The former Southend United youth player previously helped oversee our Elite Development Squad under Ben Wilkinson before joining our Under-18s in the summer after Oliver Reiss moved from Lead Coach of the Under-18s to the EDS.
Coggin brings with him a decade of experience coaching West Ham United’s Academy which saw him lead them to their first ever Under-18 Premier League Cup.
Grateful to have developed in the capital, Coggin is now ready and raring to go with the challenge ahead of him in leading City’s Under-18s.
“Firstly West Ham are an incredible club and amazing for me, so I’ll always be thankful for the support, the experiences that I had at the club,” says Coggin.
“Coming to Manchester City was a dream for me. The style of play, the players that have been here in the past. It was always an idea in my mind to join this club.
“So to have the opportunity at the time that I did, it always felt right.”
Over the last two seasons Oliver Reiss and our Under-18s squad have tasted a lot of success with two Under-18 Premier League North titles and an FA Youth Cup trophy.
While our EDS squad finished the 2025/26 season without silverware, it was also a lesson in perseverance and development which is something Coggin is hoping to bring from this experience into the new season.
And despite no trophies it was still a fantastic season as we saw eight academy players make their Men’s First-Team debuts.
“Olli [Reiss] did a fantastic job and working closely with him and continuing to do so in his new role has been fantastic,” he added.
“I think what we want to do as an academy is continue to be competitive, but like I mentioned earlier, this is academy football. We want to develop the best people as well as the best players and allow everyone to feel that potential.
“So, we’ve got a real drive on individual development within the Academy, so that’s at the forefront of my mind, the Club’s mind, and naturally the progress of the players will allow the team to play really well and be competitive in every fixture.”
Reiss joined City in July 2024 and went on to spend two seasons with the Under-18s.
In his first season, they won 21 successive games on the way to the Under-18 Premier League North title, before claiming two more pieces of silverware last season.
There is no doubt that Coggin is hoping to follow the German coach’s footsteps as he laid out his ambitions for the new season.
“To be competitive in every game and every competition, but as I mentioned earlier, this is an academy where we want to develop the best players so that has to be at the forefront of our mind every single day,” he said ahead of the new season.
“Not only on the pitch but off the pitch and I’m confident that as a group of staff, as a collective group of players, we’re able to push each other every single day to make sure that happens.”
Our 2026/27 campaign starts this weekend and there’s no better way for Coggin to taste the Under-18 Premier League North than hosting Liverpool in his maiden fixture, which is followed a week later with a trip to Manchester United.
While he has never coached in the Northern league before, Coggin’s time at West Ham saw him gain plenty of knowledge on the Southern league and there’s no doubt the nature of the two are very similar leagues with their fast paced and end-to-end football.
“I’m looking forward to experiencing the whole league, so there’s numerous games that we should all be excited by I think the way that we start with Liverpool, followed by Manchester United and there’s no better way to introduce ourselves to the season so excited, enthusiastic by all of the games but the way that we start is really special,” he said.
A Manchester derby is known to be far from quiet when we’ve faced the Red Devils in the league, with last season’s results ending with a dramatic 4-2 victory away from home, while our home fixture saw a 3-1 defeat.
“Really looking forward to it,” Coggin continued.
“The players are excited talking about it already, so there’s going to be big games big moments throughout the season, but incredible to experience one so soon.”
You can follow Lauris Coggin and his Under-18s season on mancity.com and the Official Man City App as we look to retain our Under-18 Premier League North and FA Youth Cup trophies.
