Arsenal set to replace Brady as head of youth academy with Dutch boss Jonker



Arsenal are set to appoint a Dutch football manager as head of their renowned youth academy to replace club legend Liam Brady, who steps down at the end of the season.

Hot favourite Andries Jonker, assistant manager at German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, has had spells in charge of three Dutch teams - Volendam, Maastricht and Willem II.

But he is best known for working with top manager Louis van Gaal, who took him to Bayern Munich, where Jonker was caretaker boss for five games at the end of the 2011 season after Van Gaal was sacked.

Experienced: Dutchman Andries Jonker is set to be appointed the new head of Arsenal's youth academy

Reputation: Chuba Akpom, on loan at Brentford, scoes during Arsenal's recent 6-1 drubbing of Peterborough

Jonker’s interest in academy football can be gauged from a controversial email he sent to the board of subsequent Champions League winners Bayern criticising their youth set-up for lacking a clear philosophy.

Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge responded by saying: ‘He should not have written this email, there are situations where you can have a bit of self-criticism. I think we can exclude that in this case.’

Arsenal, despite the impressive reputation of their academy, struggled to gain the top category one status under the Premier League’s elite player performance plan.

Interestingly, chief executive Ivan Gazidis, rather than manager Arsene Wenger, has led the search for Brady’s successor.

Legend: Jonker will replace Liam Brady (above) at the helm after Arsenal failed to gain category one status

Sir Alex Ferguson’s base for his Barbados holiday is the five-star boutique adults-only The House resort on Paynes Bay. But the location for the Ferguson party looks to be too close for comfort to the Sandy Lane Hotel, owned by John Magnier and JP McManus, Fergie’s arch foes from their nuclear fight over racehorse Rock Of Gibraltar’s breeding rights.



If Fergie chooses to take a stroll along the beach, he runs the risk of bumping into Magnier, who walks on the sands every day. Fergie should not expect a friendly greeting in that case.



All smiles: Sir Alex Ferguson, pictured with comedian Russ Abbott (left) is currently on holiday in Barbados

Tom Daley’s respected new diving coach, Jane Figueiredo, has moved to London from the US College circuit with the ambition of putting Daley on the podium at Rio 2016. Zimbabwe-born Figueiredo is known to speak her mind and, with Daley back on prime-time TV in ITV’s awful reality diving programme Splash!, Figueiredo will tell him if she thinks a celebrity lifestyle is affecting his diving.



Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson have an early opportunity to explain what went wrong on England’s horror tour of Australia when they co-present, along with Greg James, a one-off edition of BBC 5 Live’s Not Just Cricket on January 27.



Producers of the magazine-style show boast ‘no place is off limits and no subject matter not allowed’.



So Kevin Pietersen’s broken relationship with the team and coach Andy Flower should be explained.



Airtime: Graeme Swann (left) and Jimmy Anderson are set to co-present BBC 5 Live's 'Not Just Cricket'

Healey’s skiing slip



BT Sport rugby pundit Austin Healey has escaped censure from his TV employees after claiming an obscene, borderline homophobic tweet sent from his Twitter account during a skiing trip was nothing to do with him.

The former England scrum-half, who had a Twitter row with Wales fans over his RBS 6 Nations predictions in 2012, deleted the offending comment and tweeted: ‘Never leave your phone on the table whilst going for a wee.’

Rugby writer Mark Souster is leaving The Times to set up a sports headhunting operation for executive search firm Inzito. Souster, with his standing in the sports business and range of contacts, is likely to make an immediate impact in a sector that contains few sports experts.



It seemed risky for the Football Writers’ Association to honour Jose Mourinho with a gala tribute hours after Chelsea play Manchester United on Sunday. But a more mellow Mourinho has promised he will be at The Savoy - with his wife and children - win, lose or draw against United.



Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, chief executive Ron Gourlay and the mysterious Marina Granovskaia, owner Roman Abramovich’s closest adviser at the club, are all due to attend.

