Macaulay appointed as Manchester United Head of Senior Scouting
Written by
Ian Westbrook
November 26, 2025
Kyle Macaulay has been appointed as Manchester United’s Head of Senior Scouting and will start his new role on January 5th.
Macaulay will report into Director of Recruitment Christopher Vivell, who he worked with at Chelsea from 2022 to 2023 when Vivell was Technical Director and Macaulay Head of Scouting.
His appointment is the latest change to the structure of United’s recruitment department.
Vivell arrived initially on an interim basis from the Blues in July 2024 and was made permanent the following February. He reports into Director of Football Jason Wilcox.
The club have split their scouting into senior, which will be run by Macaulay, and emerging talent, which is split between UK, European and international.
In two waves of redundancies this year, Director of Scouting Steve Brown left United in May, with the club also significantly cutting the number of scouts they employed, and Emerging Talent Lead Scout David Harrison left in July.
Speculative letter led to off-field career
Macaulay is no stranger to the Premier League, having worked with Graham Potter at Brighton, Chelsea and West Ham.
He first joined Potter in April 2012 at Swedish club Ostersunds, after writing to him asking if there were any playing opportunities at the club. Macaulay said: “He got back to me saying that his squad was full, but he was looking to recruit staff.”
Macaulay spent an initial six months in northern Sweden, having been “at a bit of a career crossroads” when he arrived. He quickly decided that being a staff member suited him more than playing. In 2013, he said: “My role has gradually grown to the point that I don’t really miss playing. I’ve got that hunger as a coach or analyst, which I didn’t have as a player by the time this opportunity came around.”
He became Head of Performance Analysis and ended up staying for six years, before following Potter to Championship side Swansea City as Head of Recruitment.
In 2019, they joined Brighton, where Macaulay was Assistant Head of Recruitment and he took up the same role when moving to Chelsea with Potter in 2022. He and stayed at Stamford Bridge in a different role as Chief Analyst after Potter was sacked in April 2023, before being reunited with him at the Hammers as Head of Recruitment in January this year.
He left the club in October following the departure of Potter and appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo as his replacement.
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