TGG Live: Elite speakers & sponsors for industry-leading conference!

Phil Giles is Director of Football at Brentford, one of the most innovative clubs in European football. He joined the Bees in May 2015 and helped them gain promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 2021. They are now an established top flight side. Phil was our guest on Episode #35 of the TGG Podcast.

Dan Ashworth is Technical Director at Newcastle United and one of this country's most respected football leaders. He was Technical Director at West Brom, the Football Association and then Brighton before joining the Magpies in June 2022. He is now helping to implement a vision to help the club achieve long-term success. Dan was our guest on Episode #20 of the TGG Podcast.

Dave Reddin MBE is Chief Football Officer at CD Castellón in Spain and is taking a "disruptive approach to improvement". They are currently in the third tier and aim to be in La Liga within five years. Dave was previously Head of Strategy and Performance with the Football Association, Head of Performance for the British Olympic Association at London 2012 and fitness coach for England when they won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He was our guest on Episode #4 of the TGG Podcast.

David Sumpter is a Professor at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and co-founder of the Twelve Football data science consultancy. He works with leading clubs in England, Holland, Germany, Spain and Sweden. David has authored a number of books and given Google, TedX and Royal Institution talks. He was our guest on Episode #46 of the TGG Podcast.

Nick Roberts is Senior Race Strategy Analyst for Red Bull Racing. He is responsible for understanding performance expectations both before and during an F1 race weekend, delivering competitor analysis and leading a working group between strategy, vehicle performance and aerodynamics. Nick has worked for Red Bull Racing since 2016 and has a PhD in Geophysics.

Gary Probert has been the Director of Football Operations at Ipswich Town since November 2021, overseeing recruitment, loans, Academy and Women & Girls programmes. Prior to this, he worked for Bristol City for more than eight years, the majority of which was as Academy Manager during a successful period of developing homegrown players for the club. At Ipswich, he played a key role in the club’s promotion from League One last season and they are now flying high in the Championship.

Lee Mooney is Managing Director of MUD Analytics, a company he co-founded with Vincent Kompany and Klaas Gaublomme. He was previously Director of Football Insights at City Football Group, where he led the creation and evolution of the group’s data science capabilities. His background prior to football was in industry, with Barclays and Deloitte.

Stuart Webber is the Sporting Director of Norwich City. He has overseen two promotions to the Premier League in his time at the club and a rebuilding of their training ground, Academy and staffing. Prior to working with the Canaries he was Head of Football Operations at Huddersfield Town. Stuart was our guest on Episode #48 of the TGG Podcast.

Andrew Trimble had a distinguished rugby union career, playing 229 times for Ulster and winning 70 caps for Ireland. He was frustrated by scheduling and communication issues as a player and decided to do something about it once he retired. The result is the Kairos app, which streamlines all communications and operations across elite sports teams. Andrew spoke to TGG about Kairos in 2020 and we have maintained a strong partnership ever since.

Mariela Nisotaki is Head of Emerging Talent at Norwich City and a pioneer for women in football, being one of the only female scouts in the European game. Mariela joined the Canaries in June 2017 and has also worked for Swansea City and Atromitos in her homeland of Greece. Mariela was our guest on Episode #34 of the TGG Podcast.

Mladen Sormaz is Director of Football Analytics for 777 Partners, which own clubs including Genoa, Standard Liege and Vasco de Gama. He was previously the first Head of Analytics at Leicester City and is a thought leader on the application of data science in football.

Ben Smith is Head of International Business for BreakAway Data, helping the best athletes in the world own, control and use their data. Prior to this he worked for Chelsea for 16 years, latterly as their Head of Research and Innovation.

Jonny Whitmore is Data Analysis Manager at Stats Perform. The company work with 500 teams around the world to inform and enhance decision-making. Jonny delivered a superb presentation at TGG's 2022 Big Data Webinar - Quantifying Player Decision-Making With Predictive Data.

Chris Markham is Sporting Director at Bolton Wanderers. His role involves establishing an elite and innovative performance culture for the football department at the League One club. Previously, Chris was Game Insights Lead for the Football Association, with responsibility for projects, opposition intelligence and player data profiling.

Matt Bennett is First Team Operations Manager at Aston Villa. He has worked for the Villains since October 2019. Prior to this Matt was in charge of Team Operations and Player Liaison at Minnesota FC in the United States and he has also worked at Hull City.

