Burnley appoint experienced Shrewsbury Town coach as new academy chief

The 49-year-old makes the move to Turf Moor from Shrewsbury Town, where he held the role of first-team coach.

Longwell previously worked north of the border with St Mirren as both academy manager and assistant manager of the first-team.

After 10 years, the Scot then moved to the US to become academy manager of Orlando City and then New York Red Bulls, before moving back to the UK to join Shrewsbury in 2019.

Longwell spent 18 months as the club’s academy boss before again moving into a first-team coaching role in 2020.

Following on from his appointment, Longwell told the club’s official website: “I look forward to building on the club's rich tradition of developing young talents and contributing to its future success.

“Together with the dedicated academy staff, we will grow and nurture the next generation of football stars at Burnley.”

Longwell’s arrival sees former academy director Paul Jenkins move into a new role, titled director of football development.

Jenkins joined Burnley in 2020 and has spent the last three years working within the club’s academy setup.

With Longwell’s arrival, former Academy Director Paul Jenkins now changes his role at the Club to Director of Football Development.

“I’m pleased to have secured the services of David as our new academy manager,” the former Middlesbrough coach said.

“He has a wealth of experience in working in the academy system both here in the UK, at St Mirren and Shrewsbury, and internationally – with both Orlando City and the Red Bull group.

“He will have every support from ourselves to help him guide the academy into the future in developing both players and staff.”

In a statement, Shrewsbury’s director of football Micky Moore paid tribute to Longwell’s work while with the club.

“David has done a fantastic job building our academy over the past four years,” he said.

"He has an incredible work ethic and I would like to personally thank him for all the help he has given me since I came to the club.

"I just want to wish him all the very best for the future."