Gregor Rioch appointed as the Club’s new Sporting Director after a decade as Academy Manager
- Gregor Rioch appointed as Wigan Athletic Sporting Director!
- The 48-year-old has been promoted following serving for almost a decade as Academy Manager
- Following his appointment, Gregor Rioch said: “I am extremely honoured to be given the role of Sporting Director of Wigan Athletic, and I am really thankful to the people who have shown good faith in me past and present.
Wigan Athletic is proud to announce the appointment of Gregor Rioch as the Club’s new Sporting Director.
Rioch has been promoted to the Sporting Director position after excelling as the Club’s Academy Manager for the last decade, taking Latics to new unprecedented heights within that time period.
The 48-year-old will work closely with the Club’s ownership group and First Team Manager Shaun Maloney, acting as the strategic lead for recruitment and all the Club’s Football Departments, including First Team, Academy, Coaching, Sports Science, Medical Services and Analysis.
Rioch, who is the son of former Latics manager Bruce Rioch, joined the Football Club in December 2013 on the back of six-and-half highly successful years at Coventry City, where he played a key part in the development of England internationals James Maddison and Callum Wilson.
Following his arrival at the DW Stadium almost a decade ago, the 48-year-old has played a prominent role in transforming the Club’s youth set-up into the truly elite programme that it is today, helping Latics achieve their long-held ambition of becoming a Category Two Academy in 2019.
The Academy has strived year-on-year to produce homegrown players that the town can be proud of. During one of the most turbulent chapters in the Club’s 91-year history between 2020 and 2021, the Academy became the lifeblood of Wigan Athletic, a proud achievement that was directly contributed to by Rioch and all the Academy staff past and present.
Latics’ homegrown stars were able to uphold the Club’s proud tradition of defying the odds by remaining in League One despite spending a near-full season in administration, with a combination of 11 Academy graduates and three-club developed players making 224 senior appearances in 51 games.
Following this memorable season, several Academy graduates have gone on to become mainstays in the first-team squad over the last three campaigns, including the likes of Charlie Hughes and Callum Lang who have both captained the senior team at the start of the 2023/24 campaign.
In the last decade, over 40 homegrown players have made more than 500 first-team appearances for the Club, with more Academy prospects expected to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Sam Tickle, Hughes, Thelo Aasgaard and Lang in the years to come due to the strength of the younger age groups.
Throughout his time as Academy Manager, Rioch has worked tirelessly to inspire young people to be the best they can be both on and off the pitch, always leading by example with his professionalism, pride and integrity.
Popular with players, staff members and supporters alike, Rioch will now take up the position of Sporting Director, an opportunity which he is honoured to have been given by Mr Danson, Chairman Ben Goodburn and First Team Manager Shaun Maloney.
Commenting after accepting the position, Sporting Director Gregor Rioch, said:
“I am extremely honoured to be given the role of Sporting Director of Wigan Athletic and I am really thankful to the people who have shown good faith in me past and present.
“My experience as Academy Manager has been an incredible journey, and I am really looking forward to what this next challenge brings.
“I owe a lot of gratitude to Mr Danson, the Chairman Ben Goodburn, and Shaun Maloney for entrusting me with this opportunity, and I aim to repay their faith using the experiences I have gained at this fantastic Football Club over the last decade.”
Wigan Athletic Chairman, Ben Goodburn said:
“Gregor Rioch’s outstanding work leading our Academy over the last decade and his more recent work supporting Shaun Maloney provides him with a deep understanding of player recruitment and analysis across all levels of the club.
“The position of Sporting Director is a new and important role for the club in providing continuity across our football strategy. Gregor’s experience and leadership qualities have already demonstrated the positive impact he has had in this new role.”
First Team Manager, Shaun Maloney, added:
“I am very happy for Gregor Rioch that his Sporting Director role has now been confirmed.
“He has done an excellent job since he has been asked to step into that role, and his work during the summer to save the Club should not be underestimated.
“An incredible amount of work has gone on to get us to the position we are now with a competitive team, and Gregor has to take massive credit for that.
“He has done an outstanding job at the Academy over the last 10 years, which is now bearing fruition at our Club. We are at the start of our rebuild and I am very happy that I have Gregor at the side of me for this journey.”
The Club’s new Head of Academy will be announced in due course.
