Gary O’Neil has added Ian Burchnall to his coaching staff as first-team coach.
The 40-year-old joins from Anderlecht, where he served as assistant coach since March, and brings experience of management to O’Neil’s staff.
Burchnall began coaching at the age of 22 at the University of Leeds and, since he took a first first-team role with Norwegian club Sarpsborg 08 in 2012, has remained in the game since.
Leicester-born, but Burchnall continued his coaching path in Norway with Roy Hodgson’s former club Viking, where he was assistant coach, before stepping into a managerial seat for the first time in 2016.
A move to Sweden was next for Burchnall, who followed Graham Potter as Ostersund manager, and he guided the club to their second-highest ever finish in 2018/19, before leaving the following summer for personal reasons.
Back in the UK, Burchnall took the Notts County job in March 2021 and led the Magpies to successive play-off finishes in the National League, before losing out to Torquay United and then Grimsby Town.
A jump to League One followed last summer, but Burchnall’s time with Forest Green Rovers was brief and he made Anderlecht his new home in March of this year, seeing him spend six months in Belgium before making the Molineux move.
Now, he links up with O’Neil’s coaching staff, consisting of assistant head coach Tim Jenkins, first-team coach Shaun Derry and head of goalkeeping Neil Cutler.
