Everton to take Nick Cox from Manchester United as technical director
Everton are poised to appoint Manchester United's director of academy, Nick Cox, as their technical director. Cox will be part of the new football structure put in place by the Friedkin Group.
The chief executive, Angus Kinnear, disposed of the director of football position when Kevin Thelwell left, preferring a technical director who will take on some of the responsibilities of the previous role. The club engaged an external recruitment firm to identify candidates, with Cox appearing to be the standout.
Cox joined United in 2016, overseeing the academy when they won the FA Youth Cup in 2022, and is credited with aiding the development of Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho. It is anticipated that Cox, who has just completed his Pro Licence coaching course, will stay at United for the coming months to help with the transition period.
Sign up to Football Daily
Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football
after newsletter promotion
As part of the changes Everton have also brought in Nick Hammond from Leeds as head of trading and Chris Howarth as head of strategy, and James Smith is poised to return from Manchester City in a recruitment role.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
31 minutes ago
- The Sun
Luke Littler to star in different sport on ITV as darts sensation, 18, links up with Tony Bellew and Barry Hearn
LUKE LITTLER is aiming to show there's just a fin margin between success and failure. Darts' world champ is joining fellow big names of sport like Tony Bellew, Steve Davis and Barry Hearn for an angling event to be shown on ITV4. 3 But the Nuke, 18, came BOTTOM on his debut in the Target Sports Star Fishing Championship last year. That's despite the keen angler sharing a snap of a sizable catch he made at the competition in Warwickshire. The Warrington whizkid teamed up in 2024 with former Ally Pally kings Adrian Lewis and Rob Cross, plus Target Darts boss Garry Plummer. Now he'll be back at the Tunnel Barn Fishery on July 29 alongside ex-world cruiserweight boxing champ Bellew, snooker's six-time Crucible king Davis, promoter Hearn and a string of other stars - from both sides of the microphone. The 32-strong line-up also includes Lewis, Cross and James Wade from darts, as well as Derek Redmond, Gail Emms, George Groves, Johnny Fisher, Andy Goldstein, Hayley Turner and Gary Newbon. Littler hopes to show Big Fish has a more meaty meaning than just being his favourite checkout at the oche. And he also hopes to bounce back from England's World Cup embarrassment. The Nuke and Luke Humphries went into the pairs tournament as the world's top two players and the last two Ally Pally kings. 3 But they began to flounder from the start and fans had plenty to carp about afterwards. Welshman Gerwyn Price, who suffered disappointment in the final against Northern Ireland, described the duo as "rubbish" and appeared to suggest they lacked "camaraderie". At least Littler won't be under the same type of pressure when he contests the angling competition, which raises five-figure sums for charity. Organisers have stressed their 13th annual event is "not open to the public". But a two-hour highlights package will be on ITV4 at a date to be confirmed.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Britain's £100billion benefits timebomb that no one is brave enough to defuse
TO the hand-wringing Labour MPs plotting to torpedo the government's £5billion in welfare cuts, some facts. Even with that squeeze, we are still hurtling towards a £100billion sickness benefits bill EVERY YEAR by the end of the decade. 4 4 That is roughly equivalent to the entire size of Slovakia's economy — or the annual output of the City of London. It is more than the combined yearly budgets of the police, prisons and courts — and twice that of what we spend on defence. You could buy every Premier League club several times over and then some. And that is before you even scratch the surface on public money for jobseekers and the elderly. Britain is a nation that looks after people — at ease with the language of safety nets, support and compassion. But we have to be honest about what we have become: a nation hooked on handouts that is driving our economy on to the rocks. Painfully clear A creaking welfare state — with a price tag no government can control and no taxpayer can sustain — is ready to burst. The parliamentary bill to reform it — introduced yesterday by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall — was meant to be the moment Labour got serious. It tightens eligibility for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), slashes Universal Credit for new claimants and freezes it for existing ones. On paper it is a package designed to 'make the system sustainable' and save the Treasury £5billion a year by 2030. Five key changes to PIP & Universal Credit as Labour's benefits crackdown unveiled But when you actually read the figures, it becomes painfully clear just how little difference it will make. Britain is still projected to spend £100.7billion a year on health and disability benefits by 2029–30 — up from £64.7billion just last year. That is a 55 per cent rise in just six years, driven largely by soaring costs in working-age sickness and disability payments, with PIP fuelling the surge. Once meant to help those with serious long-term physical and mental conditions live independently, PIP is now claimed by more than 3.7million people — and demand is only accelerating. The number of new applications has shot up by 70 per cent since 2018, with more than 1,000 new claims A DAY thudding on to DWP desks. The bill for PIP alone has already ballooned from £12billion in 2019 to more than £21billion today, and it is predicted to hit an eye-watering £42.3billion by 2028–29. Driving this explosion is a marked rise in claims linked to mental disorders — now the main condition for nearly 70 per cent of new applicants under-35. Combined with long Covid, chronic fatigue, and