Southampton Head of Sport Science Gross exits after a decade
Gross joined Saints from Leeds Rhinos in June 2013
Written by Simon Austin — May 29, 2023
SOUTHAMPTON Head of Sport Science and first-team fitness coach Alek Gross is leaving the club after a decade following their relegation from the Premier League.
As TGG has been reporting, Saints have had an almost complete clean sweep behind the scenes under new owners Sport Republic. They will begin next season with an almost entirely new senior backroom staff.
At the weekend, we revealed that Head of Performance Mark Jarvis was leaving after a decade.
The latest senior departure is Gross, who is one of the longest-serving performance practitioners in English football. He joined Southampton in June 2013 as Lead Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach and was promoted to Head of Sports Science in January 2014.
He went on to combine his role with that of first-team fitness coach in the summer of 2016 following the appointment of Claude Puel as manager.
Prior to this, Gross had worked for Leeds Rhinos rugby league team for six years, winning the Super League title in three consecutive seasons between 2007 and 2009.
On their website, Southampton describe his role as “managing the sports science department schedules and the delivery of services to the whole club from first team down into the Academy.”
Here is a list of all the senior exits from Southampton at the end of this season:
- Head Coach Ruben Selles is leaving and is set to be replaced by Swansea City’s Russell Martin.
- Director of Football Matt Crocker left the club in March and is now the Sporting Director of US Soccer. He has been replaced by Jason Wilcox, Manchester City’s Academy Director.
- Academy Manager Matt Hale is leaving the Saints after a decade.
- Lead Data Scientist Alex Kleyn is exiting to join Manchester United.
- Director of Performance Mark Jarvis is leaving after five years.
- Head of Sport Science Alek Gross leaving after a decade.
- Head of Senior Recruitment Joe Shields left in January to become Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent at Chelsea. He is set to be replaced by Aberdeen’s Darren Mowbray.
- Head of Youth Recruitment Dan Rice is leaving to become Head of Emerging Talent for Everton.
- Tom Stockwell has stepped down as Head of Scouting Operations to join Nottingham Forest. He has been replaced by Sam Stanton, who was previously Head of UK (South) Scouting for the Saints.
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