Pen pics of Southampton's coaching, science, medicine and analytics staff.

Performance Director Mark Bitcon says Southampton have a 'start-up culture' under owners Sport Republic, which is why they are early adopters of Sportlight, which delivers hyper-accurate tracking and performance insights.

Natasha Patel is Assistant Academy Director at Southampton and one of the most experienced women working in men's professional football. In Episode #64 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, she outlined her journey in football, how analysis has evolved and her experiences on either side of the Atlantic.

MANCHESTER UNITED have made an official approach to Southampton for their Director of Football Jason Wilcox. The Old Trafford club want to make Wilcox their Technical Director and have offered to pay Saints the equivalent of a full year of his salary.

RENE MARIC is one of the most exciting young coaches in Europe. At the age of 31, he is Head of Coach Development and Playing Philosophy at Bayern Munich and has worked for Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach. He told the TGG Podcast about his coaching journey and lessons.

RADHI JAIDI became the first Tunisian to play in the Premier League when he joined Sam Allardyce's Bolton in 2004 and he remains a trailblazer as one of the only black Muslim coaches in senior European football. On Episode #61 of the TGG Podcast, Jaidi told us about his journey as a player and coach.

SOUTHAMPTON have undertaken a huge restructure and restaffing of their Category One Academy aimed at building a “world-leading development programme for players and staff.”

AS manager of League One Reading, Ruben Selles has one of the toughest jobs in the Football League. On Episode #60 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, he explained what it's like to lead the crisis club.

SOUTHAMPTON will wait until the summer to appoint a new Set Piece Coach to replace Andreas Georgson, TGG understands.

HEAD of Tactical Analysis Scott Waters has left Southampton after 12 years and more than 500 competitive matches with the club.

BELGIUM'S Union Saint-Gilloise have marked themselves out as one of the smartest and most innovative clubs in Europe. In Episode #59 of the TGG Podcast, their Sporting Director, Chris O'Loughlin, gave insights into how they are managing to upset the established order.

LEE SKYRME has left Southampton after almost three years as the club abandon the model of Game Coach and Individual Development Coach introduced by Matt Crocker.

KEVIN THELWELL has been Director of Football during a tumultuous period at Everton. In Episode #58 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, Thelwell talked about what his role involves, formulating a long-term plan for the club and what the future might hold.

JES BUSTER MADSEN is Head of Research and Development at FC Copenhagen and a world leader in the application of cognitive neuroscience in football. In Episode #57 of the TGG Podcast he explained how and why brain training will be the next big growth area in football.

COLIN CALDERWOOD has been appointed First-Team Coach at Southampton following two-and-a-half years as Assistant Manager at Northampton Town.

FOR the last decade, Mark Leyland has been one of the foremost analysts in this country - and has gone on to become even more than that. He spoke to TGG about the evolution of his role at Liverpool and Newcastle and his current job as Head of Coaching Methodology at City Football Group.

SOUTHAMPTON have appointed new Under-21 and U18 coaches as part of a major revamp of roles in their Academy.

FOR almost a decade, Sarah Rudd was Vice President of Analytics for StatDNA and Arsenal, making her one of the most senior women in the Premier League. In this episode of the TGG Podcast, she told us about her work with Arsenal, her wider career and her thoughts on the future of analytics.

LIVERPOOL'S influential assistant Pep Lijnders was our guest on Episodes #53 and #54 of the TGG Podcast, giving in-depth insights into his work at the Anfield club.

FORMER Arsenal set piece coach Andreas Georgson has joined Southampton in the same role.

MANAGER Ian Evatt and Sporting Director Chris Markham are working in tandem to try and restore Bolton Wanderers to their former glories. They outlined their approach in Episode #52 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl.

SOUTHAMPTON have scrapped their B Team model following the exit of Dave Horseman to become Head Coach of Forest Green Rovers.

