TGG Live: Elite speakers announced for industry-leading conference!
Written by Training Ground Guru — April 27, 2023
IN October, we are holding our biggest and best-ever event, with our biggest and best-ever line-up of speakers.
Across two days, leading figures from football, sport and beyond will take to the stage at the Hilton Deansgate in the iconic Beetham Tower to share insights, knowledge and ideas at TGG Live.
There are six strands across the two days, with a mixture of presentations and panel discussions:
- Day One (October 9th): Recruitment, Analytics, Sporting Directors.
- Day Two (October 10th): Coaching, Academies, Performance.
You can buy a ticket for one day or both days combined. Here is our list of elite speakers:
DAY ONE:
- Phil Giles: Brentford Director of Football.
- Dan Ashworth: Newcastle United Technical Director.
- Dave Reddin MBE: CD Castellón Chief Football Officer.
- David Sumpter: Twelve Football co-founder.
- Nick Roberts: Red Bull Racing Senior Race Strategy Analyst.
- Mark Ashton: Ipswich Town Chief Executive Officer.
- Lee Mooney: MUD Analytics Managing Director.
- Andrew Trimble: Kairos Chief Executive Officer.
- Stuart Webber: Norwich City Sporting Director.
- Mladen Sormaz: 777 Partners Director of Football Analytics.
- Tom Vernon: Founder and CEO of Right to Dream.
DAY TWO:
- Per Mertesacker: Arsenal Academy Manager.
- Nick Cox: Manchester United Academy Director.
- Kris Van Der Haegen: Belgium Director of Coach Education.
- Jonathan Hunter-Barrett: Wolves Academy Manager.
- Sally Needham: Sheffield United Human Development and Performance Culture Lead.
- Tony Strudwick: West Brom Director of Medical.
- Dan Micciche: Everton Player Development Lead Coach.
- Daniel Simpson: Football Association Game Insights Analyst.
- Jes Buster Madsen: FC Copenhagen Head of Research and Development.
- Charlotte Healy: Assistant Coach of Manchester United Women.
- Chris Domogalla: Borussia Monchengladbach Head of Performance.
- Brian Ashton: Former England Rugby Head Coach and now coach educator.
GET TICKETS
- LEARN from expert speakers.
- NETWORK with leaders from every department.
- CREATE via conversations, break-outs & brainstorms.
INTERESTED IN SPONSORING? REQUEST A BROCHURE
This event is a celebration of the best of the backroom and we want to share ideas and learnings across departments and organisations.
This is why Kairos, the communications and operations experts, represent the perfect headline sponsor for the conference.
Their CEO Andrew Trimble, the former Ireland rugby union international, will be speaking at TGG Live. He said: "We have had the pleasure of working with Training Ground Guru right from the early days of Kairos and many of our current customers learned about us through their articles and events.
"It was a no-brainer for us to headline sponsor such a brilliant event which, as you can see, is attracting the sharpest and most forward-thinking minds in football."
We are also delighted to announce our other sponsors for the event: Veo, Skill Corner, Rezzil and Footovision - you can read more about them lower down the page.
You can buy both one-day and two-day tickets for TGG Live. Club discounts are also available for purchases of multiple tickets. Please email info@trainingground.guru for more information.
Here are bios of our elite speakers and sponsors:
DAY ONE (OCTOBER 9th)
Phil Giles is Director of Football at Brentford, one of the most innovative clubs in European football. He joined the Bees in May 2015 and helped them gain promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 2021. They are now an established top flight side. Phil was our guest on Episode #35 of the TGG Podcast.
Dan Ashworth is Technical Director at Newcastle United and one of this country's most respected football leaders. He was Technical Director at West Brom, the Football Association and then Brighton before joining the Magpies in June 2022. He is now helping to implement a vision to help the club achieve long-term success. Dan was our guest on Episode #20 of the TGG Podcast.
Dave Reddin MBE is Chief Football Officer at CD Castellón in Spain and is taking a "disruptive approach to improvement". They are currently in the third tier and aim to be in La Liga within five years. Dave was previously Head of Strategy and Performance with the Football Association, Head of Performance for the British Olympic Association at London 2012 and fitness coach for England when they won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He was our guest on Episode #4 of the TGG Podcast.
David Sumpter is a Professor at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and co-founder of the Twelve Football data science consultancy. He works with leading clubs in England, Holland, Germany, Spain and Sweden. David has authored a number of books and given Google, TedX and Royal Institution talks. He was our guest on Episode #46 of the TGG Podcast.
Nick Roberts is Senior Race Strategy Analyst for Red Bull Racing. He is responsible for understanding performance expectations both before and during an F1 race weekend, delivering competitor analysis and leading a working group between strategy, vehicle performance and aerodynamics. Nick has worked for Red Bull Racing since 2016 and has a PhD in Geophysics.
Mark Ashton is Chief Executive Officer at Ipswich Town. He joined the Tractor Boys in June 2021 and is leading a new era for the club under new ownership and with Kieran McKenna as manager. The team are currently flying high in League One and vying for promotion back to the Championship. Mark was previously CEO at Bristol City, Oxford United and Watford.
Lee Mooney is Managing Director of MUD Analytics, a company he co-founded with Vincent Kompany and Klaas Gaublomme. He was previously Director of Football Insights at City Football Group, where he led the creation and evolution of the group’s data science capabilities. His background prior to football was in industry, with Barclays and Deloitte.
