TONY PULIS has asked Jonathan Woodgate to be the link between Middlesbrough’s promotion-chasing first team squad and the promising teenagers aiming to reach that level.

Pulis wants the former Boro defender to take the next step in his development as a coach after keeping on his backroom team.

Middlesbrough confirmed last week that Woodgate will continue as first team coach despite the arrivals of David Kemp as assistant manager and Jonathan Gould as goalkeeper coach.

Pulis plans to make further additions to his ranks but wants Woodgate to remain a key part of the backroom set-up as he looks to keep Middlesbrough climbing up the Championship table.

“I knew Jonathan, I signed him at Stoke,” said Pulis. “I have very high regard for him. My thinking on Jonathan is that he knows the young players at the club so he is a good link between the academy and the first team.

“Although he will work with us, he’ll also go to all the Under-23s and Under-18s games and he can give me advice on which youngsters we can push into the group.”

Middlesbrough have built a reputation for producing homegrown academy talents over the last 20 years.

But that has taken a bit of a hammering in recent seasons because of a reluctance from Aitor Karanka to hand the graduates an opportunity in the first team picture.

There has also been a change in the way things are done at academy level at Middlesbrough these days; Craig Liddle has replaced long-serving Dave Parnaby as academy director while the head of youth recruitment is now Martin Carter rather than the retired Ron Bone.

Garry Monk showed that he wanted to give youth a chance during his five months in charge, and he was happy to use Dael Fry and Marcus Tavernier in the Championship before his departure. There are a number of other players at Middlesbrough who are rated highly.

But Pulis, who replaced Monk on Boxing Day, is also eager to get Middlesbrough’s academy motoring again and will be willing to give teenagers plenty experience if he feels they are up the challenge.

That is one of the reasons why he is keen to reduce the size of his first team squad because he believes there should be at least four academy players training with a first team squad of around 21.

The identity of those youngsters likely to be called could well be determined by what Woodgate has to say about them.

Woodgate, born in Middlesbrough and studying for his coaching badges, had been operating as the club’s Under-18s coach before he was asked to step up to the first team following Monks’ sacking before Christmas.

Middlesbrough’s young guns play in the FA Youth Cup fourth round at Stevenage tonight (7pm) – in a competition they last won in 2004 when Tony McMahon captained the side to glory, with the likes of Lee Cattermole, Andrew Taylor and David Wheater involved.

Woodgate will also regularly watch the Under-23s games, like this Sunday’s  visit of Blackburn to Heritage Park.

The Under-23s have started the season positively with the likes of Hayden Coulson, Enes Mahmutovic, Alex Pattison, Tavernier and Mitchell Curry among those to have caught the eye. Harry Chapman (on loan at Blackburn) is among those trying to develop away from the Riverside.

The promising talents will not stop Pulis from changing his squad this month though. He is expected to move a number of players on, while he is considering what options are available to bring in.

Fulham’s Kevin McDonald and Wolves’ Kortney Hause are two of the names being mentioned at this stage.