WHEN Irishman Conor Nestor got an unexpected opportunity to manage Svay Rieng in Cambodia, he grabbed it with both hands. He transformed the way they operated, including a complete revamp of their analysis and recruitment. Here he explains what he did and how it helped land the Cambodian league title.

ANDY GOLDIE has been appointed Academy Director at Southampton in a move that reunites him with manager Russell Martin.

SOUTHAMPTON Head of Technical Development Iain Brunnschweiler has left the club after almost six years. His exit has cast doubt on the future of the club's unique Learning Lab.

MARK BITCON has been appointed Director of Performance at Southampton as the club begin their behind-the-scenes rebuild.

JOE FERRELLY îs leaving Everton after four years to become Head of Data and Research for Sport Republic, working for Southampton and Goztepe in Turkey.

ARSENAL have a fantastic record of producing athletic Academy graduates. In Episode #50 of the TGG Podcast Des Ryan, the club's former Head of Academy Sports Medicine and Athletic Development, explains why and how.

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.

MARK JARVIS is leaving his role as Southampton Director of Performance Support as owners Sport Republic continue their clean sweep behind the scenes. Jarvis was hired from the English Institute of Sport in August 2018 as strategic lead for their performance and medical department across men's, women's and Academy.

SAM STANTON is being promoted to replace Tom Stockwell as Head of Scouting Operations at Southampton. Stockwell is leaving the club after almost 12 years to join Nottingham Forest.

BENFICA are the reigning UEFA Youth League champions and have the most profitable Academy in Europe. Their Technical Director Pedro Marques was our guest on Episode #49 of the TGG Podcast in association with Hudl.

SOUTHAMPTON Academy Director Matt Hale is leaving the club at the end of the season after a decade’s service.

SOUTHAMPTON B are “in the middle of something really really powerful” after being crowned Premier League 2 Division 2 champions, according to coach Dave Horseman.

MATT CROCKER has been appointed as the new Sporting Director of US Soccer after three-and-a-half years as Southampton’s Director of Football Operations. He will be officially unveiled tomorrow.

OUR guest on Episode #48 of the Training Ground Guru Podcast is Norwich City's Stuart Webber, who we've often described as the 'purest' example of a Sporting Director in this country.

IN Episode #47 of the Training Ground Guru Podcast, Tom Vernon tells us about the origins of Right to Dream, its objectives and what the rest of football can learn from the group.

PROFESSOR David Sumpter is a pioneer of the application of data science in football and has worked with leading teams including Ajax, Barcelona, Hammarby and England. In Episode #46 of the TGG Podcast he gives insights into his work and predictions for the future.

JASON WILCOX will leave Manchester City after more than a decade in the summer to become Director of Football at Southampton.

NATASHA PATEL has returned to Southampton as Assistant Academy Director after more than three years with New York Red Bulls in the MLS.

BRENTFORD first-team coach Justin Cochrane tells us about his coaching journey on Episode #45 of the TGG Podcast.

MATT CROCKER is to leave his position as Director of Football Operations at Southampton at the end of the season.

RASMUS ANKERSEN has said that clubs and fans are wrong to discount managers who have failed - and that he actually favours those who have. There's plenty of evidence from outside football that backs him up, too.

NATHAN JONES has said that Southampton’s strategy of “developing” players rather than getting them in “ready-made” is what attracted him to become their new manager.

SALLY NEEDHAM is the Human Development and Performance Culture Lead at Sheffield United's Academy. On Episode #44 of the TGG Podcast she gives us the lowdown on her unique role.

RUI FARIA is the most successful number two in football history. Here he gives in-depth insights into his time working alongside Jose Mourinho.

SOUTHAMPTON have hired Pete Haynes from Cheltenham Town in a revamp of their coaching set-up at Under-18 level. The 28-year-old, who was Senior Professional Development Phase Coach at Cheltenham, has been appointed U18s Individual Coach by the Premier League side.

ALEX CLAPHAM has left his role as Southampton set-piece coach after three months due to personal reasons.

