Brighton & Hove Albion have added former Wycombe Wanderers and Southampton right-back Jason McCarthy to their under-21s coaching staff.
McCarthy has hung up his boots to join the support team of head coach Shannon Ruth, plugging a gap created by Gary Dicker’s departure in November.
Dicker, a midfielder with Brighton in the Championship and League One from 2009 to 2013, left after three years in the academy to become head coach at United States club Crown Legacy, the reserve team of MLS side Charlotte FC.
Dicker is a good example of the way Brighton often operate: promoting from within or bringing past players and members of staff back into the fold when making junior coaching appointments.
Inigo Calderon — who took over as manager of League One side Bristol Rovers at Christmas — was a right-back for Brighton in the Championship and League One from 2010 to 2016 before returning as under-18s coach in June 2023.
Andrew Crofts, a former team-mate of Calderon and Dicker, has been first-team assistant head coach since September 2022. The ex-Wales international had two spells in Brighton’s midfield in League One and the Championship between 2009 and 2016 before coming back in 2019, initially as under-23s player-coach. McCarthy will also work with Mikey Harris, who is part of Ruth’s under-21s coaching setup and worked in the academy from 2017 to 2019. Harris returned in March 2023 after two years at Southampton. A variety of roles during his second stint at the club included interim head coach of the women’s team for six months last year.
Jason McCarthy celebrates scoring for Wycombe Wanderers in April 2021 (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
McCarthy has landed his first role in coaching, having ended his playing career with Wycombe at Christmas at the age of 29, after a detailed selection process. So why did he stand out?
Head coach Fabian Hurzeler was involved in the final round of interviews, with the initial shortlist for the vacancy also including former Brighton midfielder Steve Sidwell, who made Premier League appearances for five clubs.
McCarthy laid the groundwork for a move into coaching during the closing stages of a playing career that also included spells with Millwall, Barnsley and Walsall.
He gained the UEFA B coaching license (one level below the A license) in February 2024. He studied psychology, emotional intelligence and leadership on a 16-month postgraduate course at Portsmouth University, which ended in November. McCarthy has also just completed a five-month course at the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Business School on data analytics in football and sport.
McCarthy had four spells in total at Wycombe, first arriving at the League One club on loan from his home city team Southampton in 2015. He was voted player of the year by supporters in his first full season as a professional, returning on a permanent deal in 2018 before moving to Millwall in the Championship.
A second loan move back to Wycombe in January 2020 was followed by another permanent deal that summer. He made his 300th career appearance in November, featuring 219 times overall for Wycombe. Limited playing opportunities since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, due to a series of injuries, were the signal for McCarthy’s transition into coaching.
“The club is in amazing hands and it’s a really exciting time, but for me it’s time to step away and watch on as a fan.”
Jason McCarthy speaks from the heart in his final interview as a Chairboy. pic.twitter.com/BZFWJkPseH
— Wycombe Wanderers (@wwfcofficial) December 17, 2024
McCarthy became a practising Christian during a low point in his life while at Barnsley in the Championship in 2017. He wrote about finding his faith in The Bridge magazine for All Saints’ Church in Marlow in 2019.
“Within two weeks into my time at Barnsley, my grandad and suddenly my uncle had passed away and my life had been threatened at knifepoint,” he wrote. “I’d lost my place in the team, it felt like I had nothing and all hope was lost. Someone with me at Barnsley who was also out of the team (George Moncur) was handling everything so well. He shared with me his faith and how God has a plan for all of us. He seemed so peaceful and I envied it.”
The under-21s at Brighton can be a stepping stone to opportunities for both players and coaches. Currently, injured utility player Adam Hinshelwood has progressed through the ranks to be a first-team squad regular since the early part of the 2023-24 season.
Simon Rusk has gone on to be assistant manager at Scottish Premiership side Dundee, boss of England under-19s, a set-piece specialist coach at Nottingham Forest and head coach of Southampton’s under-21s since last summer, having left Brighton as under-21s head coach four years ago to take charge at then-National League side Stockport County.
Brighton’s academy manager Ian Buckman said of McCarthy: “After a thorough process, we’re delighted to welcome Jason to the club. He is a great fit for the profile of coach we wanted to appoint and is an exciting addition to the staff.
“He has a huge amount of recent experience in the professional game as a player and a big desire to make the step into coaching. We believe that he can be a really positive influence on the under-21s and look forward to the future with him.”
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