Andrew Trimble had a distinguished rugby union career, playing 229 times for Ulster and winning 70 caps for Ireland. He was frustrated by scheduling and communication issues as a player and decided to do something about it once he retired. The result is the Kairos app, which streamlines all communications and operations across elite sports teams. Andrew spoke to TGG about Kairos in 2020 and we have maintained a strong partnership ever since.
Stuart Webber is the Sporting Director of Norwich City. He has overseen two promotions to the Premier League in his time at the club and a rebuilding of their training ground, Academy and staffing. Prior to working with the Canaries he was Head of Football Operations at Huddersfield Town.
Mladen Sormaz is Director of Football Analytics for 777 Partners, which own clubs including Genoa, Standard Liege and Vasco de Gama. He was previously the first Head of Analytics at Leicester City and is a thought leader on the application of data science in football.
Tom Vernon is the founder and CEO of Right to Dream, which owns FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark, as well as Academies in Egypt, Ghana and Ivory Coast. The underpinning vision of the group is to give young people the chance to pursue their dreams both on and off the pitch, no matter who they are or where they are from. Tom was our guest on Episode #47 of the TGG Podcast.
DAY TWO (OCTOBER 10th)
Nick Cox is Academy Director at Manchester United and one of the most experienced youth football leaders in the country. Prior to joining United, in May 2016, he was Academy Manager at Sheffield United for three-and-a-half years and at Watford for 12 years. Nick was our guest on Episode #15 of the TGG Podcast.
Per Mertesacker became Arsenal’s Academy Manager in 2018 after a 15-year playing career. Per won the World Cup with Germany in 2014 to crown a 10-year international career in which he played for his country 104 times. The centre-back made 393 club appearances with Hannover 96, Werder Bremen and Arsenal, leading the Gunners to three FA Cup victories. As Arsenal’s Academy Manager, he develops a clear vision to create Strong Young Gunners.
Kris Van Der Haegen has been Belgium's Director of Coach Education for more than a decade and assistant of their women's senior team for five years. Kris has been at the heart of a revolution in the way Belgium coaches its youngsters and educates its coaches. This child-centred approach has inspired many other countries, including Germany.
Jonathan Hunter-Barrett is Academy Manager at Category One side Wolves. He joined the club as a foundation phase coach in 2011 and went on to become Head of Coaching and then, in June 2022, Academy Manager. Jonathan is an A Licence coach and also has a Masters in Sporting Directorship.
Sally Needham is Human Development and Performance Culture Lead at Sheffield United Academy. Before joining the Blades full-time in April 2022, Sally worked for the Football Association for more than 15 years as a coach developer and skills programme leader. Sally was our guest on Episode #44 of the TGG Podcast, giving us the lowdown on her unique role with the Blades.
Tony Strudwick is Director of Medical at West Brom and one of the most respected performance practitioners in British football. He was Head of Performance at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, during which time they won four Premier League titles and the Champions League. Tony has also worked for Arsenal, Wales, Sheffield Wednesday, England and West Ham and was our guest on Episode #13 of the TGG Podcast.
Dan Micciche is Player Development Lead Coach at Everton, responsible for aiding the transition of their players from Academy to first team. He is an experienced and innovative coach, having previously worked for Arsenal, MK Dons, England and Tottenham - at both youth and senior levels.
Daniel Simpson is Game Insights Analyst for the Football Association. His passion is enhancing understanding of the technical and tactical requirements needed to become elite. Before joining the FA, Dan worked for Wolves, West Brom and the Northern Ireland national team.
Jes Buster Madsen is Head of Research and Development at FC Copenhagen in Denmark. His specialism is integrating cognitive neuroscience with player development, training methodology and talent identification.
Charlotte Healy is assistant coach of Manchester United Women. She was previously the club's Academy Manager and Under-21s boss and has also worked for Manchester City, Liverpool and the Football Association.
Chris Domogalla is Head of Performance at Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga. He has worked alongside Head Coach Daniel Farke for several years, including at Krasnodar in Russia and at Norwich City in the Premier League.
Brian Ashton is a legend of British coaching and coach education. In the 1990s he was Head Coach of Bath Rugby - one of greatest English club sides. From 2006 to 2008 he was England Head Coach and led them to the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. For the last few years Brian has worked as a coach educator for the Premier League and clubs including Manchester City (pictured with City Head of Coaching Stephen Torpey).
OUR PARTNERS
Kairos is purpose built to streamline all communication and operations across elite sports teams. The app unifies daily operations processes, improves collaboration and enhances player welfare. Designed specifically for football operations, the app is used by elite teams and Academies around the globe. You can read about the work Kairos have done with the Scotland national team HERE.
SkillCorner is the leader in single-camera video tracking for sport.
We leverage AI technologies to provide rich and accurate player tracking data at scale, enabling teams to efficiently identify and benchmark players from all over the world. By adding SkillCorner data to their toolkit, our customers can make faster, better-informed decisions in recruitment, player development and strategy.
Rezzil is the world’s leading VR/XR platform for developing elite athletes. Using drills designed and tested by the world’s best players, Rezzil improves cognition, decision making and overall resilience for players at all levels of sport. Rezzil’s football services are shown to identify a player’s strengths and areas to improve, with scores on a wide range of areas so you can quickly see how to step up to the next level.
Using a blend of technologies including computer vision, AI and data analysis, Footovision have developed state-of-the-art analysis solutions. Their Coachvision platform and API are designed specifically for professional football clubs and federations, providing coaches, scouts, sport science and performance analysts with unique player and team level insights.
* Programme subject to change
