Southampton Appoint Les Reed

The Centre which will be based at Staplewood, will evolve a strategy to produce best-in-classpractises across the whole range of it’s responsibilities. These are split into four categories, The Academy, Scouting, Sports Medicine and Equipment Procurement.

This announcement follows on from the Club’s announcement in December of the modernising of the training facility. A new state of the art facility will be replacing the out of date buildings currently available.

This all goes towards the Chairman’s pledge for providing the best possible support to the Club’s First Team and The Academy. A statement of intent that is reinforced by the appointment of Les Reed.

Reed was assistant coach to the England first team for over 20 games. A role he held whilst also the FA’s Director of Technical Development. Whilst he was in this position Reed oversaw a multi million pound budget as part of the project to develop the next generation of Englidh talent.

During this time we saw the rise of stars like, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe. Something for which he is credited for having a key role in aiding.

Reed remains the only person to have coached England at every level of international football. He has held several high profile posts within the game across the globe, including Turkey, Latvia and China.

Apart from these high profile posts Reed has also run his own sports related consultancy business. This has seen him become a senior EUFA and FIFA instructor and a highly sought after international development consultant.

Nicola Cortese when announcing the arrival of Reed commented, ‘From the outset we have made clear that our plan is to get into the Premier League and to compete effectively in that division. To achieve this we need to have created a strong foundation for the long term and we are now turning our words into actions.’

‘Les shares the same ambition. He brings great experience and, most importantly, a wide network of contacts that is key to such a project. The work is already underway to get the right people on board for the new Centre structure to be successful and we are making the necessary investment to get this done over the immediate period ahead.’

Reed in turn said,’Nicola’s enthusiasm, passion and drive for this project is infectious.You can’t help but realise that this isn’t pie in the sky stuff, he has a real vision for the club, and it is achievable. No-one is here for the short term, this is a long term project that has real potential of being achieved.’

‘I see this as a real opportunity for Southampton Football Club to become the club that everyone wants to visit to discover how we are so successful. This is a real opportunity to be a leader in this field.’

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