Southampton staff profiles

DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS

Mark Bitcon

Nationality: English

Joined Saints in June 2023 from England Rugby, where he was Head of Athletic Performance and Innovation. Had also worked for Wigan Warriors and Manchester City Academy. Promoted to Head of Football Operations after Director of Football Jason Wilcox left for Manchester United in April 2024.

MANAGER

Russell Martin

Nationality: Scottish

Played more than 500 senior games and won 29 caps for Scotland. Has since marked himself out as one of the brightest prospects in management following two seasons with MK Dons and two with Swansea City. Outlined his beliefs on and off the pitch on Episode #28 of the TGG Podcast.

ASSISTANT

Matt Gill

Nationality: English

Enjoyed a 17-year playing career spanning more than 500 appearances, including at Norwich, where he and Martin were team-mates. Extensive experience in coaching, first at Norwich and Ipswich, then with Martin at MK Dons, Swansea and now Southampton.

FIRST-TEAM COACH

Carl Martin

Nationality: English

Played in the lower leagues before starting his coaching journey at Watford's Academy. Joined Southampton in January 2019 as U18s coach and promoted to first-team duties in summer of 2022. Retained by Martin when he arrived in June 2023.

FIRST-TEAM COACH

Colin Calderwood

Nationality: Scottish

Joined in October 2023 after two-and-a-half years as Assistant at Northampton Town. Massively experienced, having been Manager at Northampton, Nottingham Forest, Hibernian and Cambridge United, as well as Assistant at clubs including Newcastle United, Norwich City, Brighton and Aston Villa. Knows Martin from their time together at Norwich (when Calderwood was Assistant and Martin was a player).

GOALKEEPING COACH

Dean Thornton

Nationality: English

Has known Martin since they were teenagers at Wycombe Wanderers. Has worked with the manager at both of his previous clubs, MK Dons and Swansea. Spent nine years as Head of Academy Goalkeeping at QPR before that.

HEAD OF SPORT SCIENCE

Tom Barnden

Nationality: English

Appointed in September 2023 and hugely experienced, having worked for Coventry City, Tottenham, Brighton, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Swansea City. Longest stint was with Brighton, for seven years, where he became Physical Performance Manager.

SPORT SCIENTIST

Rhys Owen

Nationality: Welsh

Was Head of Rehab under Martin at Swansea City.

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

Matthew Banks

Nationality: Welsh

Joined the club's Academy in February 2019, having previously worked in rugby union. Promoted to first team in July 2019.

SPORT SCIENTIST

Bill Styles

Nationality: English

Experienced practitioner. Assistant to Kenny McMillan at Celtic before moving to Southampton.

PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGIST

Malcolm Frame

Nationality: English

Has been working as a consultant at the club for two decades. Key in setting up the club's Learning Lab.

DOCTOR

Inigo Sarriegui

Nationality: Spanish

Replaced Thamindu Wedatilake as first team doctor in July 2019. Had previously worked with the Academy since 2015 and with Team Sky.

HEAD OF PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL SERVICES

Steve Wright

Nationality: English

Moved to St Mary's in 2014 from West Brom as Senior Physio. Job title changed to Head of Medical Services for the Professional Phase in 2018.

LEAD PERFORMANCE PHYSIO

Neil Simms

Nationality: English

Head Physio at Nottingham Forest from 2017 to 2022 before joining Southampton. Has also worked at West Brom and Bristol City.

PHYSIO

Luke Thomas

Nationality: English

Joined from Birmingham City in March 2018 and promoted to the first team in October 2021.

SOFT TISSUE THERAPIST

Gianni Fenu

Nationality: Italian

Joined from Huddersfield in 2016. Has extensive experience in rugby league, having worked for Bradford Bull and Leeds Rhinos.

THERAPIST

Chris Lovegrove

Nationality: English

Long-standing member of staff. Explains in this video how the department has changed during his time at the club.

SPORTS THERAPIST

Jack Curson

Nationality: English

Joined club in 2017 after five years with Reading.

TACTICS & INSIGHTS ANALYST

Ben Parker

Nationality: English

Started off in a coaching role with MK City Ladies and went on to hold strength and conditioning roles with the Academies at Leicester Tigers and Warwickshire Cricket. Became Academy Performance intern at MK Dons in August of 2017 and promoted to assistant first-team performance analyst in July 2018, before moving to the lead role a year later. Moved with Martin to Swansea and now Southampton.

SET PIECE ANALYST

Lewis Mahoney

Nationality: Welsh

Joined from Bristol Rovers, where he held the same role, in December 2023. Also previously worked for Swansea City for almost two years.

Head of Data & Research

Joe Ferrelly

Nationality: English

Employed by owners Sport Republic, working for both Southampton and Goztepe in Turkey. Focuses on recruitment but also responsible for "building and developing advanced proprietary data models to support decision-making across all departments”, including coaching, player development, sport science and medical. Joined in June 2023 after four years as Data Analyst at Everton.

Player Insights (Recruitment) Analyst

Jonathan Kaye

Nationality: English

Arrived from Cambridge United, where he was first-team performance analyst, in May 2021.