Travis Binnion has confirmed it was Nick Cox's decision for him to take Manchester United's matches in the Papa John's Trophy this season. The Manchester Evening News revealed in August that Binnion was set to be in charge for United's Under-21s' fixtures in the EFL Trophy - known as the Papa John's trophy - this season, despite him holding the position as Under-18s head coach.
That means Binnion has managed the U21s in their EFL Trophy matches against Carlisle, Barrow and Fleetwood this term instead of the official Under-21 head coach Mark Dempsey, who was in attendance as United played Fleetwood on Tuesday.
The club's unique arrangement has seen Dempsey take control of Premier League 2 matches and U18 head coach Binnion take charge of EFL Trophy fixtures, which is something that Cox, who is head of the academy, decided to implement this summer.
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Binnion clarified his role after United's U21s drew 2-2 with Fleetwood in the EFL trophy but eventually lost on penalties on Tuesday night, and he confirmed that it was Cox's decision for him to manage Papa John's matches instead of Dempsey.
"My role is over the U7s to U21s. When Justin [Cochrane] went to Brentford, we have a swirl of staff, so we decided at the start of the season this would be the staffing for the PL2, the U18s, the U17s, the Premier League Cup and the EFL Trophy," Binnion said.
"So we're sticking with that and there's continuity. You can't go from Mark [Dempsey] taking the majority of training and then not being around [present with the backroom staff] the EFL Trophy, so it's really important that he's that constant.
"Nick Cox decides, in terms of who takes what games and staffing, then obviously my job is to facilitate that across the different games, so we have Adam Lawrence leading the U17s matches, for example, even though he's a U16s coach.
"Paul McShane has switched this month, between U18s and U21s, so I think it's good to have as many eyes on these players as we can, to ensure that we might the right decisions. We have a lot of experience in the building, it would be silly not to use that."
Binnion led the U18s to FA Youth Cup glory last season and he was also promoted in June to head of player development and coaching for the phase, which was a responsibility he has taken on alongside his role as U18 head coach.
It's understood that Dempsey and Binnion still discuss tactics and game plans when the latter takes control of the U21s, however, Binnion was keen to insist that it doesn't really matter who takes the games, as the club have a 'brilliant' programme.
"We've got to be very careful with that [PL 2 and EFL trophy comparisons]," Binnion said. "In the last two rounds, there was quite a bit of first-team involvement, so if you look at Alejandro [Garnacho], [Facundo] Pellistri and Zidane [Iqbal].
"Those boys are around the first-team every day, they are effectively part of the first-team squad and coming into those games is a big lift for the boys that get to play with them. They've not played in the league [PL2], or not very often at all.
"The performances recently in the Premier League 2 have been excellent. Brighton, we dominated the game, Chelsea, we dominated the game, but we found ourselves, like tonight, behind in the game, so they're learning.
"We need to make sure we're resilient, resolute and learning. Tonight, you couldn't ask for more than that, we dominated the first half, they threw everything at us second half, we had a little wobble and finished the game really strong.
"I couldn't ask for more and what I want to stress is, it doesn't matter who takes the games. We have an 18s programme, a 17s programme, EFL Trophy, Premier League 2, we have one pool of players that provides the players for three or four teams and significant chunks of first-team training, so our lads get a brilliant programme."
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