Top 10 stories of 2024

10: Jonathan Williams: Everton’s unseen problem solver
Everton Club Secretary & Head of Operations Jonathan Williams gave us the inside track on his job, which is one of the most important and under-rated roles in football. “These roles link the whole of the club together,” he told us. “Without that, all of the other functions can’t maximise their potential.”

9. Dier v Postecoglou: What constitutes tactical training?
After leaving Tottenham, defender Eric Dier said Ange Postecoglou “doesn’t do any tactical work”, which led the Australian Head Coach to counter, “that’s all we do every day.” It opened up an interesting debate about what exactly constitutes tactical training.

8. Rene Maric: From blogging to Bayern Munich
Austrian Rene Maric was our guest on Episode #61 of the TGG Podcast. He outlined how he had progressed from writing the cult tactics blog Spielverlagerung to being Assistant at Borussia Dortmund, Leeds United and Bayern Munich.

7. Norwich defy convention with new-look coaching team
When most Managers arrive at new clubs, they bring a coterie of staff. Not Johannes Hoff Thorup. The Dane joined Norwich City in the summer with just one Assistant, Glen Riddersholm – and they had never even worked together before. In this article, we investigated the logic of that approach – and whether it was the way for other clubs to go.

6. Mo Bobat: The cricket supremo bringing Sporting Intelligence to Derby County
Mo Bobat made his name as Performance Director for England Cricket, helping them win two World Cups with his data-driven approach. Now he has taken on a new role in a new sport – as Head of Sporting Intelligence for Derby County. He told TGG how the Championship club could benefit from enhanced decision-making.

5. Chelsea hire ex-Bournemouth Medical Director to lead revamped team
In July, we exclusively revealed that Dr Craig Roberts, the former Medical Director at AFC Bournemouth, was becoming Head of Performance Medicine at Chelsea. The Blues have undergone huge changes behind the scenes in 2024 under the new ownership of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.

4. Dan Ashworth: The first 90 days
This was a write-up of Dan Ashworth’s appearance on the Sporting Director panel at TGG Live 2023, in which he outlined how he approaches the first 90 days in a new job. In the end, he didn’t last much longer than 90 days as Sporting Director of Manchester United, as the club sacked him in December 2024 after just five months in post. 

3. Brentford’s Academy recruitment drive
This year Brentford became the first club to jump two Academy categories, from four to two. Their overriding ambition, under new Academy Director Stephen Torpey, is to build “the most caring and progressive football Academy in the world.” In this article, Torpey outlined the huge recruitment drive that was taking place to staff the Academy.

2. Anthony Gordon: Why I never do weight training
Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon opened up a debate about the efficacy of weight training in football. “I don’t do weight training at all, never,” he said. “Adding weight onto your muscles is just going to put you under more stress, resulting in more chance of injury.” Des Ryan, former Head of Athletic Development at Arsenal’s Academy, countered: “There are some misconceptions that strength equals loss of range of motion, loss of speed; that it equals bulk and interferes in skills. Not true.”

1. 2024 Academy Productivity Rankings
Here it is, our best-read article of 2024! After a two-season hiatus, our Academy Productivity Rankings were back, produced by Josh Schneider-Weiler. Chelsea retained top spot, stretching even further ahead of the opposition. There were lots of other interesting achievements and insights to uncover in the table, which ranks all 86 Category One to Three clubs according to the number of England-qualified players they have produced.