SEAN DYCHE explains the lessons he has learned throughout his career, from being a trainee under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest to taking unfashionable Burnley into Europe for the first time in 51 years.

STEVEN REID left his role as first-team coach at Nottingham Forest earlier this summer to become a confidence, wellbeing and leadership coach. On Episode #41 of the TGG Podcast he explains the reasons why and gives insights into his two decades as a Premier League player and coach.

ASSISTANT Academy Director Edd Vahid is leaving Southampton after eight seasons to join the Premier League.

JOE SHIELDS has left Manchester City after nine years to become Head of Senior Recruitment at Southampton.

DAMIEN COMOLLI tells TGG about the strategies he has employed to restore Toulouse FC to the top table of French football - and how they were honed during three decades in the game.

RALPH HASSENHUTTL has finalised his backroom staff for the coming season, with Alex Clapham joining from Notts County as set piece coach and Carl Martin moving up from the Under-18s to become an in-possession specialist.

RUBEN SELLES has been appointed First Team Lead Coach at Southampton after long-serving trio Kelvin Davis, Dave Watson and Craig Fleming were sacked by the club.

IN April, Southampton announced that they were launching a “unique” Learning Lab that would embed a “research culture focused on modern Ecological Approaches” in their club and Academy. TGG decided to find out more by welcoming two members of the Learning Lab Board onto our podcast.

SOUTHAMPTON Head of Technical Development Iain Brunnschweiler has revealed that the club use a former SAS solider to help train their young players to become elite.

AUSTRALIA assistant Rene Meulensteen was our guest on Episode #38 of the TGG Podcast. He told us about his coaching journey from Holland to Australia via Manchester United and the lessons learned along the way in front of a live audience..

SOUTHAMPTON have taken the highly unusual move of loaning their B team goalkeeper coach Ryan Flood to Dundee United for the remainder of the season.

SOUTHAMPTON have launched a “unique” Learning Lab that will embed a “research culture focused on modern ecological approaches” in both their club and Academy.

ANDREAS GEORGSON gives us insights into individual development coaching, evolving set pieces at the highest level, Malmö's youth development secrets and what it was like to work under Arteta.

THE Training Ground Guru Podcast is celebrating its third birthday. We look back on the 37 episodes we've had so far - and ahead to season four.

FOR 24 years, Francis Cagigao was one of the most important and influential figures at Arsenal. He tells TGG about his time with the North London club and about his new role, as Director of Football for Chile.

IAIN BRUNNSCHWEILER is to head up a ‘pioneering’ new Technical Development Department that Southampton hope will support their intention to be "the most productive Academy in the country on a consistent basis.”

BRENTFORD'S journey to the Premier League is a story of innovation, clever use of data and investment in people. We found out more about this from their Director of Football, Phil Giles.

FORMER Brentford Co-Director of Football Rasmus Ankersen is one of the men behind Sport Republic’s takeover of Southampton.

MARIELA NISOTAKI is the Head of Emerging Talent at Norwich City - and the only female scout on the circuit in the UK. She told us what her job involves, how she balances data with live eyes and why Norwich are an ambitious club doing things their own way.

In Episode #33 of the TGG Podcast, Chris Ramsey MBE tells us about his role at QPR, his career journey, how he develops coaches and why the game has lost a generation of black leaders.

GREGG BROUGHTON is the Academy Director at Bodø/Glimt, the small club making a big noise in European football. He was our guest on Episode #32 of the TGG Podcast.

OWEN EASTWOOD, who has worked with the England men's football team since 2016, shares insights about building an optimum environment for teams and athletes to thrive.

LUKE BORNN, the former Head of Analytics at AS Roma, tells us about his own journey, and that of data science in football.

SOUTHAMPTON Director of Football Matt Crocker has explained why the club have introduced a system of Game Coach and Individual Development Coach, rather than the traditional Head Coach and assistant model.

