Chelsea appoint long-serving PFA official Jim Hicks as head of coach development… as the Blues continue to shake-up their back-room team

Chelsea have made another appointment to their backroom team by hiring Jim Hicks from the PFA as the club’s head of coaching development.

Mail Sport revealed last month that Hicks had resigned from the PFA and it is understood the 63-year-old will join Chelsea next month.

Hicks has been sought out for a new role at Chelsea, where he will work with coaches from under-15s to under-21s in the Men’s Academy and across all age groups in the Women’s set-up.

The former Fulham centre-back, who also played for Exeter and Oxford before turning to coaching and community work, is highly respected across the sport after spending 18 years as head of coaching at the PFA.

Hicks’ move to Chelsea will allow him to return to club football after spending 15 years at Millwall. In south London, Hicks combined community work with managing Millwall Lionesses, whom she led to a remarkable Women’s Premier League and FA Cup double in 1997.

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Hicks’ appointment follows the revelation earlier this week that Chelsea had hired Brighton’s head of recruitment, Sam Jewell, to a new role in charge of their operations and partnerships with multiple clubs.

Chelsea paid £65 million for a near 100 per cent stake in French club Strasbourg last year and is looking to invest in other clubs in Portugal, Belgium and South America.

Brighton have placed Jewell on gardening leave after just 16 months as head of recruitment, a role he gained after his predecessor Paul Winstanley also left the club for Chelsea.

Jewell, son of former Bradford and Wigan manager Paul, will become the 11th member of Brighton staff to leave for Cheslea in the last two years following Winstanley, manager Graham Potter, coaches Billy Reid, Bruno Saltor, Bjorn Hamberg, Ben Roberts and Kyle Macaulay and the players Robert Sánchez, Marc Cucurella and Moisés Caicedo.

In addition to Jewell, Chelsea also recently recruited Josh Marsh from Swansea as the club’s new loan manager.

Chelsea’s new owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, have made big changes to the club’s staff over the past two years and continue to expand their soccer staff.

Despite a mixed record in the transfer market, Cheslea continues to back the judgment of his co-sporting directors, Winstanley and Paul Stewart, in making key signings.

Chelsea declined to comment.