TGG Live 2024

Tom Vernon (Right to Dream)

Founder and Executive Vice Chair of Right to Dream, a football-focused organisation focused on unlocking the potential of young people. Tom started Right to Dream Ghana from his home in 1999. Now it is Africa’s leading football Academy. Right to Dream also own FC Nordsjælland, an MLS franchise in San Diego and Academies in Egypt and Sierra Leone.

Simon Hallett (Plymouth Argyle)

Chairman and owner of Plymouth Argyle. Has taken them from League Two to the Championship. The former Chief Investment Officer of $80bn asset manager Harding Loerner joined Argyle's Board in 2016, becoming majority owner in 2018. Ambition is to make them a sustainable Championship side challenging for promotion to Premier League.

Laurence Stewart (Chelsea)

Chelsea Sporting Director since October 2022. Prior to this, was Technical Director at AS Monaco and Global Head of Scouting for the Red Bull group. Started his career in analysis and was Head of Performance Analysis at Manchester City from 2014 to 2016.

Kevin Thelwell (Everton)

Everton's Director of Football and one of the most experienced leaders in the game. Was Academy Manager at Preston, Derby and Wolves before taking the Sporting Director role at Molineux. Was then Head of Sport for New York Bulls before joining his boyhood club Everton in March 2022.

Ben Knapper (Norwich City)

Sporting Director at Norwich City since November 2023. Prior to this worked for Arsenal for more than 13 years, as Lead Football Analyst and then Loans Manager. Described by former Arsenal Head of Analytics Sarah Rudd as "incredibly well versed in using data to analyse the game and in recruitment."

Danny Karbassiyoon (Arsenal)

Former pro player turned scout then product manager. After scouting the Americas for Arsenal for seven years, entered the start-up world, learning how to build products from the ground up. Returned to Arsenal in 2020 and now leads the club's football product development strategy across scouting/ recruitment and performance.

Sam Hayball (Arsenal)

Pathway and Loans Manager at Arsenal since October 2023. Has worked for the Gunners for a decade, going from Junior Academy Analyst to First Team Analyst and now the crucial pathway and loans role.

Gordon Greer (Brighton)

Pathway Development Manager for Brighton. Made more than 200 senior appearances for the Seagulls before joining their staff, initially as a Senior Scout and then Pathway Development Manager from February 2022.

Turid Knaak (IMPECT)

Former Germany international who played for Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen & VfL Wolfsburg. Now Business Development & Communications Manager at the event data provider IMPECT, where she provides insights to football clubs into the company’s unique data set

Stephen Clarke (IMPECT)

Football Operations Manager at IMPECT, providing insights for teams across the globe. With a background combining Physics and Sports Business, developed a data-led recruitment strategy at Wycombe Wanderers, having previously worked for the Football Association of Ireland.

Mo Bobat (Derby County)

Director of Cricket at Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL and Head of Sports Intelligence at Derby County in the Championship. Prior to this, worked for England Cricket for more than 12 years, becoming Performance Director in November 2019.

Chris Shumba (Manchester United)

Head of Data Operations at Manchester United. Worked as a cleaner and support worker before a University placement enabled him to develop his data programming skills. Has since led the machine learning engineering function at an online retailer. Now drives innovation and excellence in data engineering and machine learning engineering with football data.

Vignesh Jayanth (AS Monaco)

Head of Insights and Technology at AS Monaco in France. Before this worked as a Data Scientist for Stade Rennais for two years and also has experience as an analyst in England.

John-Mark Sisman (Zelus Analytics)

Data Scientist with Zelus Analytics, providing sports intelligence for pro teams. Prior to this worked as a Data Scientist for City Football Group for almost four years.

Lee Mooney (MUD Analytics)

Former Director of Football Insights at City Football Group, where he led the creation and evolution of the group’s data science capabilities. Now Managing Director of MUD Analytics, an executive consultancy and decision-support software company he co-founded in 2019. Background prior to football was in industry, with Barclays and Deloitte.

Gijs Beenker (Stats Perform)

Manages a team of game changers and performance data experts at Stats Perform. They support leagues, clubs and federations all over the world to reach their goals across performance, recruitment, analysis, player development & data implementation.

Cath Bishop (Olympian & Author)

Competed as a rower at three Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in 2004. Was a diplomat for more than a decade, specialising in conflict issues, with postings to Bosnia and Iraq. Now works with a range of organisations to raise performance, transform cultures and develop effective leadership. Her book, 'The Long Win', challenges the often narrow lens we have on what winning means.

Dr Claire-Marie Roberts (Coventry City)

A Chartered Psychologist, Scientist and BASES-accredited Sport & Exercise Scientist who is Performance Director at Coventry City. Has worked in various roles in men’s and women’s pro football for 20 years, including nearly a decade at the Premier League leading transformational change in elite development.