Nick Sheppard is Head of Academy Operations at Sheffield United, a position he has held since August 2019. Prior to this he worked for Peterborough United for more than 10 years, starting off as their Community Manager and ultimately becoming Academy Manager.

Nick Cox is Academy Director at Manchester United and one of the most experienced youth football leaders in the country. Prior to joining United, in May 2016, he was Academy Manager at Sheffield United for three-and-a-half years and at Watford for 12 years. Nick was our guest on Episode #15 of the TGG Podcast.

Per Mertesacker became Arsenal’s Academy Manager in 2018 after a 15-year playing career. Per won the World Cup with Germany in 2014 to crown a 10-year international career in which he played for his country 104 times. The centre-back made 393 club appearances with Hannover 96, Werder Bremen and Arsenal, leading the Gunners to three FA Cup victories. As Arsenal’s Academy Manager, he develops a clear vision to create Strong Young Gunners.

Kris Van Der Haegen has been Belgium's Director of Coach Education for more than a decade and assistant of their women's senior team for five years. Kris has been at the heart of a revolution in the way Belgium coaches its youngsters and educates its coaches. This child-centred approach has inspired many other countries, including Germany.

Jonathan Hunter-Barrett is Academy Manager at Category One side Wolves. He joined the club as a foundation phase coach in 2011 and went on to become Head of Coaching and then, in June 2022, Academy Manager. Jonathan is an A Licence coach and also has a Masters in Sporting Directorship.

Sally Needham is Human Development and Performance Culture Lead at Sheffield United Academy. Before joining the Blades full-time in April 2022, Sally worked for the Football Association for more than 15 years as a coach developer and skills programme leader. Sally was our guest on Episode #44 of the TGG Podcast, giving us the lowdown on her unique role with the Blades.

Tony Strudwick is Director of Medical at West Brom and one of the most respected performance practitioners in British football. He was Head of Performance at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, during which time they won four Premier League titles and the Champions League. Tony has also worked for Arsenal, Wales, Sheffield Wednesday, England and West Ham and was our guest on Episode #13 of the TGG Podcast.

Dan Micciche is Player Development Lead Coach at Everton, responsible for aiding the transition of their players from Academy to first team. He is an experienced and innovative coach, having previously worked for Arsenal, MK Dons, England and Tottenham - at both youth and senior levels.

Daniel Simpson is Game Insights Analyst for the Football Association. His passion is enhancing understanding of the technical and tactical requirements needed to become elite. Before joining the FA, Dan worked for Wolves, West Brom and the Northern Ireland national team.

Kelsey Byrne is Women's National Coach Developer for the Football Association. Kelsey works across the women's professional game to support coaches on formal qualifications (A Licence) as well as supporting coaches on their continuing journey of development.

Jes Buster Madsen is Head of Research and Development at FC Copenhagen in Denmark. His specialism is integrating cognitive neuroscience with player development, training methodology and talent identification.

Charlotte Healy is assistant coach of Manchester United Women. She was previously the club's Academy Manager and Under-21s boss and has also worked for Manchester City, Liverpool and the Football Association.

Chris Domogalla is the fitness coach at Leeds United. He has previously worked with manager Daniel Farke at Borussia Monchengladbach, Krasnodar and Norwich City.

With nearly 30 years' experience in professional sport, Dave Carolan has seen performance support grow exponentially. Dave is currently Head of Performance at Millwall and has also held senior roles at Stoke City, Derby County, Birmingham City, Colchester United and Norwich City. He was also Head of EMEA for EDGE10.

Tom Little is Head of Performance at Sheffield United. He has more than two decades' experience in football, having also been Head of Performance at clubs including Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley, Huddersfield, Birmingham and Preston. As well as this, Tom is founder of Colour-Fit Ltd (now heroPro) - a nutrition and fitness resource that is revolutionising our approach to food.

Andrew Wilson is a Reader at Leeds Beckett University and an internationally recognised expert in perception, action and embodied cognition. Andrew is one of the founders of Southampton's Learning Lab and appeared on Episode #39 of the Training Ground Guru Podcast.

Ben Greenhough is Head of Sports Research at Rezzil, the world’s leading VR/XR platform for developing elite athletes. He was previously a Sport Scientist at Hull City.