Watford staff profiles
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Pen pics of Watford's coaching, science, medicine and analytics staff. To see staff profiles for other clubs, click here.
FOOTBALL EXECUTIVES
CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Scott Duxbury
Nationality: English
Qualified as a lawyer and worked in that capacity for West Ham before becoming their chief executive. His time at Upton Park was controversial though, with the club fined £30m because of the Carlos Tevez affair, and he left in 2010 when David Gold and David Sullivan took over. Has been at Watford since 2012, when the Pozzo family took over, and is a key figure on both the football and business sides of the club.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Filippo Giraldi
Nationality: Italian
Watched the Hornets for the Pozzo family prior to their takeover in 2012. Promoted from chief scout to current role in 2016.
SPORTING DIRECTOR
Cristiano Giaretta
Nationality: Italian
Appointed in August 2020. Knows the Pozzos well from his time as Sporting Director at Udinese. Was credited with discovering a young Bruno Fernandes when he was at Novara in Serie B in 2012.
ANALYSIS & SCOUTING
Miguel Rios
Nationality: English
Joined from Opta Pro, where he was Head of Football, in August 2020. Highly experienced, having held senior recruitment roles with Fulham, Wolves and Brentford.
COACHING
HEAD COACH
Vladimir Ivic
Nationality: Serbian
Won two league titles with Maccabi Tel-Aviv and has also managed Paok Salonika. Appointed in August 2020.
ASSISTANT
Miloš Veselinovic
Nationality: Serbian
Uefa Pro Licence holder who coached at several Serbian teams before assisting Ivic at Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
GOALKEEPER COACH
Christos Kelpekis
Nationality: Greek
First worked with Ivic at Paok Salonika and went with him to Maccabi Tel-Aviv and now Watford.
SCIENCE & MEDICAL
HEAD OF MEDICAL
Dr Ian Hamilton
Nationality: English
Promoted to this new role in 2016.
DOCTOR
Matthew Ogunsanya
Nationality: English
Joined as Academy doctor in July 2017 and promoted to first team a year later.
SPORTS SCIENTIST
Lee Stafford
Nationality: English
Joined the club as an intern in October 2015. Went full time with the U21s in July 2016 and promoted to the first team in July 2018.
PHYSIO
Pete Webb
Nationality: English
Recruited from Leyton Orient, where he was Head Physio, in March 2017.
PHYSIO
Daniel Simm
Nationality: English
Was U23 physio for a year before becoming Head of Medical at Peterborough in June 2018. That role only lasted five months, before Simm returned to Watford as first-team physio in October 2018.
ANALYSTS
PERFORMANCE ANALYST
James Best
Nationality: English
Joined as an intern in July 2014. Full-time since August 2016.
