Franklin leaves Reading after 14 years
Franklin (left, with Dave Beasant) joined his hometown club in December 2005
Written by Simon Austin — March 10, 2020
ED FRANKLIN has left Reading after more than 14 years and is currently working as part of Arsene Wenger’s Talent Development team at Fifa.
Franklin, who was born in Reading and is a lifelong Royals fan, worked in senior positions across both the Academy and first team during his time with the club.
From July 2016 to March 2018, he was Head of Elite Performance, before becoming Head of Academy Elite Performance.
He told TGG: “I worked with some amazing people and had a great experience at Reading. Now it’s onto the next project.”
Rui Santos, who arrived at the club with former manager Jose Gomes in 2018, is Reading’s current fitness coach.
Franklin has set up his own consultancy business and is currently doing a six-month contract at Fifa as their Performance Support Manager working on Wenger's Talent Development Programme. The first phase is working with the member associations on information gathering before delivery.
As Fifa’s Head of Global Football Development, Wenger launched the Programme at the start of the year and all 211 member associations are now entitled to an assessment of their “high-performance ecosystem” in both men’s and women’s football, including all national teams, domestic leagues, scouting projects and Academies.
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