Chelsea caretaker Calum McFarlane has been asked to join Liam Rosenior's first-team backroom staff, rather than going back to managing their Under 21s.
McFarlane, 37, took temporary charge for two games following Enzo Maresca's exit on New Year's Day.
He oversaw a 1-1 draw away at Manchester City before a 2-1 defeat at Fulham when Marc Cucurella was shown a red card after 22 minutes for denying Harry Wilson an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
McFarlane was left to oversee that trip after taking charge of training in the build-up, while Rosenior watched on from the Craven Cottage directors' box next to co-owner Behdad Eghbali.
Daily Mail Sport can now reveal that Rosenior has personally asked McFarlane to become one of his assistants, after being impressed with how he managed the senior squad over the last week.
They will now begin working together, with Rosenior's first training session scheduled for Thursday afternoon and his debut match in charge coming away at Charlton in the FA Cup this Saturday.
We can also report Harry Hudson will be promoted to take over Chelsea's Under 21s side moving forward.
McFarlane's promotion may have taken him by surprise.
It was after the Fulham loss that he was asked whether he would be returning to become head coach of Chelsea's Under 21s, and the caretaker told reporters: 'As I'm aware, we're back with the Under 21s tomorrow.'
He took enough interest in the youth team to ask reporters: 'They're playing tonight, I don't actually know the score, I'd love to know the score if anyone knows?'
Chelsea's Under 21s lost 6-2 to Benfica in the Premier League International Cup.
fupceiluyz
14
I loved the way this Calum McFarlane's Chelsea pressed Fulham despite being a man less.๐๐๐๐
MaddyKotagiri
7
He would have had a safe job with U-21โs now the probability to get sacked is very high!!