Adams promoted to Assistant Sporting Director in Norwich restructure
Adams has been promoted from Loans Manager
Written by Simon Austin — September 29, 2021
NEIL ADAMS has been promoted to Assistant Sporting Director at Norwich City in a major revamp of roles at the Premier League club.
The 55-year-old is a club legend, having played for the Canaries from 1994 to 1999 and managed them in 2014/15. He has been their Loans Manager for the last six years.
In other moves at Carrow Road:
- Lee Dunn has been promoted from Head of Performance and Recruitment Analysis to Head of Recruitment. He replaces Kieran Scott, who left after four years to become Middlesbrough Head of Football in August.
- Andrew Hughes has replaced Adams as Loans Manager. The former Norwich player has held coaching roles at Bolton, Rotherham, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town.
- John Iga has been appointed to the new role of Head of Data and Innovation, as TGG revealed earlier this month. Iga, was most recently Head of Performance Services at Huddersfield Town and was also Head of Sport Science at the Football Association from 2012 to 2016.
Adams becomes only the second Assistant Sporting Director in the Premier League, after Liverpool’s Julian Ward (who was also promoted from Loans Manager, in December 2020). He will work closely Sporting Director Stuart Webber to “help oversee and manage all football operations and strategy across the club.”
His appointment will inevitably raise questions about the future of Webber, whose current contract with the Canaries finishes at the end of the season. However, the club insist that the staff changes have been in the pipeline for some time.
Webber told the club’s official website: “I’m delighted that we have been able to implement these changes across our footballing and recruitment areas. One of Kieran Scott’s objectives was to identify and work on a succession plan for his role.
“Lee was always the obvious candidate to take on this important role and has been working towards this for some time. I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked very closely with Neil during my time with the club. He brings a wealth of experience and some great attributes to this new role.
“Neil will take on some of my responsibilities, allowing me to drive forward and progress other areas of the club. We’re also delighted to have both Andrew Hughes and John Iga on board.
“Andrew will help continue to grow what has been a very successful loan management programme over the last few years. He has a huge amount of experience from his playing and coaching days, which can only help our players on their loan journeys.
“With John, the area of data and innovation is growing at a rapid rate within football, and we feel he is the right fit to help drive us forward in this area. We’re excited to have someone of his calibre on board.
“It’s an exciting time to be part of Norwich City, of which every player and staff member is extremely grateful for.”
