Wanderers have added vastly experienced coach Rob Kelly to their first-team staff ahead of the new Championship season.
Kelly joins the Whites as assistant coach to join forces again with Wanderers’ boss Steven Schumacher after ending a spell as Reading’s assistant manager to move back to Lancashire for family reasons.
The 61-year-old spent six months at Reading, linking up again with manager Leam Richardson, and helped lead the Royals away from League One relegation danger to a mid-table finish last season.
Prior to that, Kelly’s CV boasts multiple appointments in senior coaching and management positions across the EFL, Premier League and in European football following a playing career as a midfielder with Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tranmere Rovers which was curtailed by injury.
Kelly worked closely with Schumacher in a successful spell at Bury which saw the Shakers win promotion from League Two in 2019, as well as at North-West clubs Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End, Fleetwood Town, Wigan Athletic (sharing a League One title success in 2022) and Barrow AFC, and also elsewhere in the top two divisions as assistant manager at West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday.
The Midlander had a spell as manager at Barrow, leading their great escape from relegation from the EFL in 2021, and was also in charge of Leicester City in the Championship from 2006-07, winning the division’s Manager of the Month award in March, 2026 as he guided the Foxes to Championship safety.
Kelly’s addition to Wanderers’ existing coaching staff will provide further support, know-how and valuable Championship experience to the first-team set-up and also add a useful extra link with the U21s’ under newly-appointed coach Julian Darby.
Kelly and Darby were previously colleagues on the first-team staff at both Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, with Kelly going on to work again with ex-Leeds boss Uwe Rosler as assistant manager at Fleetwood, Swedish club Malmö, Fortuna Düsseldorf in Germany and Danish outfit AGF Aarhus prior to his return to English football at Reading.
He has now been re-united with Schumacher following Wanderers’ promotion from League One and is part of the travelling party heading to Slovakia today for a week-long pre-season training camp.
Schumacher said: “Rob is somebody I’ve known and respected in coaching for a long time now and he has been a huge part of my coaching journey. He was part of the staff at Bury when I first came into the first-team environment and I learned so much from him.
“Going into the Championship having a senior member of staff who has been in there, seen it and done it, and worked at the top level, is good for me, Mark (Hughes) and Richie (Kyle), who are all young coaches. He’s a brilliant addition to our coaching staff and I’m glad to have him.
“We’re trying to step everything up a level this year. The individual work we do, the unit work we do, and the level of detail the players will receive because we’re competing in the Championship, all of it is greater. Having that extra pair of hands matters. But it’s not just an extra body, it’s somebody who’s going to add real value.
“He’s a great fella with a great personality, and there aren’t too many people in the game who’ll have a bad word to say about Rob Kelly. I’m pleased to bring him onto the coaching staff, and for me, he’s the perfect appointment at this stage in my career and one I felt I needed.”