Brentford stalwart Kevin O’Connor is to take over as head coach of the club’s B team.
The 34-year-old will replace Flemming Pedersen, who is set to return to his native Denmark to take over as technical director FC Nordsjælland at the start of January.
Former Bees captain O’Connor has been in his current role since ending his playing career in 2015.
He initially worked under Lee Carsley and replaced him on an interim basis when Carsley, who has since left the club, stepped up to take charge of the first team prior to the appointment of Dean Smith.
O’Connor will now take on the role on a permanent basis.
“We are excited about giving Kevin O’Connor the opportunity to step up in his coaching career,” Brentford’s co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen told the club website.
“Kevin has grown a lot as a coach over the past 12 months, and we have no doubt that he is the right man to keep improving our B team project when Flemming leaves.”
O’Connor has been at Griffin Park for more than two decades, having spent his entire career at Brentford.
He progressed through the youth system at the club, signing as a professional in 1999, and made 501 appearances, 420 of them in the league.
He is fourth on the club’s all-time appearance list and in 2015 became the first person to be inducted into the Brentford FC Hall of Fame while still a Bees player.
