Walsall appoint former Derby defender Richard Keogh as assistant coach | OneFootball

Richard Keogh has been named Walsall's new assistant coach. The former Derby County defender reunites with head coach Lee Grant, his team-mate at Pride Park from 2013 to 2017.

According to ExpressAndStar.com, Keogh retired in 2024 then took assistant roles at Blackpool and, most recently, Barnsley in League One. He had a four-game caretaker stint at Blackpool in 2024. Last season he served as Conor Hourihane's assistant at Barnsley.

Darren Byfield left his role as first-team coach in May after an interim spell, while former assistant Terry Connor also departed. Ryan Simmonds will continue with the senior group as PDP coach.

Across a 20-year playing career, Keogh is most closely associated with Derby, where he scored 12 goals across eight seasons. He also featured for Bristol City, Carlisle United, Coventry City, MK Dons, Huddersfield Town and Blackpool.

He had a brief stint at Ipswich Town in 2022-23 when Grant was first-team coach, making 16 appearances as the Tractor Boys won automatic promotion from League One. Internationally, Keogh won 26 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring once in a 4-0 victory over Georgia in June 2013.

He played both of Ireland's Euro 2026 play-off matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina, sealing a 3-1 aggregate win to reach the final. He missed the first two games of the tournament, then started the last two, a 1-0 win over Italy and a 2-1 loss to hosts and eventual runners-up France.

Source: ExpressAndStar.com