in the short-term, looking to the January transfer window, and longer-term as we look to continue the development of our Football Club and team, as we have done over the last few years.
“The recruitment of players and having the right processes in place to do so is very important, and we look forward to working closely with Dean in this area.”