Former Celtic centre-back and title-winner Steven Pressley has landed a new role in football with Championship club Brentford.
The Bees have taken the experienced coach on in a role title “head of individual development”. This comes after a prolonged spell out of coaching after being dismissed by Carlisle United back in November 2019.
Pressley has since been undertaking plenty of punditry work, mainly for the BBC. But he joins Brentford just days before their Championship play-off semi-final against Bournemouth. Therefore, it could be the case that within weeks Pressley will have joined an English Premier League club.
Brentford boss Frank has been discussing the capture of Pressley, and on the club’s official website, he said the following:
“I am looking forward to getting Steven in and working with him. He is a very experienced coach who thinks not only as a Head Coach but also in terms of the development of the team and of the players.
“He has experience of developing players over many years and his results are very impressive. We are looking forward to working with him and lifting the individual development of our players to another level, we want to be up there with the very best.”
Steven Pressley to work with Ivan Toney at Brentford
So it sounds as though big Elvis has bagged himself a role working with the first-team at the London club. This looks like a fine role for him considering the downhill trajectory his managerial career has gone in.
Now he finds himself working with former Celtic target Ivan Toney and co. It’s certainly an exciting job that could open up plenty of doors for him should Brentford get promoted next season.
MORE CELTIC STORIES
It’s fair to say that, despite his experience, Pressley’s managerial career has never quite kicked on. He impressed when dealing with the administration situation with Coventry, but after he was eventually sacked there in 2015, he hasn’t been given a pick-me-up.
Poor spells with Fleetwood Town, Cypriot side Pafos, and then Carlisle United would soon follow. It’s not too much of a surprise that his latest gig isn’t in the dugout.
Even so, hopefully Pressley can make an impression with Brentford and start enjoying his work in football again. He’s certainly had plenty of bad luck as a manager, and it would be nice to see that change.
Pressley spent 18 months at Celtic between 2007 and 2008, securing two Scottish Premier League titles and a Scottish Cup.