Sporting Director Bromby leaves Huddersfield Town after nine years
Bromby has been a key figure at Huddersfield during the last nine years
Written by Training Ground Guru — June 13, 2023
SPORTING DIRECTOR Leigh Bromby has left Huddersfield Town after nine years.
The 42-year-old joined as an Academy coach in 2014 and went on to become Academy Manager in 2018. At the end of 2019/20, the former Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday defender was named Head of Football Operations at the club and then Sporting Director.
As such, he was the leading football figure at the club, overseeing the first team, Academy, performance and medical, analysis and data.
A big focus was the development of players and staff, which was a subject he spoke about in depth (along with his staff) at TGG’s 2021 Individual Development Webinar.
During his time with the Academy, the Terriers scrapped their youth teams below the Under-18s and went Category Four. However, the club continued to give first-team opportunities to young players.
Last season, Huddersfield ranked ninth in the EFL for minutes for U20s (to April 17th). In total, seven U20s played a total of 2772 minutes for the first team. Since Bromby was appointed Academy Manager in 2018, there were 27 first-team debuts by homegrown players and 23% of all first-team minutes were from Academy products.
Jake Edwards, who was appointed Chief Executive yesterday with the takeover by American Kevin Nagle imminent, said: “On behalf of the club, I would like to thank Leigh for his achievements during his long association with Huddersfield Town.“This change comes as we look towards a fresh start at the club, and as we begin to build towards the start of the new season.”
The highlight of Bromby’s tenure was the Terriers reaching the Championship play-off final in 2021/22, where they lost to Nottingham Forest.
However, the following summer Head Coach Carlos Corberan resigned and last season was a struggle, with Neil Warnock returning in February to save the club from relegation.
Meanwhile, Goalkeeper Coach Paul Clements has also left the Yorkshire club. He joined as Head of Academy Goalkeeping in July 2015 before being named Head of Goalkeeping prior to the start of the 2017/18 Premier League campaign.
Clement was responsible not only for the day-to-day training of the first team goalkeepers but also for ensuring there was a pathway for young keepers to break through from the Academy. Alongside this, he worked closely with the recruitment team to bring in new goalkeepers.
Edwards said: “Paul can depart his role at Huddersfield Town with a lot of pride in what he’s achieved here. He leaves the goalkeeping department in good shape as we look towards the new season.
“Much like the departure of Leigh Bromby, this change has been made in order to refresh our football department ahead of the new season.”
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