Bulletin Board
Who’s in, who’s out and what’s available
June 19, 2025
Carr and Stead join Bristol Rovers backroom team
Rhys Carr and Jon Stead have joined Bristol Rovers as men's First Team Assistant Head Coaches.
It is a second spell at the club for Carr after previously working as their Lead Professional Development Phase Coach. Since leaving the Memorial Stadium, he has worked as an Elite Player Development Coach at Wolves, an Assistant Head Coach for the Republic of Ireland and also had a spell as Interim Head Coach and then First Team Coach at Coventry City.
Stead is reunited with Rovers Manager Darrell Clarke, with whom he also worked in the same role at Barnsley. He made more than 700 senior appearances for 10 clubs in England and started his coaching career in the US as an Assistant Head Coach at Hartford Athletic and then Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Rovers were relegated to League Two last season and Director of Football Ricky Martin said: “Everyone is working tirelessly to ensure the club starts pre-season positively. The appointment of two Assistant Coaches of such quality is another step in this process.”
June 18, 2025
Cleverley adds to Plymouth backroom staff
New Plymouth Argyle Head Coach Tom Cleverley has brought three of his backroom team from Watford to Home Park.
Damon Lathrope has joined as Assistant Head Coach, Matt Bevans has become First-Team Coach and Chris Douglas is the club’s new First-Team Performance Analyst.
They join First-Team Coach and former Caretaker Manager Kevin Nancekivell and Goalkeeping Coach Darryl Flahavan, who were already part of Argyle’s backroom staff.
Former Assistant Manager Adin Osmanbasic and Head of Athletic Performance Eddie Lattimore have both left the club.
June 17, 2025
Newcastle U21s Lead leaves to join Sparta Prague
Newcastle United Under-21s Lead Diarmuid O'Carroll has left the club after 10 months to become First-Team Coach at Sparta Prague.
The 38-year-old joined Newcastle in September 2024 from St Mirren, where he was Assistant Manager. He was also a senior coach with the Northern Ireland senior men’s team and continued in that part-time position.
Writing on LinkedIn, O’Carroll said: “I’ve absolutely loved my time working at Newcastle United, I didn’t envisage it being this short but this opportunity was too exciting for me to turn down.
“It’s genuinely been a real pleasure working with top staff and with some very exciting young players. I wish everyone at the club nothing but continued success going forward.”
Sparta Prague’s Manager is the former Denmark international Brian Priske. Newcastle are now looking for a replacement for O’Carroll, with the title Player Development Lead (U21s).
The job is being advertised on TGG and the summary states that the successful candidate will have, “Overall responsibility for the day-to-day management of the U21 squad and managing their transition into first-team football; enabling players to achieve their full potential through collaborative working with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT), nurturing our talent to produce players capable of making the transition to first team.”
June 13, 2025
Shan promoted to Villa U21 Head Coach
Jimmy Shan has been promoted to Under-21s Head Coach by Aston Villa, replacing Josep Gombau.
Gombau joined in January 2024, having previously worked for Barcelona’s Academy and the Australia Olympic team. He led Villa’s youngsters to the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League last season.
Shan, the former West Brom caretaker Head Coach, had a stellar season as U18 Head Coach last season, winning the U18 Premier League and FA Youth Cup.
President of Football Operations Monchi said: “The club is very excited by the talent of our Academy players. Jimmy has shown his ability to conduct and develop players with the U18s and we look forward to watching him work with our U21s.”
June 12, 2025
Leman leaves Swansea for Portsmouth role
Swansea's Head of Performance Intelligence Ian Leman has left the club to join fellow Championship club Portsmouth.
Leman becomes Pompey’s Elite Performance Insight Lead and has worked for the club before as Performance Improvement Consultant during the 2023/24 season. He was also advising Swansea during the same period before joining the Welsh club full-time in October 2024.
Before working in football, Leman spent 12 years in the UK military, including three tours of Afghanistan leading elite teams on military intelligence operations and working on defence liaison operations in the Middle East and South East Asia.
June 5, 2025
Carter lands First Team Operations role at Villa
Paul Carter has become the new First Team Operations Manager at Aston Villa.
Carter has been promoted from his role as Senior Kit and Equipment Manager, which he had held since joining the club three years ago, to replace Matt Bennett, who has taken up a similar role at Al Ain Club in the United Arab Emirates.
He has also worked as Assistant Kit Man at Birmingham City, Assistant Kit Manager at Stoke City and Kit and Equipment Manager at Cardiff City – a job he had for more than five-and-a-half years before moving to Villa Park in the summer of 2022.
