We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Rob Kelly as the Club’s new Assistant Manager.
The vastly-experienced coach has agreed to join David Dunn in The Bluebirds’ dugout following a spell in the Bundesliga alongside Uwe Rosler at Fortuna Dusseldorf.
“I wanted to get the right people around me because I think that’s really important for a young manager,” Dunn told us.
“I am absolutely delighted that Rob has agreed to come on board – I think it’s a bit of a coup for the Football Club.
“He was my Youth Team Coach when I was at Blackburn and he has a wealth of experience having coached all over Europe so to get him alongside me is going to be a big help and a massive plus for the Club.”
A former Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder, Kelly cut his teeth with coaching roles at Wolves and Watford before enjoying a spell as Academy Director at Blackburn Rovers.
He was then appointed as Assistant Manager to Craig Levein at Leicester but, when Levein was sacked at the start of 2006, Kelly was asked to take the reins on a temporary basis.
His performance as caretaker boss prompted The Foxes to install him as their permanent new Manager and he went on to spend over a year in the hotseat.
Kelly re-emerged on the coaching staff at Preston North End, working as Assistant Manager to Alan Irvine before following the Scot to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2010.
His next destination was Nottingham Forest where he served under various managers, including former England boss Steve McClaren and former Scotland chief Alex McLeish.
In 2014 he was reunited with Irvine at West Bromwich Albion and – after a short spell alongside Rosler at Leeds United – Kelly then joined Irvine again at Blackburn in December 2015.
Rosler then took Kelly to Fleetwood Town at the start of the 2016/17 campaign and he helped the Club to a record haul of 82 points on their way to a fourth place finish in League One.
His next assignment came at Bury where he worked as assistant to Ryan Lowe and helped put the club on the road to automatic promotion from League Two before being tempted by a role alongside Rosler with Swedish outfit Malmo.
Now Bluebirds boss Dunn will be able to call on all of Kelly’s knowledge as the pair plot Barrow’s return to the Football League for 2020/21.