Ruben Selles (Reading)

Manager of League One Reading and a contender for EFL manager of the season in 2023/24. Coached in Spain, Greece, Russia, Azerbaijan and Denmark before becoming assistant and then manager at Southampton. Despite huge off-field problems, led Reading to League One safety in 2023/24.

Rui Faria (Former Chelsea, Real Madrid & Inter Milan Assistant)

The most successful assistant in football history. Worked with Jose Mourinho for 17 years, winning 23 major trophies in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain. Won the Qatar Cup in his year in charge of Al-Duhail.

Lee Johnson (Former Bristol City & Sunderland Manager)

Has more than 10 seasons as a manager under his belt, despite only being 43. Took Bristol City to the semi-finals of the League Cup and won the EFL Trophy with Sunderland.

Stephen Torpey (Brentford)

Academy Director at Brentford. Before joining the Bees in January 2024, worked for Manchester City for almost a decade, latterly as their Head of Coaching. Ambition is to make Brentford a Category One Academy, but also the "most caring and progressive Academy in the world."

Mark Carter (Football Association)

National Lead for Women's Player Insights at the Football Association. Is passionate about understanding how people learn and develop skills, and how structures and cultures influence performance. Uses data science to explore this passion.

Jes Buster Madsen (FC Copenhagen)

Head of Research and Development at FC Copenhagen and a world leader in the application of cognitive neuroscience in football. Is currently focusing on integrating cognitive neuroscience with player development, training methodology and talent identification.

Paul Balsom (UEFA)

One of the most experienced performance leaders in world football. Performance Manager for the Sweden national team for 26 years, 340+ matches and nine major tournaments. Also Head of Performance Innovation at Leicester City for almost a decade. Currently a consultant for UEFA and Tigres in Mexico.

John Iga (Former Norwich City, England and Huddersfield)

Most recent role was as Head of Strategy and Innovation at Norwich City. Said the role was about trying to "out-smart and out-think" wealthier rivals. Hugely experienced, having been Head of Performance at Huddersfield, Head of Sport Science for the FA and Head of Academy Science and Medicine for Wolves.

Jeroen Peters (Former Ajax & Club Brugge)

Has almost 20 years’ experience in sports physiotherapy, performance training and management. Has worked for elite teams including Ajax, FC Utrecht and Club Brugge, where he was Head of Performance. His holistic approach integrates medical expertise, sports science, nutrition, psychology, rehabilitation and technology.

Bendik Hareide (Burton Albion)

Dedicated more than 16 years to player development in the Academy of five-time Norwegian champions Molde FK, as well as being a Board member. Became Sporting Director at Burton following takeover by Nordic Football Group in June 2024. Father Åge played for Manchester City and is the current Head Coach of Iceland.

Mark Robinson (Burton Albion)

Appointed Head Coach of Burton Albion this season after two years at Chelsea, where he was U21s boss. Prior to this worked for AFC Wimbledon for 18 years, helping to structure the club's Academy before impressing as Head Coach of the first team with one of the youngest sides in League One.

Hugo Scheckter (Player Care Group)

Founder of The Player Care Group and one of the world’s leading authorities on Player Care. Has helped more than half of the Premier League clubs with their provision, as well as overseas sides. Has also served in senior Player Care roles at Indy Eleven (USA), Southampton, West Ham and Brentford, while consulting with elite clubs worldwide.

Simone Lewis (Performance Focus Ltd)

People developer in elite sport for more than two decades. Was Head of Learning during seven years at the Premier League and then Chief Culture Officer at Right to Dream. Now runs her own People Development Business, Performance Focus.

Sarah Mulkerrins (Host)

Sports broadcaster known mainly for her work over the last decade on BBC TV and radio, where she has covered World Cups, Olympics, World Championships and many of the biggest sports news stories. Will be at the upcoming Paris Olympics, reporting live for the BBC.

Matt Roberts (Moderator)

A sports presenter, writer and event host with 20 years’ experience covering the MotoGP World Championship, Winter Olympics, NFL and football for the BBC, ITV, Eurosport and Discovery. Graduated from the Master of Sport Directorship course at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2023.

Ben Rosenblatt (Moderator)

Dr Ben Rosenblatt is the Founder 292 Performance, a leading physical performance company. Over a 20-year career, Ben has led performance programmes for the England Men’s Senior Team and coached athletes at every Olympic Games since 2008.

Simon Austin (Moderator)

Founder of Training Ground Guru. Worked for BBC Sport for 13 years, as a journalist and producer, before founding TGG in 2017, with the objective of shining a light on the teams behind the teams in professional football.

Tom Goodall (Moderator)

Head of Customer Solutions for Skill Corner, the leaders in single-camera video tracking for sport. Prior to this, was Senior Solutions Consultant for Hudl. Is Senior Tactical Analysis Coach for Iceland (men's and women's) and has worked for English clubs including Swansea City, Derby County and Forest Green.