Fulham have appointed Mike Rigg as Fulham’s Chief Football Officer.
Rigg left his role as the FA’s head of talent identification to accept the job at Craven Cottage as chairman Shahid Khan continues to overhaul personnel at the club and build a structure to support new manager Kit Symons.
Khan said: ‘Based on my experience over the past 17 months and through the most recent managerial search, it became clear to me that the new Fulham manager – in fact, the entire football operation – would benefit from someone whose sole responsibility was to focus on the short, mid and long-term product on the pitch.
‘In my mind, that called for a head of all football activities that would report directly to me but work collaboratively with Kit, our scouting group, the Academy, sports performance medical and our analytics team.
‘This wasn’t a revelation, but rather the recognition that the challenges football clubs face today are more complex than ever and our ambition requires that we organise in the optimal way to achieve our goals.
‘But we were not interested in accelerating this organisational shift for Fulham until, or unless, we found the right person. And we have in Mike Rigg.’
Khan stressed the position of Huw Jennings as academy director will remain unchanged and crucial to the future. ‘Player development will be at the core of our foundation at Fulham,’ said the chairman.
Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh will be asked to focus more on commercial matters and projects like the development of the Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage and the expansion of the training ground.
