Swansea City held its access all areas ‘Football Focus’ City Business Network (CBN) event, on Tuesday October 17 at Fairwood Training Ground.

The third CBN event of the 2023-24 season, hosted by Kevin Johns MBE, was a behind the scenes look at the roles and responsibilities of key members of the first team staff.

Guests received an immersive experience and were given the chance to understand how the elements of a successful football training ground work together to put a team on the pitch every matchday.

There was a question and answer session with sporting director Paul Watson who spoke about his previous experience in football, what attracted him to Swansea, and what structures and processes he is looking to build at the club.

This was followed by a question and answer session with Chris Watkins, head chef at Fairwood, kit manager Michael Eames, and Shaun Howl who is the club’s lead first-team analyst.

Watkins spoke about how working at a football club compares to working within the hospitality industry, how he works with players’ dietary requirements, and how the training schedule affects what is on the menu.

Eames gave an outline of his role and responsibilities, explained how he gets all the kit to an away game, and what it’s like following in his mother’s footsteps, who previously held the role of kit manager at the club.

While Howl explained his previous positions - including working with Swans boss Michael Duff at Cheltenham - and how data plays an increasingly large part in football affecting things like game plan and structuring training.

The club’s doctor, Dr Jez McCluskey, added insight about the medical process for a new signing, as well as how the on-field assessment process works and his professional journey so far.

Head coach Duff also joined guests to describe how a normal training week looks, how he relies on every member of the Fairwood staff. He also had time to answer questions from the guests.

CBN members then had the opportunity to observe part of the first team’s training session, along with a tour of the Fairwood training facility.

Guests were treated to a typical first team lunch – cooked by Chris Watkins - and had valuable time to network.

Information surrounding our next CBN event will be announced in due course.