Roddy appointed Technical Director by Charlton
Roddy worked for the Premier League for eight years
Written by Simon Austin — October 8, 2020
CHARLTON have appointed Ged Roddy MBE as their Technical Director in the first senior off-field hire of the Thomas Sandgaard era.
Roddy held senior leadership roles during eight years at the Premier League and is regarded as the architect of the modern Academy system.
After working as Director of Sport at the University of Bath for 17 years, he joined the Premier League in 2009, first as Director of Youth and then Director of Football Development.
In 2012, the 57-year-old launched the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), which was introduced with the aim of producing more and better homegrown players for England.
In February 2018, he joined Reading as Academy Manager, but his spell with the club ended ignominiously when he was sacked after less than two years in November 2018.
Since then, Roddy has run his own high performance consultancy, working for clients including Fifa, where he worked closely with their Head of Global Development, Arsene Wenger.
Although he doesn’t have much experience in player recruitment - which will be overseen by Steve Gallen, who was promoted from Head of Recruitment to Director of Football by Charlton in January - Roddy's pedigree as a strategist and senior leader is beyond doubt.
Charlton said Roddy’s “primary focus” would be “planning and implementing the club’s long-term footballing strategy with the initial aim of helping the club stabilise and ultimately getting the club back to the Premier League.”
Danish-American businessman Sandgaard, who bought the club in September, said: “I am very excited we have been able to bring in someone of Ged’s pedigree. He has extensive experience within football and a wide network of contacts in the game. He knows how to get things done and in the right way.
“I’ve said from the start, I want to build this club for the future and my vision is for us to become a top Premier League club in the next decade. Ged, working with Lee Bowyer, Steve Gallen, Steve Avory and the rest of the team will be an important part of us getting to those next levels.”
Roddy, who was awarded an MBE in 2000 for his contribution to sport in the UK, added: “Charlton Athletic is a great football club with a proud history and tradition and, of course, it has an incredible fanbase and, because of that, it has unbelievable potential.
"I know the club was very close to the brink before Thomas came in and now we have a real opportunity to do something hugely positive.
“We have to put the foundations in place to stabilise the club and give us something to build on. The long-term view is ambitious and that is exciting but we’ll need to walk before we can run. We’ll have to be clever in the way we do business and invest in the development of the club.
“We have a good structure already in place, with some very talented people working at the club, and with a little bit of support, there is no reason why, over time, we can’t achieve everything the owner, the staff and the fans dream of.
“I am humbled to be joining this great club and can’t wait to get started.”
