Roden appointed Director of Performance at Anderlecht
Roden worked with Mark Hughes for Blackburn, Stoke, QPR and Wales
Written by Training Ground Guru — June 16, 2020
DAMIAN RODEN has been appointed Director of Performance at Anderlecht, where he will be reunited with manager Vincent Kompany.
The duo worked together at Manchester City, where Roden was Head of Sports Science and Kompany was a midfielder turned defender.
Roden also has a long-standing relationship with Anderlecht’s Under-21 coach, Craig Bellamy, having worked with him for both City and Wales.
“Privileged to be joining Anderlecht and attempt to help restore this historic club to its former glory years," Roden tweeted. "Huge thank you to Vincent Kompany for the invitation, I look forward to working with you again! The ultimate aim...Champions League.”
The team, which has won 34 domestic league titles, finished a disappointing eighth in the 2019/20 Belgian Pro League, which was ended prematurely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kompany was appointed manager of Anderlecht last July. After a disastrous start to the season, Franky Vercauteren was brought in as Head Coach, with the Belgium international nominally staying on as manager.
There is one other former Manchester City man working with the Belgian giants. Lee Mooney, who left the Etihad last November after six years, has been working as a data science consultant for the Belgian side for the last seven months.
He had been City's Head of Data Insights and Decision Technology since September 2015, responsible for providing data-driven insights into recruitment, performance and sports science across the City Football Group of clubs.
Roden joins from the Premier League, where he had been one of two Sports Science and Medical Performance Support Auditors for the new Professional Game Academy Audit Company.
The other, Rich Buchanan, has also left after less than a year, to become Head of Performance for Cypriot side Pafos.
Roden is hugely experienced, having worked for Bolton, Blackburn, QPR, Stoke and Seattle, as well as for Manchester City and Wales. His longest stint was at Stoke, and he did a frank interview with TGG last May about his experiences with the club.
“The DNA of Stoke changed,” he said. “The players that came in didn’t buy into a hard training culture. They felt, ‘No, we’re footballers’. Well, yes, but you’re in the Premier League and you need to run.”
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