Cox leaving Manchester United to become Everton Technical Director
Written by
Simon Austin
June 18, 2025
Academy Director Nick Cox is leaving Manchester United after nine years to become the Technical Director at Everton.
Cox joined United in May 2016 from Sheffield United and has been one of the most prominent and respected figures in youth development in England.
He joined as Academy Operations Manager, working alongside Nicky Butt, and was promoted to Head of Academy three years later and then to Academy Director in October 2022.
Since his promotion to Academy Director, 29 Academy players have gone on to make first-team debuts for United, with 25% of the club’s total first-team minutes going to homegrown players.
There have also been about £100m of sales of Academy players in the last three seasons and United topped TGG’s Academy Productivity Rankings for three consecutive seasons – 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2020/21 – after Cox joined United.
Cox, who was our guest on Episode #15 of the TGG Podcast, was directly headhunted by Everton, who are undergoing a restructure following their takeover by the Friedkin Group last December.
The Toffees are putting a new football leadership team together and have already hired Nick Hammond from Leeds United, as Head of Trading/ Negotiating, and Chris Howarth has joined as Head of Strategy.
Cox will remain at United for the coming months to support a “smooth transition”, with a succession plan already underway at United.
Speaking on the TGG Pod in 2020, Cox said: “My own personal mantra has always been that the journey is more important than the destination. I think that is widely accepted in our organisation as well – that there is a higher existence than just churning out footballers in a sterile fashion.
“We were proud to have hit that magical figure of 4,000 consecutive games with a homegrown player in the squad dating back 82 years. It’s something the fans demand, something the directors want to see, something the manager firmly believes in, and that’s wonderful.
“This is about more than just football though.”
There has been almost a complete overhaul at senior football staff at Manchester United in the last few months, with Head of Performance Analysis Paul Brand, Director of Insights and Innovation Richard Hawkins, Director of Football Operations David Harrison and Director of Scouting Steve Brown all leaving.
Jason Wilcox is now in overall charge of football operations after being promoted from Technical Director to Director of Football.
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