musculoskeletal complaints such as back pain, we have arrived at a staggering projection: that by 2030 nearly one in 12 working-age Brits will be economically inactive due to long-term sickness. International comparisons lay bare just how much of an outlier the UK has become. We now spend more on working-age disability benefits as a share of GDP than almost any other advanced economy. Most European countries — including France, Germany and the Netherlands — have seen their incapacity benefit caseloads remain steady while ours is still climbing. Is it any wonder why critics start to mutter about the UK becoming the ' Sicknote Man of Europe '. But far from marking a moment of unity for Labour, the new bill has lit the fuse on a major rebellion and split the party in two. More than 100 Labour MPs are squeamish about the proposals, and many have already threatened to vote it down when it comes to a vote in the next few weeks. Supporters of the reforms say the real betrayal would be pearl-clutching backbenchers pretending the current system can continue. One Labour insider told me: 'You can't call yourself progressive if you ignore a system that's spiralling out of control. This isn't about cruelty. It's about honesty.' The internal row gripping the party was not unexpected — but the scale of it was. A far tougher package was meant to be unveiled at March's Spring Statement to lance the boil in one fell swoop. But after internal leaks and pushback from Labour left-wingers, No10 blinked. 4 The result? A lightweight version, rushed out early and designed to placate mutinous MPs. One senior Government figure admitted to me a few months ago: 'We had one shot to fix this, and we bottled it. These are half-measures. They won't be enough.' The deeper danger now is not just the cost but the fact political will to act is slipping away. We are an old population, with flatlining productivity, who have very few babies. We cannot have a generous welfare state and a national social care service, and a massive in-work support system Backbencher Some inside the party get it. They know the writing is on the wall: an ageing population, low birth rates, flatlining productivity and soaring demand on every part of the state. Commons humiliation As one influential backbencher put it: 'We have to get serious about reforming the state. "We are an old population, with flatlining productivity, who have very few babies. We cannot have a generous welfare state and a national social care service, and a massive in-work support system. 'We need to change expectations about what Government does in a radical and sustained way. I do not see us being serious about that right now.' Behind the scenes, the whips are in damage control mode, trying to keep a lid on the rebellion. Abstentions might help Labour avoid a Commons humiliation but they will not solve the underlying dilemma. This is not just about one benefit, or one Budget line. It is about what kind of state Britain can be in the 2020s and beyond — and how much we can afford. For too long politicians have ducked the debate, layering new promises on top of old ones without ever confronting the trade-offs. Now, the bill is landing and it's not just a financial one, it's political, too. Labour may win the vote but its bigger test is yet to come: can it finally level with the public, not just about what needs cutting, but what kind of country we want to be? 4
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Birmingham councillors clash over 'arrogant' vision for city
Birmingham City Council's ruling Labour group has come under fire from opposition councillors over a vision for the city's authority's new corporate plan sets out its priorities for the next three years and how it intends to address governance and financial challenges, after it declared effective bankruptcy, in say they want to make the city fairer, greener and healthier, by exploring issues such as housing need, unemployment and child a meeting where the plan was unveiled, leader John Cotton said the vision showed a "determination to right previous wrongs", but the Conservative group said it was "arrogant" and a possible "Labour election pitch". Tory councillor Deirdre Alden proposed an amendment stating that any long-term strategy should be based on the mandate delivered by voters following all-out elections next said the administration should focus until then on balancing the books, resolving equal pay and ending the bin strike, among other priorities."Time and resources should not have been spent now on developing a strategy for the years after 2026," she said."It's arrogant and it starts to look as if council resources have been spent on a Labour election pitch." Cotton described the plan as a "milestone", adding it was a "clear demonstration of our ambitions for Birmingham".Liberal Democrat group leader Roger Harmer suggested the Labour administration was instead a "millstone around the necks of our city".Green Party councillor Julien Pritchard argued the council's plans did not "seem to survive contact with reality". 'No apology for ambition' In response to the Conservative amendment, Cotton said it removed "forward-looking ambition"."I certainly, as leader of this council, make no apology for being ambitious for Birmingham," he told the chamber."I've never stood in this chamber and speculated about what happens in future elections, I think that's a fool's game," he said."But I do know Brummies will not accept a politics and a vision that's built on negativity." The effective bankruptcy declaration triggered a wave of cuts to services and plans to raise council tax by about 20% over two that contributed to the council's financial crisis, according to external auditors, include an equal pay row, disastrous implementation of a new IT system and inadequate housing a bin strike that started with one-day walkouts in January, is now in its sixth corporate plan was approved but the Conservatives' amendment was not passed. This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
