Parker to replace Brand as Man Utd Head of Analysis
Written by
Simon Austin
September 26, 2025
Southampton’s Ben Parker is to replace Paul Brand as the Head of Performance Analysis at Manchester United.
As TGG revealed in May, Brand is leaving the club after 12 years after taking voluntary redundancy. Since then, the Scot has got a new job, as Football Intelligence Lead within UEFA’s growing Performance Analysis department, which is led by Atle Rosseland.
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In this new role, Brand will lead analysis production for UEFA.
Parker worked for hometown club MK Dons for four years, rising to become their Lead Performance Analyst. This is where he first worked with Head Coach Russell Martin, who took him to Swansea City and then to Southampton in June 2023.
Parker’s title at Southampton was First Team Tactics and Insight Analyst and he led the analytical process, “delivering impactful insights through a team of analysts.”
His move to Manchester United will reunite him with Director of Football Jason Wilcox, who was also his boss at Southampton. However, United did undertake an extensive recruitment process and interview 10 candidates for the role.
Parker’s official start date at Old Trafford is Monday October 6th and Brand will perform a handover before officially joining UEFA in November.
This year United have appointed a new: Director of Football (Wilcox), Director of Data (Michael Sansoni), Academy Director (Stephen Torpey), Head of Sports Medicine (Imtiaz Ahmed) and Head of Culture (Michael Farrell).
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