WELCOME to Training Ground Guru, your insight into the teams behind the teams in professional football. We’re not interested in transfer gossip, twisted soundbites, clickbait or ill-informed opinions.

That's the what, this is the why. This site is for anyone interested in the latest developments in analytics, coaching, conditioning, leadership and youth development, with news and innovations from practitioners, entrepreneurs and academics.

We believe the backroom staff are football's unsung heroes and this platform will give those coaches, sports scientists, medics, analysts and physios the spotlight they deserve. You can interact with us via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram using the buttons at the top of every page. Every Monday we send out a newsletter with the best of the week's news, features and videos, which you can subscribe to here.

Our monthly podcast, in association with Hudl, provides in-depth interviews with top names and has so far featured the likes of Eddie Jones, Gary Rowett, Les Ferdinand and Victor Orta. Meanwhile, our events offer the opportunity for readers to get up close to top practitioners who have featured on the site. You can read about those events here.

Training Ground Guru was shortlisted for Sport Website of the Year at the prestigious SJA Awards in 2017 and our stories have been picked up by national and international media, with features on Talksport and 5 Live.

Football coaching and performance is a burgeoning industry that never stands still and we hope to inform and entertain anyone seeking insight into the beautiful game. Let the Guru into your life!

Founder: Simon Austin has been a sports journalist for almost 20 years, writing for publications including the New York Times, Daily Telegraph, Sun and Daily Mail. From 2000 to 2013, he worked for the BBC, latterly as features editor of the BBC Sport website. Simon set up Training Ground Guru in February 2017 to shine a light on the work going on behind the scenes in professional football and edits the site on a daily basis.