Iain Wood (sporting director)

Iain Wood
Personal information
Full name Iain Wood
Place of birth Brighton, England
Managerial career
Years Team
2022–present Barrow (Sporting Director)

Iain Wood is an English football director. Wood is currently the Sporting Director of EFL League Two club Barrow.[1] He has previously worked as a football agent, representing several high profile players and managers.[2]

Intermediary career

[edit]

Wood was born in Brighton, England. Wood moved into intermediary work and represented a large volume of players and staff across world football, most notably working for New Era Global Sports.[3]

Wood spent 15 years in player management with extensive experience and networks in the Premier League, English Football League and the National League. He has considerable knowledge of building club player development functions, previously working with the likes of Chris Wilder and Alan Knill.[4] Most recently, Iain ran his own successful agency and is based in Leeds.[5] Wood represented Chris Wilder in January 2014 when it was widely reported he had resigned from his post at Oxford United. Wood came out with a statement at the time denying the rumours.[6] However, his client did move from Oxford, joining Sheffield United where Wood said, “It all happened so quickly and I would like to thank Sheffield United for how they went about their business."[4]

Football director career

[edit]

In May 2022, Iain Wood was announced as the new Sporting Director at Barrow. The club announced he would be responsible for all on-field activities in collaboration with the first team manager; including player development, retention and recruitment, provision of training facilities, medical and support team liaison and the football analysis team.[1]

Later in May 2022, in his first major decision at the club, it was announced that Wood had appointed FC Halifax Town manager Pete Wild, to take up the position of first team manager at Barrow.[7] Wood would go on to explain in 2023 that he was the 'only choice' for the club.[8] “As soon as I got the job and saw the surroundings of Barrow, got a little bit of an understanding of supporters, the surroundings and the owners going for someone like Pete was a no brainer. “He was my number one target, and being my number one target it was maybe a bit of a learning curve as well because I didn’t have a B and C, I was so set on Pete Wild joining Barrow."[9]

In his first few months at the club, Wood oversaw 14 player departures and 13 player arrivals, as himself and the new manager, Pete Wild, looked to build a squad capable of pushing up the EFL League Two table. One of their first additions was Tranmere Rovers midfielder, Sam Foley.[10]

In April 2023, it was announced that Wood was looking to create a B Team for the first time at Barrow, to operate alongside the first team squad.[11] Wood said he wanted to "create a sustainable pathway for local talent to be able to have the opportunity to play for their hometown club."[11] He continued, "The creation of the B team will provide players with a platform to make the step into playing within the English Football League, all successful players will benefit from training full time alongside our first team squad within our existing facilities in Manchester”.[12]

In the summer of 2023, Wood oversaw Barrow's move to a new training ground. They moved to the facilities at FC United of Manchester in Moston, Manchester. Wood described the move as "a massive step up for us in attaining the standards that we are wanting to achieve daily."[13] He continued, "Myself, the staff and the players are excited about this move as we continue to keep pushing in the right direction and give ourselves the best opportunity to achieve our goals next season.” FC United of Manchester was founded in 2005 by Manchester United supporters opposed to American businessman Malcolm Glazer's takeover.[14]

Ahead of the 2024/25 season, Wood oversaw the appointment of new Barrow AFC Head Coach Stephen Clemence following the departure of Pete Wild.[15] One of the earliest successes of their new partnership was a league cup fixture away at Premier League giants Chelsea. Wood admitted ahead of the game that it would be a tough fixture for the League Two side.[16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Iain Wood Appointed As Sporting Director". www.barrowafc.com. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  2. ^ Sutcliffe, Richard. "Meet the EFL club who train 100 miles from their home ground". The Athletic. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  3. ^ Byrne, Cormac (2018-04-26). "Belfast football agent hoping to remove stigma surrounding job". Belfast Live. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  4. ^ a b Holmes, Mark (2016-05-13). "Wilder snubbed Championship interest for Sheff Utd". TEAMtalk. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  5. ^ "Barrow AFC appoint new sporting director". The Mail. 2022-05-15. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  6. ^ "Agent: 'Wilder has not resigned as Oxford boss'". Sports Mole. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  7. ^ Douglas, Mark (2022-09-23). "Meet the mechanic turned manager who has masterminded the rise of League Two's surprise package". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  8. ^ "Wild was the one and only for Barrow AFC". The Mail. 2023-11-23. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  9. ^ "BBC Radio Cumbria - BBC Radio Cumbria Sport, Iain Wood". BBC. 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  10. ^ "Another new face signs for Barrow – cumbriacrack.com". Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  11. ^ a b "B team to be created for Barrow – cumbriacrack.com". Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  12. ^ "Barrow B Team". www.barrowafc.com. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  13. ^ "Barrow AFC confirm FC United of Manchester pre-season friendly". The Mail. 2023-05-23. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  14. ^ "Barrow AFC reveal new training base". The Mail. 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  15. ^ "Stephen Clemence is the right choice says Barrow AFC sporting director". The Mail. 2024-07-02. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  16. ^ Drury, Jack (2024-09-24). "Barrow chief gives hilarious response to how his side are trying to beat Chelsea in Carabao Cup". The Chelsea Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
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