James Bunce set to join Newcastle United – Made public


 
 
 
 
 
 

James Bunce is set to arrive at St James’ Park.

An exclusive from Craig Hope at The Mail has made public the news.

The man from The Mail revealing – 11 July 2024:

‘Exclusive: James Bunce (ex Monaco performance director) will be joining new sporting director Paul Mitchell at NUFC as restructuring of hierarchy continues. It’s likely his role will be director of performance.’

Not a massive shock, as when Paul Mitchell became Sporting Director at AS Monaco in June 2020, only four months later he brought in James Bunce as Performance Director at the French club.

Then three years later in October 2023, James Bunce left AS Monaco, just weeks after Paul Mitchell had departed.

No official news from Newcastle United as yet on this appointment but interesting to read the official statement (see below) from AS Monaco when James Bunce was appointed there back in October 2020, giving us a bit of background on the imminent new NUFC arrival and what kind of role he is set to perform.

Maybe this line from the AS Monaco statement gives us the best insight:

‘Under the direction of Sporting Director Paul Mitchell, the role will see James focus on injury prevention and risk reduction, monitoring physical preparation, performance, medical, nutritional and psychological aspects.’

AS Monaco official announcement – 2 October 2020:

AS Monaco is strengthening its sports organization with the creation of a Performance Department bringing together the “athletic development” and “medical” sectors, and is very pleased to announce the arrival of James Bunce to head it.

The 34 year old Briton has a wealth of experience acquired in England and the United States. Since 2017, James served as Director of the High Performance Department of the US Soccer Federation, overseeing this area for all 21 national teams, including the 2019 Women’s World Cup-winning senior team in France.

A graduate in Sport Science from the University of Portsmouth, James started at Southampton F.C. in 2007, taking charge of physical preparation at the Academy before being promoted to Head of Athletic Development at the club.

Originator of the ‘bio-banding’ concept in football, which consists of grouping and training young players according to their biological maturity rather than their age, James was recruited by the Premier League in 2014. He is appointed Head of Elite Performance for the English League and helped support the development and transfer of skills across clubs to help them professionalize their performance management, data analysis, as well as the medical, nutritional and psychological monitoring of players.

James now arrives in Monaco to take up the position of Director of Performance and will oversee the medical and athletic development departments at AS Monaco, its Academy and share his experience with Cercle Brugge.

Under the direction of Sporting Director Paul Mitchell, the role will see James focus on injury prevention and risk reduction, monitoring physical preparation, performance, medical, nutritional and psychological aspects.

Oleg Petrov (Vice President/CEO):

“Welcome James! For several months now, we have been carrying out a major restructuring to give the club the necessary dynamics and assets to move forward and be as efficient as possible. His arrival in the sporting area, under the impetus of Paul, marks this determination and is being done in view of the opening of the Performance Centre, in 2021, which will be among the most modern in Europe.”

Paul Mitchell (Sporting Director):

“We are very pleased and excited to welcome someone of James Bunce’s pedigree, a individual who has established himself in recent years as a benchmark in the field of high performance. Through James’ arrival, the aim is to give our organization the intelligence and expertise to grow to challenge the world’s elite in athletic performance. We want to provide the necessary conditions to perform on and off the field using the latest technologies and practices of high level sport. All this work will allow us to optimize the sporting training and physical ability of the players to meet the ever-increasing demands of the game.”

James Bunce (Performance Director):

“I am very pleased and excited to join a club that is focused on performance and innovation in alignment with its high ambitions and the challenges of modern football. My motivation is all the stronger as my arrival comes at a time when the club is constructing an ultra-modern Performance Centre which will massively contribute to the club and staff being able to maximize the training and performance of all the players within the club on a daily basis.”