Chelsea have announced the appointment of Phil Radley as the club's new Sporting Director.
He will take up this role next month following the departure of Paul Green as head of women's football.
Radley has spent more than a decade at FC Nordsjaelland. Still, his experience has been on the commercial side of a football club, with no experience in a women's football team environment.
He does not have a track record of working within women's football clubs in core football or senior programme-leadership roles.
The New sporting directors' professional background is overwhelmingly in commercial, partnership, and marketing roles within men's football and the wider sports business.
Also, has never been a senior operational lead responsible for squad building, pathways, or football strategy within women's clubs.
It would be fair to describe him as having sports commercial experience, in contrast to the man he is replacing, Paul Green, who had 13 years of experience in women's football and built Chelsea into what it is today.
Replacing someone with an abundance of experience within the setup and a proven success rate with someone who has worked at a minor club in Denmark, not a top European team.
This feels contrary to the hiring of Sonia Bompastor when Emma Hayes left, as the role had to be filled by a woman. Instead, they replaced an experienced man with an inexperienced man.
It is crucial to mention that this role is the sporting director, not the head of women's football. The title Green held with these two job titles has different responsibilities. Radley's role will be to work closely with the manager and the technical staff. Patent with the club's wider football leadership group. Shape the long-term sporting strategy for women's teams. Driving alignment between performance, recruitment, and squad planning, and overseeing player recruitment, contracts, and negotiations with agents.
Chelsea says his experience in football operations and player development will be a major asset.
Official Club Statements on his appointment, Phil Radley said: “I’m very proud to be joining Chelsea FC Women. This is a team filled with talent and tenacity, with an incredible record of success and an exciting future. I look forward to working closely with Sonia, the players and the rest of the football staff across the club to play a part in writing the next chapter of this club’s great success story.”
Chelsea’s sporting leadership, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Phil to Chelsea FC Women. He brings a wealth of experience and will play an important role in supporting Sonia and her staff and building on the winning culture of the women's team to help drive them forward to continued success.”
His role is different, as he will not oversee the entire women's programme and set long-term visions and strategies, but will focus on football operations and overseeing performance departments. At the same time, a head of women's football aligns the first team, academy, pathways, and welfare, often public-facing and at a senior leadership level. It reports directly to the board or ownership.
The Head of Women’s Football decides where the programme is going. The Sporting Director decides how the team is built to compete.
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