Walker returns to UK as Brighton Head of Performance
Gary Walker: Starts work at Brighton in the summer
Written by Training Ground Guru — April 30, 2024
Former Manchester United Head of Strength and Conditioning Gary Walker is returning to the UK after five years to become Head of Performance at Brighton.
Walker worked for United for 11 years before moving to the United States as Director of Sports Performance for FC Cincinnati in March 2019. At Brighton he replaces Adam Brett, who exited as Head of Medical and Performance after a decade in December.
Whereas Brett was in ultimate charge of both Performance and Medical, they now have separate heads and German Florian Pfab will come in to be Brighton's new Head of Medicine.
The duo will officially take up their new roles in the summer, ahead of Brighton’s pre-season. Pfab has spent the last five years as Medical Director and Head Physician at Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as running his own private clinic in Munich. Prior to this, he had lengthy spells at FC Ingolstadt and Bayern Munich and is “a specialist in sports medicine, dermatology, acupuncture, allergology, nutrition, manual therapy and chiropractics,” the club said.
Brighton Technical Director David Weir said: "After an extensive and thorough search process, we are delighted that Florian and Gary will be joining us this summer. Both have excellent experience in their respective professional fields, and what has been clear in the recruitment process is that they share our vision of the performance environment for our men's and women's staff and players.
"We have developed a world-class training facility and our aim is to give our men's and women's first-team, and Academy squads the best possible medical and sports science support.”
In a separate statement, FC Cincinnati thanked Walker for his work over the last five years and wished him well.
General Manager Chris Albright said: “He has been instrumental in the growth and professionalisation of our sports performance and medical teams, and a big contributor to the quality of environment we have at this club.
“While it will be tough to lose Gary, we are excited for him and his family and wish him success in this new opportunity.”
Walker added: “I am proud to leave the club in a better place and wish everybody at FC Cincinnati the best for the future.”
