He is not a Director of Football (DoF). He is Chief Football Officer (CFO). Similar roles but not the same apparently. Moyes retains overall decisions on player recruitment from what I have read. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/who-simon-wilson-everything-you-12241725 The Black Cats have brought in the 38-year-old to work alongside chief executive Martin Bain and manager David Moyes , and he will take charge of key areas of the club’s strategy including scouting, player recruitment, medical department, and youth development. It is the latest move in Bain’s behind-the-scenes restructuring of the club, which has already seen the departure of the club’s academy chief Ged McNamee and his assistant Danny Philpott, while Football Operations Director Ryan Sachs left in the summer. Sunderland have flirted with a director of football model in recent seasons, but having abandoned that experiment almost a year ago when sporting director Lee Congerton sidelined before his departure, Wilson’s arrival does not mark a return to that system. That said, Wilson’s remit will include some of the areas which had fallen under Congerton’s brief. Wilson is highly-regarded inside football, but he is likely to be unfamiliar to Sunderland fans. So who is Simon Wilson? What’s Simon Wilson’s background? Wilson was born in Peterborough on November 1, 1978, and came through the youth systems at Norwich City and then Peterborough United but did not make the grade as a player. A Football and Science graduate of Liverpool John Moores University, he became involved in the then-emerging - at least in football - science of performance analysis. Where has he worked? Wilson worked as a consultant with ProZone, the company that helps clubs analyse player performance, and in that capacity he worked with David Moyes, who was then in charge at Preston North End. He joined Southampton as a Performance Analyst in 2002, becoming only the second full-time analyst employed by a UK team, and as the department grew he became Head of Performance Analysis at St Mary’s. How did he end up at Manchester City, and what does he do there? He left Southampton in the summer of 2006 to take on the role of Head of Performance Analysis at the Etihad Stadium. After three-and-a-half years in that role, he was appointed Strategy and Performance Manager which saw him take responsibility for developing global scouting and recruitment, chairing the club’s technical board which oversees City’s player acquisitions, and also involvement in identifying managerial targets, and the planning of pre-season tours. Since the summer of 2013, he has been Director of Football Services for the City Football Group which owns Manchester City, New York City, and Melbourne City. That role included responsibility for coaching and performance analysis, medical department, and global scouting and recruitment.
Having read the Echo's article on this I think it is a very positive move. I've said before on here that I think the club has suffered from a lack of clear direction and strategy in overall football terms and it would seem that this appointment is intended to address that. If it works like it does at other clubs, it will mean that there is a continuity in direction and approach that will remain in places as managers and players come and go. In my opinion, the constant managerial changes between managers with different views and approaches is what has got us into this constant cycle of short term appointments. The creation of this post might negate those problems. However, it will only work if there is realistic financial backing and that the owner and the board don't try to run things on reduced budgets.
Are we actually doing something sensible. Yes I accept that is laughable cos this is SAFC. But what if it were true?
Plenty of managers have said there`s something wrong but they don`t know what it is. What if Bain knows what it is and is actively doing something about it. Nah. Can`t be right.
Scary thought Gil. But there's no point in having a restructuring plan for the club off the pitch if you don't sufficiently invest on the pitch. And invest well. I can see that Short's had his fingers burned in the past from a succession of bad managerial and executive recruits. And if walking away isn't an option and you want to break the cycle of perpetual bad decision making, then I think you have to go all in. Get your structure right off the pitch but ensure that structure's going to be secured in the long term by consistency on the pitch by virtue of strong investment. He may well be well on the way with this behind the scenes recruitment but he's already put it at risk by not adequately investing during the summer.
According to his Wiki entry he is ------- holds the position of senior professional development coach at Sunderland. He regularly appears in the local Press doing the PR jobs that he is so good at, so I assume that he could be called a Club Ambassador. After all he has done for SAFC I would be very disappointed if he didn't continue in the role.
Thought he was still doing something but didn`t know what it was. He`s disappeared from the SAFC staff list.
This to a "T". My take is that now that the owner has the manager he wanted, a CEO with football in his background, this guy will be the link to the development clubs as he was at ManC who have big set ups in US and Aussie. Direction covered therefore for the two levels of recruiting via the market and long term developments. This has given a good guide of the way ES has wanted to take us for years and it is all down to him now.
It's all fair and good having a long term strategy - we actually need to be in the Premier League to implement it IMO otherwise it all falls down. For this to happen, Short needs to support this new 'team' in January and we need to stop up. If we scrimp and scrape in January and sell Pickford for example and end up being relegated he won't have supported them and his grand plan will have failed.
That, imo, is where it will come unstuck. He`s brought in a CEO who`s sorting out the wrang `uns. He`s got the bloke he wanted 3 managers ago. He`s now brought in an information expert (with the obvious blessing of Moyes & Bain) to sort out scouting, recruitment & wotnot which we`ve all said has been ****e for years. Next.........Short. I can`t see him shelling out the coin necessary. I just can`t. It needs Ashley type investment and it simply won`t happen. I`d love to be proved wrong but.........
I think he's shown several times over that he's capable of making the occasional good decision only to waste everyone's time by making a handful of bad ones.
Or allowing his incompetent appointees make them for him. That`s really what`s let him down and I hope it`s what Bain is putting right.
Good post ! My concern is that I hope the void left by Ged McNamee 's departure is filled as according to chroniclelive.co.uk (sorry best link I can get on my phone) Duncan Watmore speaks highly of him . Hope we don't shoot ourselves in the foot with these re-organisational changes as we need stability and to retain successful staff . I used to referee at the Academy(old one) in the early 2000's and the atmosphere around the place was toppa with Ged McNamee central to it. KTF
It seems a bit of odd timing that just when the Academy is getting results the system is changed. Only time will tell us if this is a sound decision. Experience though already makes me doubt it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Agree here as posted we tend to get regular poor unintended consequences from change. But onwards and KTF
Not really, McNamee had a poor record with the u21, then when he switched to the u18 he continued to struggle with them. What's is odd to me is why it's taken so long to get shock of him.
