Southampton have made two major appointments as they close in on the capture of Swansea City head coach Russell Martin.
The Saints have conducted a thorough shake-up of the club since their relegation was confirmed earlier this month, with Martin Semmens having already left his role as CEO and Sport Republic - the majority shareholder at St Mary’s – taking full operational control of the club.
Dragan Solak has also been appointed chairman of Sport Republic and Rasmus Ankersen will continue as chief executive of the company, with Henrik Kraft staying on as club chairman.
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Now, two further additions have been made in the shapes of Mark Bitcon joining as director of performance and Darren Mowbray as head of recruitment.
Bitcon moves to Saints from England Rugby, while Mowbray held similar transfer specialist roles with Leeds United and most recently Aberdeen.
The club said in a statement: "Southampton Football Club is pleased to confirm two further senior appointments at Staplewood Campus, with Mark Bitcon joining as director of performance and Darren Mowbray as head of recruitment.
"Bitcon moves to Saints from England Rugby, where he has been Head of Athletic Performance and Innovation for the past two years, working across both the men’s and women’s programmes. He previously spent four years as Director of Performance Services at Manchester City’s academy and prior to that held similar roles at Wigan Warriors and across international sport.
"He will oversee all performance areas including science, medicine, psychology and performance analysis at Southampton and across all Sport Republic teams.
"Mowbray arrives from Aberdeen, having joined the Scottish Premier League side – who finished third in this season’s table – as Head of Recruitment in 2021. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Burnley, Middlesbrough and Leeds.
"Bitcon and Mowbray will join the club later this summer, with Mowbray serving his notice at Aberdeen until 1st July. They will both work as part of the team under incoming Director of Football Jason Wilcox."
Martin's move to the south coast has appeared imminent for almost a week now, but the process has naturally taken some time.
Reports from Hampshire state the club will see cutbacks and redundancies this summer due to relegation. There will be plenty of interest in their top talent, with the Sun stating they have slapped a £40m price tag on star man James Ward-Prowse, who is likely to move on this summer.
West Ham, Aston Villa and Newcastle United are all admirers.
''It is nice of course, this is a club that has meant a lot to me," he said after his standing ovation at St Mary's on Sunday.
"I've been here for 20 years and had a fantastic journey, I've enjoyed every minute of it. You never know what is going to happen in the future. I come away this season with my head held high knowing I've done everything I can for this club, not only this year but ever since I came through the door as an eight year old."
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