MusaElland Road saw the departure of chief executive Angus Kinnear at the end of the season when he took over at Bramley-Moore Dock and it was reported that Hammond would join him at the Toffees.
A statement from Leeds’ Premier League rivals confirmed his role at their new club, as they move away from the director of football role “in favour of a football management team comprising experts in technical development, football operations, talent identification, data analysis and player trading.”
The statement read: “Following an extensive recruitment process, the club has appointed Nick Cox as technical director, James Smith as head of scouting and recruitment, Chris Howarth to lead the club’s football strategy and analytics operations and Nick Hammond to lead the club’s player trading operations.
“Nick Hammond has built an impressive career in coaching and recruitment since retiring as a player in 2000. He joins the club having most recently worked as a transfer consultant at Leeds United and Newcastle United. His previous experience as Director of Football for 13 years at Reading, Technical Director at West Brom for three years and Head of Football at Celtic brings a broad perspective on football operations and as Director of Football at Celtic he is a skilled transfer expert.”
Kinnear added: “I am delighted with the appointments of Nick, James and Nick. Their CVs speak for themselves – they are exceptional operators, highly respected in the game and an example of the ambition we have as a club to ensure that the pathways and structures for our football operations are of the highest standard.”
Leeds transfer mentor
Hammond’s experience and contacts were seen as crucial to the recruitment carried out by 49ers Enterprises at Leeds early in their ownership. YEP understands that over the past year Hammond has also taken on a mentoring role of sorts, passing on his wisdom to Adam Underwood, who was recently promoted to sporting director and now heads up the transfer business. Both Underwood and head of recruitment Alex Davies are preparing the club for potential new signings, while manager Daniel Farke will speak to them personally later in the deal before Leeds complete the deal.
After speaking on the season, chairman Paraag Marathe was keen to point out that Hammond was not alone in the task of putting together a title-winning squad in the summer of 2024.
“Let me be clear,” he said. “Nick was fantastic and like Angus, who I’m sad to see go, he’s crossing enemy lines. I hope we can take away his keycard access now, but I love him.”
“But Nick didn’t do everything in a vacuum last season. So it’s a bit of a misnomer to label him that way. I know you didn’t mean it that way, but it’s always been a team effort and it’s always going to be a team effort, and probably even more so this season as we go from being a big fish in a small pond to being a small fish together and we all have to fight together, in a big pond. The ones you mentioned, along with Daniel and I, will work together to make the best decisions for the club that we can.”
Musa
