Executive director Zoe Ward spoke to canaries.co.uk ahead of Saturday's fixture against Coventry City. She covers Dan Barden's return to the first team squad, the latest US investment news and the important of data science in football of today.
Good afternoon and welcome back to Carrow Road.
The last time we were here, for the Carabao Cup tie against Bournemouth, it was an opportunity for some of our emerging players to soak up some more first team experience.
We are also delighted that it gave our young goalkeeper Dan Barden a chance to be around the senior squad after being named on the substitutes’ bench.
Dan was diagnosed with testicular cancer while he was on loan at Livingston last season and we are delighted that he has made a full recovery. His dedication, application and desire to overcome these challenges have inspired so many people around the club.
To see him being around the first team environment, gaining valuable experience in an important fixture will give him another boost after such a difficult year.
This is an especially busy period for the club and most of you will be aware that we have called an EGM on Monday, September 12. These are unusual events, but it is important to clarify the facts for our supporters.
Mark Attanasio, who owns the American baseball team Milwaukee Brewers, is leading a buy-out of Michael Foulger’s shares in the club and will soon be part of the Norwich City family.
His appointment as a director has come after a long process which gave the club and Mark the time to get to know each other. It is clear from our many meetings with him, along with his approach to running his sports team in the US, that we share the same values and ethos.
Mark, like us, constantly looks at different ways to achieve growth and to improve on-field performance. His experience and knowledge will be a big asset to the board in the coming years.
He has owned the Brewers since 2004 and his passion for sport will bring a different insight and perspective to the club.
Mark has been the driving force behind their data-oriented approach and our football department is one of the areas who are looking forward to learning from his Major League Baseball model. Data science and insight is a huge area of interest and growth for us.
Last year we appointed Dr John Iga, who previously worked at the FA during their development of St George’s Park, to oversee this work.
It is another layer of methodology and provides us with additional security when we are making decisions on player recruitment across all levels of the club.
We believe data will continue to have an increasingly important role to play in the sport in the coming years and we want to be at the cutting edge of that development.
Some of this work has already been undertaken. The SoccerBot360, which has been in use at our Lotus Training Centre since last year, is an example of our progress in this area.
It is an innovative training tool, the first of its kind in the country, that has become hugely popular with our players.
Part of John’s remit is to develop a long-term strategy around its use and the impact it can have to help shape the future development of young academy teams.
Finally, we are pleased with the feedback from supporters around our new Insights series. Neil Adams was the latest to feature and we hope that this continues to give you a greater understanding of the work that goes on behind the scenes at the club.
Enjoy the game.
Zoe