June 4, 2025
Sport Scientist Scott leaves Southampton
First Team Sport Scientist Sam Scott is leaving Southampton after 13 years at the club.
Scott originally joined the club staff in December 2012 as an Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach and went on to perform the same role for the club’s Under-9 to Under-16 players until being appointed to his first team role in December 2020.
He said on LinkedIn: “It wasn’t an easy decision to step away from somewhere that’s given me so much, both professionally and personally. Saints has been where I’ve truly learned my trade.
“I’ve been lucky to have shared some boyhood dream moments and now feels the right time for a new chapter. I’m excited to put that experience into building something of my own helping others push forward with their physical performance.”
June 4, 2025
Badlan joins Aston Villa as Scout
Chris Badlan has been appointed as a Scout by Aston Villa.
Badlan returns to English football after nearly a year-and-a-half as Head of Recruitment at Aberdeen.
Before that, he spent nearly six years at Wolverhampton Wanderers – four as Technical Recruitment Officer before being promoted to Head of Emerging Talent.
From there he had a brief spell at Norwich City as Head of European Scouting and then more than four-and-a-half years as Head of Recruitment at Coventry City. In-between that and his job with Aberdeen, he spent five months as Sporting Director at Blackpool.
TGG Members: Aston Villa staff profiles
May 30, 2025
Analyst Bailey leaves Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur's Lead Performance Insights Analyst Chloe Bailey has left the club to take up a new job in Norway.
Bailey joined the club in October 2019 as Post Match Performance Analyst, before being promoted to Data Analyst and then Lead Data Scientist in June 2023. She played a key role in Spurs’ Football Insights department led by Fred Leth.
She has been appointed as Lead Football Data Analyst/Scientist for the Norwegian Football Association.
TGG Members: Tottenham Hotspur staff profiles
May 30, 2025
Jones leaves Kansas to take up Cambodian role
Gerard Jones has left his role at Sporting Kansas City to become Head Coach of Cambodian Premier League side Visakha FC.
Jones spent three-and-a-half years as Director of Coaching in the MLS side’s Youth department, setting up a new Youth Academy Affiliate – Sporting City North.
Rick Ashcroft, who was made redundant from his role in Manchester United’s Academy in September as part of the club’s cost-cutting programme, will be joining Jones as his Assistant and will also become Visakha’s Academy Manager.
May 21, 2025
Derby appoint Clements as Head of Goalkeeping
Paul Clements has been appointed as Derby County's Head of Goalkeeping.
Clements initially joined the Rams on an interim basis in February after John Eustace became Head Coach.
He has now signed a contract until the summer of 2028 and will oversee the Men’s First Team and Academy goalkeepers.
The 40-year-old has previously had senior roles with Stoke, Norwich and Huddersfield, where he was for nine years, and Academy roles at Wolves and Middlesbrough.
Leigh Bromby, who was Academy Manager and then Head of Football Operations at Huddersfield, has described Clements as: “The best coach, goalkeeper or otherwise, that I’ve worked with.”
May 14, 2025
Tivey joins Chelsea as Physical Performance Coach
David Tivey has been appointed as a Physical Performance Coach at Chelsea.
Tivey was previously the Head of Performance at Nottingham Forest and Swansea City, working under Steve Cooper. Prior to this, Tivey was a Performance Coach with the Football Association for seven years, again working with Cooper. The duo won the Under-17 World Cup with England in 2017.
For the last nine months, Tivey has been working as a Consultant with The FA, primarily with the men’s U20s. His move to Chelsea sees him reunited with Bryce Cavanagh, who was Head of Performance for The FA from 2016 to 2023.
Cavanagh has been the Director of Performance at Chelsea since October 2023.
May 10, 2025
Cairney appointed Lead First Team Scout by Blackburn
Dundee United Head of Recruitment Michael Cairney has joined Blackburn Rovers as Lead First Team Scout.
Cairney had worked at Tannadice for a year and prior to that worked for Sport Republic, the owners of Southampton. He has also been Head of Scouting at Doncaster and Head of Recruitment at Barnet.
Former Manchester United Central European Scout Piotr Sadowski recently joined Rovers as a Senior Scout.
The Championship club have been without a Head of Recruitment since John Park left the club in November 2024.
May 9, 2025
Hunter appointed Head of Coaching by Burnley
Wrexham’s Jimmy Hunter has been appointed as the new Head of Coaching at Burnley.
