Sunderland's sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has confirmed that the club have filled two new vacancies to bring the Black Cats in-line with their new strategy, per the Sunderland Echo.

The club listed an advert for a new Head of Analysis and Data not long after Kyril Louis-Dreyfus' takeover was confirmed in February, with the Swiss youngster looking to bring a new dynamic to Sunderland behind the scenes.

Not only was a data analyst hunted, but an opening for a new Head of Player Recruitment came up as well, with Sunderland seemingly going for the head coach/director of football model that many English teams are now adopting.

In a meeting last week with the Sunderland Supporters Collective, Speakman confirmed that both roles have now been filled, with the new Head of Player Recruitment starting his job in mid-April - and that person may be eyeing up new players for the Championship.

The new Head of Analysis and Data started today though, and that person is believed to be James Young.

Per the Echo, Young previously worked at Deloitte and ran his own analytics company named Mahoe Analytics, but it appears that this will be his first role in football.

The appointments confirm Louis-Dreyfus' commitment to bringing a more modern approach to life at the Black Cats which will be led by data and statistical models.

 

 

 

 

The Verdict

Whilst very little is known about the new Head of Data and Analysis and nothing is known of the new Head of Recruitment, these are still exciting times for the Black Cats.

Results are going right on the pitch, all the noises coming from Louis-Dreyfus are positive and there now seems to be a real unity between the fans and the club.

We will only really start to see the effects of the new structure of the club next season though when new signings are made - that's when we will be able to see if Dreyfus' data models are working but with the way his ownership has gone so far, there's no reason to have any doubts about it.