AARON DANKS has been appointed as Assistant Head Coach at Middlesbrough after leaving Aston Villa, where he was first-team coach for the last year.

JULEN LOPETEGUI has brought seven staff with him to Wolves. This is in stark contrast to Brentford, who have been eager for their footballing intellectual property to remain in the club, rather than coming and going with the Head Coach.

CHAMPIONSHIP side Blackpool have appointed Chris Badlan as their new Sporting Director. The 39-year-old has been working as Head of Recruitment at Coventry City since May 2018, when he joined from Norwich City.

IN June 2021, Justin Cochrane was appointed Manchester United’s first Head of Player Development and Coaching, with a remit to “maximise the potential of each individual player". Speaking on the latest episode of the TGG Podcast, he has given a fascinating insight into how he did this with Alejandro Garnacho.

WOLVES Head of Performance and Medicine Rob Chakraverty has left the club after two years. The former England national team doctor joined the club in May 2020 as Lead Doctor for the Academy before stepping up to become first-team doctor and then Head of Performance and Medicine.

DERMOT DRUMMY was a brilliant development coach who helped bring through some of the biggest names in the game at Arsenal and Chelsea. Five years ago he took his own life. TGG looks back on Drummy's life and career.

RASMUS ANKERSEN has said that clubs and fans are wrong to discount managers who have failed - and that he actually favours those who have. There's plenty of evidence from outside football that backs him up, too.

JOSE MOURINHO says he was not surprised by Germany’s defeat by Japan at the World Cup because “the team is the most important thing” in Asia, whereas “in European football there is a big focus on the individual, a big focus on egos.”

MATT HOBBS has been promoted from Chief Scout and Head of Recruitment to replace Scott Sellars as Sporting Director at Wolves.

JULIAN WARD is to step down as Liverpool’s Sporting Director at the end of the season after one year in post.

LIVERPOOL’S Director of Research, Ian Graham, has resigned from his role and will leave Anfield after more than a decade. The Welshman joined Liverpool in July 2012 and became a key figure at the club, building the leading data science department in the Premier League and perhaps even in Europe.

CHELSEA Head Physio Thierry Laurent has left the club after 17 years. “Thank you to all the medical staff at CFC (who) made this department part of the top five in Europe for the last 10 years," he said.