Damien Johnson joins Ian Baraclough's coaching team

Johnson, who is currently Blackburn’s First Team Technical Coach and Head of Player Development, has taken up the role of coaching assistant.

The 41-year-old joins Jimmy Nicholl, Austin MacPhee and Steve Harper as part of Baraclough’s backroom team.

Baraclough is delighted to add the former Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City midfielder to his coaching set-up.

said: “Damien is a young, dynamic coach doing great things and a familiar face to many in the squad. As far as the international stage goes, he knows what it’s all about.

"I’m thankful to Tony Mowbray for allowing Damien to join us for what will be a crucial period of football for the men’s senior team.”

Johnson won 56 caps for Northern Ireland between 1999 and 2010 and was a central figure in some memorable Northern Ireland victories.

He played a key role in the historic 1-0 win over England in Belfast in 2005 and the 2-1 home success over Sweden in 2007.

The Lisburn man also captained Northern Ireland to a 3-2 win over Poland in March 2009.

He is highly regarded at Ewood Park and last summer was promoted to his current role with Rovers.

Prior to that, he was Under-23s boss at Ewood Park. He steered the team to a fifth-place finish in the PL2 top flight in the 2018-19 season and secured the Lancashire FA Senior Cup.

In the 2017-18 season he guided Blackburn’s U21s to the Premier League 2 Division 2 title.

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