Rees succeeds Prosser as General Manager of Academy Audit Company

FORMER Swansea City Academy Manager Nigel Rees has been appointed General Manager of the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC).

The Welshman had been doing the job on an interim basis since Gareth Prosser left to become Academy Director at Everton in June 2022.

Now, following an external recruitment process, he has secured the role permanently and clubs were informed of the news shortly before Christmas, although it has not yet been announced publicly.

PGAAC was set up in 2018 by the Premier League, Football League and Football Association to quality-assure Academies. Previously, an external company, Double Pass, had been contracted to do this, but PGAAC was launched as a “game-owned alternative.”

As we wrote earlier this month, PGAAC is currently hallways through its first cycle of full-assessment audits.

Rees worked for Swansea City’s Academy for 12 years before joining PGAAC as an auditor in leadership and management in January 2021. He first joined the Swans as a part-time coach at their development centres in 2008 and went on to become Academy Operations Manager and then the overall Academy Manager, in January 2014.

During his time with the Academy a number of players progressed to the Swans first team, including Joe Rodon, Ben Davies, Oli McBurnie (pictured above) and Daniel James.

In 2016/17, the Swans Under-23s won the double of Premier League 2 Division 2 and the Premier League Cup. There was also progress off the pitch during Rees's tenure, with the club further developing their Landore facility.

However, the Academy did move down to Category 2 status at the start of 2020/21 after four years in the top tier.