Austin promoted to Sporting Director by Coventry City
Written by
Simon Austin
July 3, 2026
Dean Austin has been promoted to become Coventry City’s first Sporting Director as the Sky Blues prepare for their first season in the Premier League for 25 years.
The 56-year-old has been Head of Recruitment at the club since December 2022 and played a key role in building the squad that won the Championship last season. Signings under him have included Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jack Rudoni, Haji Wright and Matt Grimes, who went on to captain the side and started every league game of the promotion campaign.
Austin made more than 400 senior appearances as a player, for clubs including Tottenham and Crystal Palace, and has coached at first-team level at Watford, Crystal Palace, Southend, Reading and Notts County.
He had two spells as a manager, at Farnborough Town and then Northampton, before moving into recruitment and technical roles, first as Director of Football at his boyhood club St Albans City and then at Blackpool, ahead of joining Coventry in 2022.
Coventry said Austin would now oversee all football and recruitment matters across the club.
This a role Coventry haven’t had before. Owner Doug King first signalled his intention to create it back in November 2024, at the fans’ forum where he explained his decision to sack long-serving manager Mark Robins.
“The structure of the football club has to change now and the logical thing is to put in a Sporting Director,” King said. Frank Lampard was appointed Head Coach that same month.
Sessions with: David Court, Ian Yates, Dean Austin, Kevin Braybrook, Marijn Beuker, Craig Innes/ Liam Bailey, Simon Cooper, Glyn Chamberlain/ Joe McClaren/ Andy Burton and Simon Wilson.
Austin will now work closely with Lampard and his coaching staff as the club adjusts to the demands of the top flight.
Meanwhile, Jamie Johnson has stepped up to replace Austin as Head of Recruitment. Johnson joined in February 2023 as Head of Scouting, having previously held scouting roles at Tottenham, Brighton, Huddersfield, Derby and Sunderland. He has also served as Chief Scout at both Rotherham United and AFC Wimbledon.
Sal Bibbo joins as the club’s new Goalkeeping Coach. The 51-year-old had spells as a player at Crawley Town, Sheffield United and Chesterfield and has since coached at Reading, Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday. He spent last season at Rangers.
Bibbo replaces Aled Williams, who has left the club after more than seven years in the role. The Welsh coach was appointed Head of Goalkeeping in May 2019, succeeding club legend Steve Ogrizovic, having previously worked at Wolves, Cardiff City and New York Red Bulls’ Academy.
During his time at Coventry he clocked up over 200 Championship games and coached two Team of the Season goalkeepers – Marko Marosi in the club’s League One title-winning 2019/20 campaign, and Ben Wilson in 2022/23.
The moves come three weeks after Coventry confirmed the departure of Performance Director Dr Claire-Marie Roberts, who left after two and a half years at the club having joined from the Premier League in February 2024.
Austin tells TGG about building a recruitment strategy
Back in 2023, not long after arriving at Coventry, Austin took to the stage at TGG’s Scouting & Recruitment Webinar and broke down how he was putting together a club recruitment strategy at the Sky Blues.
It’s one of nine sessions from that event – and one of 14 full webinars now sitting in TGG’s on-demand library, covering everything from Academy recruitment to data-driven talent ID.
There are more than 100 elite presentations from people actually doing the job at clubs up and down the pyramid – all free to watch, in full, for TGG Members.
If you’re serious about a career in professional football, or you’re already working in it and want to hear directly from the people making the decisions at clubs like Coventry, this is exactly the kind of insight TGG Membership gives you access to.
Sign up today and get Austin’s session – and everything else in the library – on demand.
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