DAVE ALRED MBE shares the secrets for performing under pressure that he's used with Jonny Wilkinson, Luke Donald, Francesco Molinari and even Gareth Southgate

OLLY LANCASHIRE has returned to Southampton as a player and mentor for their B team. The 32-year-old centre-back, who has played more than 300 senior games, made 17 appearances for Saints at the start of his career.

IN just 20 months, Russell Martin has marked himself out as one of the most interesting and original English managers in the game. He told TGG more about his approach, covering topics including Buddhism, politics, playing without fear, work-life balance and the importance of sticking to Plan A.

MICHAEL BEALE gives an insight into the training ground methods that helped Rangers land their first title in a decade.

CHELSEA WOMEN manager Emma Hayes on some of the key influences on her career and how they helped to shape her leadership philosophy.

LAURENCE STEWART, the Head of Recruitment for AS Monaco, explains the core principles of the club's transfer strategy.

FORMER England in-possession coach Mikey Harris has been appointed to the new position of Under-18s individual coach by Southampton.

RENOWNED coach and coach educator Brian Ashton MBE tells TGG the lessons he has learned from five decades in the profession.

SOUTHAMPTON have hired Lee Skyrme from the Football Association to become their B team Individual Player Coach.

RADHI JAIDI has left Southampton after more than a decade to become assistant manager at Belgian side Cercle Brugge.

AZ ALKMAAR Sport Development Director Marijn Beuker outlines how the club outperform their budget by thinking differently.

LIVERPOOL legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher tells TGG how he analyses matches and aims to take fans inside the world of the manager's post-match debrief.

SAM STANTON, who was Head of Analysis at Bristol City for seven years, has joined the new Player Insights team at Southampton.

SOUTHAMPTON'S Lead Data Scientist, Alex Kleyn, explains how the club use data to ensure the new B team is tactically aligned with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s first team.

UNDER-16s lead Dan Micciche outlines the key principles of Arsenal's Academy and how they go about developing 'Strong Young Gunners.'

BRIGHTON Technical Director Dan Ashworth explains what the role involves and why he believes it’s so important.

STEVE SPARKS has left Southampton after a decade to become first-team physio at Manchester City.

SOUTHAMPTON Director of Football Operations Matt Crocker says the club have ‘moved away’ from the loans system and will rarely send young players to other clubs.

EVERTON assistant Davide Ancelotti was the guest on episode #19 of the TGG Podcast. The 31-year-old talked about growing up with a famous father, gave insights into his role, explained why Dominic Calvert-Lewin was "the best striker we could have" and opened up about his own managerial ambitions.

Eddie Jones, Tom Vernon, Dave Reddin, Lorraine O'Malley and Karen Bardsley outline what they believe will be the big developments in football in the coming months and years.

MO GIMPEL, one of the longest-serving medical practitioners in the Premier League, has left Southampton after 23 years.

LIVERPOOL Academy Manager Alex Inglethorpe takes TGG inside the club's Kirkby training centre and explains the principles that underpin one of the most successful youth programmes in English football.

DR PIPPA GRANGE, the former Head of People and Team Development for the Football Association, tells us about the differences between winning deep and shallow.

MANCHESTER UNITED Academy Manager Nick Cox lays out the key tenets of the club's youth programme, including the belief that there is a higher purpose than just producing professional footballers.

DANNY COWLEY lays out his footballing philosophy, which he described as "old-school values with new methods".

TONY STRUDWICK says building relationships is still the most important skill for any practitioner, despite the increasing influence of data and science in football.

GÉRARD HOULLIER is the "most underrated" Liverpool manager. according to Jamie Carragher, but he brought the club into the 21st Century and his legacy is still felt to this day,

BLACKBURN have been one of the surprise packages of the Championship season so far - and 35-year-old Stewart Downing has been their talisman. He tells TGG about the astute management of Tony Mowbray and how it's helped prolong his career.

ENGLAND rugby coach Eddie Jones shares insights gleaned from three decades in coaching, ranging from the influence of Pep Guardiola to managing mavericks to tactical periodisation.

