Highlights of TGG Live 2023

HUNDREDS of staff from clubs and federations around the world - in football and beyond - were among those to gather in Manchester last week for two days of learning and networking at TGG Live.

This was our biggest-ever event, featuring 35 presenters and panellists who explored six themes: Sporting Directors, Recruitment and Analytics on Day One (October 9th) and Coaching, Academies and Performance on Day Two (October 10th).

The overall objective was to encourage the sharing of ideas and knowledge between both departments and organisations, which was why communications and scheduling experts Kairos were the perfect headline sponsors for the event. You can watch video highlights of the conference below and read a rundown after that.

Day One at the Hilton Deansgate began with a keynote presentation from Dave Reddin MBE, the former Head of Team Strategy and Performance for the Football Association and now Chief Football Officer for CD Castellon in Spain. Dave spoke about developing a strategy and What It Takes To Win (WITTW).

Next up was our heavyweight Sporting Director panel, featuring Newcastle United’s Dan Ashworth, Brentford’s Phil Giles and Norwich City’s Stuart Webber, moderated by Matt Roberts, discussing the past, present and future of this pivotal role.

The morning finished with a panel on team operations led by Kairos CEO and co-founder Andrew Trimble. The former Ireland rugby international spoke to Aston Villa’s Matt Bennett, Sheffield United’s Nick Sheppard and Rangers Academy Operations Executive Ben Mitchell about their roles and how they use Kairos.

Nick Roberts gave a valuable insight from outside football when he explained how Oracle Red Bull Racing - the newly-crowned constructors' champions in F1 - develop race strategy and use data to support their track-side team.

David, Mladen and Lee Mooney from MUD Analytics then joined Michael Nanopoulos from SkillCorner for an illuminating panel about 'Advancements in data analysis for supporting squad development'.

The day finished with Ben Smith from Breakaway Data delivering an insightful presentation on one of the biggest issues facing football: the need to give athletes control of their data.

Dan talked about the 'Technical development of players from Professional Development Phase to first team', using lots of video examples from his own coaching journey.

There was a double act from the Football Association in Game Insights Analyst Dan Simpson and Women's National Coach Developer Kelsey Byrne, who told us about 'Using analysis to inform coaching practice,' and Ben Greenhough from Rezzil then told us about one of the biggest recent innovations in coaching with 'How Virtual Reality Can Impact Session Design.'

The morning finished with an Academy focus, first with Manchester United Director of Academy Nick Cox presenting on the 'Non-negotiables of youth development'. Nick finished with a memorable and impassioned rallying cry for English Academies, saying, "I believe sport has the power to change lives and Academies are leading the way."

This was followed by a panel discussion with Arsenal Academy Manager Per Mertesacker and his Wolves counterpart Jon Hunter-Barrett, outlining the work they are doing as well as some of the challenges and opportunities for youth development in this country.

Natasha Patel, Assistant Academy Director at Southampton, said: “It’s been really good to listen to different speakers in the industry. The panels have been brilliant at answering different questions live and giving real-life situations for what is occurring in their day-to-day jobs and giving us that insight.”

Joel Bonner, Post-Match Analyst at Liverpool, said: “It’s been really good to get different perspectives and different ideas in the game, particularly to do with the Sporting Directors. I think that’s really opened up my eyes in terms of what that world looks like.”

Marc Nicholls, Technical Director at Columbus Crew, said: “The highlight was Dave Reddin, when he talked about strategy and long-term planning and I really liked the idea about the chips, in terms of prioritising certain needs within your club and really focussing on them.”