Hunter was the Head of Coaching at Stoke City for a decade, up to the end of the 2022/23 season, before joining Wrexham as their Head of Coach Development.
Burnley have been without a permanent Head of Coaching since Ash Higgins left to become a Coach Developer with The Football Association in November last year. Richard Geoghegan, the Assistant Head of Coaching, has been doing the job on an interim basis since then.
Now Hunter has been appointed to the role (which was advertised on TGG Jobs) on a permanent basis.
April 28, 2025
Scott joins Global Football Holdings after leaving Charlton
Andy Scott, who stepped down as Charlton’s Technical Director in February, has been appointed Head of Recruitment for Global Football Holdings.
The US-based ownership group is a co-owner of FC Augsburg in Germany and a majority owner of Estoril Praia in Portugal and SK Beveren in Belgium. Its Global Head of Football is Scott McLachlan, the former Head of International Scouts at Chelsea.
Scott was Technical Director at Charlton for almost two years and has also been Head of Recruitment at Nottingham Forest, Swansea and Brentford and Sporting Director at Watford.
April 23, 2025
Forouhandeh joins Brentford as Data Scientist
Brentford have appointed Arian Forouhandeh as a Data Scientist.
Forouhandeh moves to west London from Wolves, where he worked for five-and-a-half years – first as the club’s Under-18s’ Sports Scientist and then, from June 2022, as their physical performance insights lead.
On his LinkedIn page, he says his role with the Bees will be to “oversee data collection and lead in data processes across the Performance and Medicine department as well as development of physical testing data systems and processes”.
His profile adds that he is undertaking “current research focusing on developing a predictive model that significantly enhances injury prevention strategies in professional football”.
April 16, 2025
Smith promoted to full-time Head of Recruitment by Stockport
Jonathan Smith has been promoted to full-time Head of Recruitment at Stockport County.
The former Chorley Assistant Manager joined Stockport in 2020 as Lead Scout for the North, before becoming part-time Head of Recruitment in 2021 – while also working as the Assistant Headteacher of a school.
With Simon Wilson having moved from Director of Football to CEO in February, County have now decided to appoint Smith on a full-time basis.
Wilson said: “Smudge has been with us since day one of Mark Stott’s ownership, and much of the success we have had has been down to his hard work in identifying the right players for each step of our journey. When he pushes on a player, I have learned to listen.
“But recruitment is actually way more than the players you sign. For every one of those, there are many more we are considering, we have to keep lots of balls in the air and maintain relationships and reputation.
“His conduct and communication is first class and he creates a brilliant impression of the club – even when we are changing our minds last minute or giving disappointing news.
“In some ways things will stay the same, but his arrival on a full-time basis will give me more opportunity to spend time with other departments across the club.
“He joins as a senior member of the football management team and I couldn’t be more certain of the positive impact he’ll have in recruitment, but also all other areas.”
April 2, 2025
Kavanagh appointed Head of North Academy Recruitment by Leeds
Marcus Kavanagh has left Arsenal after 17 months to become Head of North Academy Recruitment for Leeds United.
Kavanagh worked as an Emerging Talent Scout, focusing on players aged 14 to 21 in the North West, for Arsenal from December 2023.
April 1, 2025
Moxon to join Brighton as First-Team Doctor
Former Liverpool and Manchester United First-Team Doctor Jim Moxon is to join Brighton at the end of the season.
Moxon worked for Liverpool from 2016 to 2022, at both Academy and first-team level, before joining United in 2023, initially on an interim basis before being made permanent.
At Brighton, he will work under Head of Medicine Florian Pfab, who joined from Eintracht Frankfurt last July. Brighton have been seeking a permanent Club Doctor since Vicann During left for personal reasons towards the end of 2023, following less than a year in post.
Since then, the club have been using several doctors on a part-time basis. Moxon is currently serving his notice period at Manchester United.
March 12, 2025
Radmore promoted to Head of Analysis at West Ham
Charlie Radmore has been promoted to Head of Performance Analysis by West Ham.
Radmore joined the Hammers as Lead First Team Pre-Match Analyst in May 2019 for his second stint with the club, having also been with them from 2011 to 2016.
In the interim he had worked as First Team Performance Analyst for Orlando City, Norwich City and Crystal Palace. Radmore has effectively replaced Jamie Osman as Head of Performance Analysis at West Ham.
Osman left in the summer of 2024 prior to the arrival of Julen Lopetegui and is now Head of Analysis at Ipswich Town.