Reflections from the Training Ground Guru Conference at Old Trafford

By Ciaran Deely

Sporting Directors’ panel and presenters from the Training Ground Guru Live Conference
2025 at Old Trafford

Last week I attended the Training Ground Guru Live Conference 2025 at Manchester
United’s Old Trafford — an amazing, historic venue to host a gathering of some of the most
forward-thinking minds in football. The theme of the second day was Performance,
Development, and Alignment — three words that really capture the direction our industry
is moving in.

As always with these events, there were many strands of discussion across the two days —
from psychology and innovation to leadership and analytics. But in this blog, I want to focus
particularly on the Sporting Directors and presenters who spoke on day two, as their
insights touched on so many of the challenges and opportunities currently shaping modern
football.

The Sporting Director Round-Table
Later in the morning, a brilliant round-table brought together three experienced leaders:
Adam Underwood (Leeds United), Lee Dykes (Brentford FC), and Mladen Sormaz (formerly
Barnsley FC), moderated by Matthew Roberts, former CEO of Scunthorpe United.

Between them, they represented very different club models and scales — yet a common
theme ran throughout: the importance of leadership, clarity, and alignment across
departments.

Adam Underwood (Leeds United FC) spoke with balance and perspective, describing his
role as one that spans the entire football operation — from the men’s and women’s teams to
recruitment, sport science, and the academy. “Change is the only constant in football,” he
said, reflecting on his long spell at Leeds. The manager’s job is to get results in matches; the
Sporting Director’s role is to make things work — connecting the dots and ensuring the
environment allows success.

He reflected on Marcelo Bielsa’s transformative spell at Leeds — how his intensity,
demands, and clear philosophy shaped the club well beyond his tenure. When change
inevitably comes, Adam said, the organisation must remain the consistent thread — guided
by data, evidence, and strong processes. He also highlighted how academies have become “a
business within a business,” with costs rising every year, meaning sustainability and return
on investment are essential. Yet amid that, he reminded everyone: “We’re dealing with
children and their dreams.” A simple but powerful reminder of why we do what we do.

Lee Dykes (Brentford FC), shared how the club’s long-term success has been built on
innovation and adaptability. Brentford learned early that it couldn’t outspend others — it
had to outthink them. He spoke about embracing change, not resisting it, and seeing it as an
opportunity to grow. The club famously scrapped its academy years ago to focus on a B-
team model, before later rebuilding the academy system post-Brexit and after reaching the
Premier League.

Now their goal is to be the most progressive and caring academy in the country. As Lee put
it, not every young player will make the first team, but success can be measured in different
ways — by how well they’re prepared to thrive in whatever comes next. He also spoke
about the importance of being fast and efficient with data — using information as a
competitive edge — and bringing together people who can interpret that data effectively.

Mladen Sormaz (formerly Barnsley FC), who has also worked at Leicester City, provided
a grounded view from lower down the football pyramid. With smaller staff and tighter
budgets, alignment and communication are everything. “Everyone has to dig in,” he said,
describing how people often perform multiple roles. He stressed the importance of
managing upwards and sideways, not just downwards — ensuring departments support
each other rather than compete for resources.

He also touched on academy football at League One and League Two level, where the focus
is often on late developers or players who weren’t taken on by higher-category clubs. These
academies must be creative in building pathways to first-team football while staying
financially viable. It was an honest and insightful reminder of the resourcefulness needed at
those levels.

The Rise of Birmingham City Academy – Louisa Collis
Later in the day, Louisa Collis, Academy Manager at Birmingham City, delivered one of the
standout talks of the conference. She outlined the club’s bold vision of “becoming a beacon
of excellence in the second city” — and the turbulent path that followed.

After Jude Bellingham’s transfer to Borussia Dortmund, which helped keep the club
financially stable, the academy was nearly wound up just six months later. Through staff
protests, leadership changes, and renewed purpose, Birmingham instead set out to achieve
Category One status — and to do it in just one year.

Louisa broke down how they approached that challenge through three key areas:
- Alignment: Investment, staffing, and commitment across all departments. “It’s a club audit,
not an academy audit,” she reminded everyone — meaning success required total
collaboration.
- Processes: By her own admission, she’s a “geek in admin,” and that focus on detail paid off.

She built strong systems, clear documentation, and RAG-rated progress tracking to stay on
course.
- The Art of Hard Work: “People want things the easy way,” she said. “Our staff did the hard
work because they cared.” The culture they built combined high performance with high
support — mixing serious graft with lighter moments, from staff rounders on the 3G pitch
to visits from the ice-cream van.

Louisa also shared that Birmingham’s long-term vision extends far beyond football, with
plans for a new sports quarter around St Andrew’s Stadium — an initiative to regenerate
the area and create a wider community hub. It summed up a club thinking big about its role
within the city.

Doing Things Differently – Sarah Batters and London City Lionesses
Sarah Batters, Managing Director of London City Lionesses, offered a refreshing and
ambitious view of what leadership in women’s football can look like. Backed by American
investor Michele Kang, the club has made its mark as the only fully independent team in the
Women’s Super League.

That independence, Sarah explained, allows for single-minded focus — no need to justify
the women’s side or fight for equal access to resources. “Nobody is born a London City
Lionesses fan,” she said. “They choose to be.” That line captured the club’s growing
connection with its supporters, built through choice and belief rather than legacy.

She also shared plans for what will become the largest women’s elite performance facility in
the world, currently being developed in Kent — a symbol of their ambition to build
something genuinely world-leading. And her message against the “pink it and shrink it”
mentality struck a chord: women’s football doesn’t need to imitate the men’s model, it
needs to build its own version of excellence.

Closing Reflections
Across all these sessions, one theme kept resurfacing — alignment. Whether it was a
Premier League club refining its processes, a Championship side rebuilding from adversity,
or an independent women’s team charting new territory, success came down to everyone
pulling in the same direction.

That, to me, was the essence of the Performance, Development, and Alignment theme —
how football organisations connect people, systems, and purpose. Whether through data,
leadership, or shared culture, it’s about building environments where ideas and people
thrive together.

Leaving Old Trafford that evening, surrounded by history and ambition, I found myself
thinking how much football has changed — and how much more it can evolve when
innovation, care, and alignment work hand in hand.