Forest Green Rovers have restructured their management set up at The New Lawn, which will see Mark Cooper’s title change to “Head Coach”.
Rovers will be joining the likes of Oldham Athletic and Salford City, whereby their head coach has a limited say in recruitment. A statement on the club’s official website said Cooper has been “promoted” to this position. The statement went on to say:
“Following the example of clubs in higher tiers of the footballing structure, Mark’s new role sees him singularly focused on coaching the first team and developing footballing talent. Under Cooper, FGR has one of the youngest squads in the top four leagues.”
Richard Hughes, who has been involved in recruitment at the club since 2018, will become Rover’s Director of Football. Hughes will oversee the physiotherapists, sports scientists, scouting network and Academy.
On the restrcutrue, Mark Cooper said:
“This structural change lets me spend even more time with players – we’ve got a focus on making this young group perform even better on the pitch, and develop some valuable assets for the club. Concentrating on what happens on the pitch, is a good place for me to be.
“I’d like to thank Scott Lindsey – my former Assistant Manager, he played a massive role in what we’ve achieved at FGR so far, and I wish him the very best for the future.”
This restructuring of the club is something seen in every echelon of the English game now, and it is spreading across the lower leagues. Chairman Dale Vince said:
“Adopting this modern footballing structure at the club is a logical next step for us, this will enable Mark to focus on the coaching and results on the pitch, while Rich takes care of all the other stuff that often a manager in the traditional role tries to cover. They work really well together, we all work really well together as a team.”
Forest Green Rovers next host Crawley on Saturday 05 October.