NEWCASTLE UNITED are set to confirm the appointment of Diarmuid O’Carroll as their new reserve-team boss.

The Magpies have agreed a compensation package with St Mirren for O’Carroll, who will be tasked with leading the club’s Under-21s team in Premier League 2 this season.

Newcastle have been without a permanent Under-21s boss since the start of the summer, when Ben Dawson departed, with Jack Ross and Neil Winskill having been standing in on a temporary basis.

O’Carroll has been working as the assistant manager to Stephen Robinson at St Mirren, but has agreed to move south to become a key part of Newcastle’s backroom set-up.

The 37-year-old, who was a Republic of Ireland Under-21 international as a player after progressing through the youth ranks at Celtic, has previously coached Crusaders Strikers, Glentoran Women and Motherwell Under-18s.

He joined St Mirren as Robinson’s number two in February 2022, and also worked as part of Michael O’Neill’s backroom team at Northern Ireland during the qualifying campaign for Euro 2024.

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His appointment on Tyneside is expected to be confirmed in the next few days, with a strengthening of a the academy ranks a key priority for Newcastle’s Saudi Arabia-backed ownership group.

“We’ll make an official announcement over the weekend or Monday,” said Robinson, when asked about O’Carroll’s impending exit from St Mirren. “I don’t want to jump the gun because I’m not 100 per cent sure. He is speaking to someone else (about) an Under-21 position.

“We’ve shown that we’ve got that staff in place to step up if that should happen. But I think it’s a matter that we deal with on Monday morning when we get the full facts.”

Newcastle Under-21s have had a mixed start to the season, and suffered a 1-0 defeat to West Ham at Whitley Park on Friday night with a team that featured the likes of Alex Murphy, Travis Hernes, Ben Parkinson and Trevan Sanusi.

The second-string line-up are also competing in this season’s EFL Trophy, where they beat Bradford City on penalties at the start of the month after drawing 2-2 at Valley Parade.