MLADEN SORMAZ, Head of Football Analytics at Leicester City; Luke Benstead, Head of Performance Analysis and Innovation for Belgium, and Ed Sulley, Director of Customer Solutions for Hudl, discuss the current state of data science in football and where it could be headed.

PAUL BALSOM, Leicester City’s highly-experienced Head of Performance Innovation, says a rare alchemy has taken the side to heady heights in the Premier League this season.

WYSCOUT founder Matteo Campodonico explains how he came up with the idea for the scouting and analysis platform, how clubs use it and why he believes Big Data will transform the way it is used.

ROSS WILSON, Southampton’s Director of Football Operations, has left the club to become Rangers’ new Sporting Director.

NATASHA PATEL, Southampton’s Head of Performance Analysis, has left the club after eight years to join the New York Red Bulls.

LEEDS UNITED Sporting Director Victor Orta says the club’s recruitment policy is 70% human judgement and 30% data.

LES FERDINAND charts his journey from star player to Director of Football at QPR and laments the fact that bigger clubs are now “stockpiling” young talent.

SOUTHAMPTON manager Ralph Hassenhuttl has lost the only member of staff he brought with him to the club in December 2018.

RHYS LONG, Head of Performance Analysis and Insight for the Football Association, outlines his philosophy in the Training Ground Guru Podcast.

DAVE REDDIN, the Football Association’s Head of Team Strategy and Performance, tells the TGG Podcast that sports science is creating a generation of players with “limited physical capabilities”.

ASTON VILLA Under-18 coach David Hughes is leaving the club to become Southampton’s first Head of Academy Player Development.

SOUTHAMPTON have made a number of changes to their coaching and performance teams ahead of Ralph Hasenhüttl’s first full season in charge of the club.

THIS month we go behind the scenes at the TGG Youth Development Conference in Manchester, with speakers Kris Van Der Haegen, Leigh Bromby and John McGuigan.

SOUTHAMPTON are poised to announce a new Head of Player Development after splitting the traditional Head of Coaching role in two as part of an Academy revamp.

TGG gets a tour of Burnley's Academy, which is on the verge of going from Category 3 to 1 inside three years.

FORMER Birmingham, Derby and Stoke manager Gary Rowett is joined by his former Head of Performance, Dave Carolan, and Head of Analysis, Joe Carnall, for the first episode of the new Training Ground Guru podcast.

A THREE-YEAR Southampton research project has found that sudden spikes in training load dramatically increase injury risk - but that building load over a longer period protects against this.

LES REED’S final legacy to Southampton was a complete revamp of their performance department focusing on “innovation and collaboration”.

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Martin Hunter has followed Vice Chairman Les Reed through the exit door at Southampton.

LES REED, Southampton's most senior football figure, has been sacked after eight years at the club.

HOW did a 27-year-old Englishman end up working with Denmark at the World Cup - as well as with Malmo in Sweden? Fitness coach Ben Rosen explained all - as well as giving the lowdown on stars including Christian Eriksen.

THIS is the seventh job of Mark Hughes' managerial career - and the seventh time he's appointed the same assistants. Is a fear of the unfamiliar holding him back?

SOUTHAMPTON have lost the lowest number of days to injury so far this season, while Watford have experienced the most.

SOUTHAMPTON have brought in an expert to try and discover why their players are losing so many days to hamstring injuries.

SOUTHAMPTON have announced the death of their chief scout, Bill Green, at the age of 66.

SOUTHAMPTON first team data scientist Laura Bowen gives a fascinating insight into her role during pre-season - saying her purpose is to give players 'no place to hide'.

MANY players are back at their training grounds this week. The first thing they do is testing. But what exactly does it involve?

WEST BROM won the Premier League fitness title in 2016/17, with the lowest number of significant injuries and days lost to injury.

JONATHAN WOODHOUSE (above), Southampton academy data scientist, tells us why a work placement was so important for him and gives advice to current students.

US SOCCER's new director of high performance told TGG about his journey from sports science graduate to one of the key jobs in football.