Training Ground Guru Podcast

Our guest on Episode #64 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Natasha Patel. Natasha is Assistant Academy Director at Southampton and one of the most experienced women working in men's professional football. From 2011 to 2019 she was Academy Analyst and then Head of Performance Analysis at Southampton, before leaving to become Head of Performance Analysis at New York Re

Here is Part 2 of our interview with Bayern Munich Head of Coach Development and Playing Philosophy Rene Maric. In this second half, Rene told us how he kickstarted his career with the tactics blog Spielverlagerung, about coaching Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham at Borussia Dortmund, and about his brief spell as assistant at Leeds United. SHOW NOTES => 01:44: Reaction to anno

Our guest on Episode #62 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is René Marić. The Austrian is one of the most interesting and highly-rated young coaches in European football. He made his name by founding the cult tactics blog Spielverlagerung and went on to become Assistant Manager at Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and Leeds United. Now he'

Our guest on Episode #61 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Radhi Jaidi. Radhi is a true legend of Tunisian football, having played 105 times for his country and won every trophy there was to win at club level there. Fans in England will know him best from his time at Bolton Wanderers, where he played under Sam Allardyce and helped them qualify for Europe. Since 2018

Our guest on Episode #60 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Reading manager Ruben Selles. The highly-rated coach gained plaudits for the way he managed Southampton for the second half of last season and there were high hopes when he took over at Reading in the summer. However, an ongoing financial crisis has plunged the very future of the club into doubt. In this epis

Our guest on Episode #59 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Chris O'Loughlin. Chris is the Sporting Director of Union Saint Gilloise, one of the most innovative and interesting clubs in the whole of Europe. Despite having a stadium with a capacity of just 9,400, and a budget that’s dwarfed by the biggest clubs, they are top of the table in Belgium. Chris told us how

Our guest on Episode #58 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Everton Director of Football Kevin Thelwell. Kevin tells Simon Austin about his role at the club, their four strategic pillars, his relationship with manager Sean Dyche and much more. SHOW NOTES=> 01:50: Team going in the right direction. 02:44: Sporting Director role explained. 03:30: Why did Everton choo

Our guest on Episode #57 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Jes Buster Madsen. Jes is Head of Research and Development for FC Copenhagen in Denmark and is leading the way in the application of cognitive neuroscience in football. SHOW NOTES=> 01:31: What role of Head of Research & Development involves. How he got the role. 09:10: How he persuaded Academy Directo

Our guest on Episode #56 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Mark Leyland. Mark is one of the foremost analysts in this country and has become much more than that. He started his career in the Academy at Everton and went on to work for Burnley, Liverpool and Newcastle. Mark is one of the few backroom staff to be name-checked by managers. Eddie Howe described him as 'in

Our guest on Episode #55 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Sarah Rudd. For almost a decade, Sarah was Vice President of Analytics for StatDNA and Arsenal, making her one of the most senior women in the whole of European football. She's now founded her own analytics company, SRC FTBL, along with husband Ravi Ramineni. In this episode, Sarah told us about her work at A