Watford set to hire Cardiff City coach Dean Whitehead

Watford could be looking like a very different team in the 2023-24 season, with Joao Pedro’s upcoming departure to Brighton perhaps not the only change that will be made both on and off the pitch.

A new head coach has arrived in the form of Valerien Ismael to replace Chris Wilder, and he has several big decisions to make in terms of both the players at his disposal and matters off the pitch as well.

And according to Sunday Mirror Sports Editor Darren Witcoop, there is set to be an incoming at the Hornets in the near future – but it’s not on the playing squad side of things.

Instead, there will be an addition to the coaching staff as Watford are set to raid their divisional rivals Cardiff City for their first-team coach Dean Whitehead.

Who is Dean Whitehead?

Whitehead was a steady midfielder throughout his playing career, starting off at Oxford United before moving to Sunderland in 2004.

He played plenty of Premier League and Championship football for the Black Cats before signing for Stoke five years later in 2009, where he spent another four years in the top flight of English football.

Whitehead also played for Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town, finishing his career with the Terriers and retiring in 2018 before moving onto the club’s coaching staff and managing their under-17’s.

In his post-playing career, Whitehead has been a first-team coach at Shrewsbury Town, Port Vale and also Turkish giants Besiktas, where he moved last summer to join forces with none other than Ismael.

Having left Besiktas in October though following Ismael’s sacking, Whitehead linked up with his former Huddersfield team-mate Mark Hudson at Cardiff City as their first-team coach, where he remained under Sabri Lamouchi until the end of the season after Hudson was sacked in January.

Will Dean Whitehead be a good appointment at Watford?

Whilst Ismael will ultimately be the man who is judged on the results that happen at Vicarage Road and elsewhere, it’s important that he has a coaching staff around him that will help.

And with Whitehead being by his side for a part of his time in Turkey with Besiktas, he should be a good right-hand man for his time in Hertfordshire.

Another one of Ismael’s men in the form of Adam Murray will unlikely be heading to Watford as he’s the manager of National League side AFC Fylde now, but Whitehead coming in will at least mean there’s one familiar face for the Frenchman to turn to.