Liverpool coach who worked under Kenny Daglish leaves his boyhood club to join Mansour Al Nahyan’s team
In a conversation with LiverpoolEcho, James Gow, who was once a Liverpool analyst and started his career with the Reds, revealed that he is now working for Al-Jazira, a club owned by Manchester City owner Mansour Al Nahyan.
James Gow is a Liverpool John Moores University graduate who converted his passion into a profession after getting opportunities from Liverpool FC. He helped set up Liverpool’s academy in China before moving to an existing Liverpool academy in Australia.
He started his career as an intern analyst for the Liverpool first-team and academy under the leadership of Kenny Dalglish. He reminisced when he landed the job with his boyhood team, and he was overwhelmed by the experience.
“My dad couldn’t believe I was working with Kenny Dalglish. I couldn’t either.”
Later he was also part of the support staff team for Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool. He also said that he learned many lessons from the time that he worked as an intern. In the interview, he disclosed that the experience that he achieved has helped in his career growth.
“It taught us so much, being around the first-team.”
After the coronavirus outbreak, Gow returned to England and started his programme on tactical education for players and coaches.
He was hunted down by the sporting director at Al-Jazira, Mads Davidsen, who called him and told him their vision and plans. Gow liked the idea and joined Al-Jazira’s academy. In the conversation, he also praised Mads Davidsen’s ideas that attracted him to the club in the first place.
“Mads is a fantastic guy. He has really strong ideas about how football clubs have developed in a way which isn’t sustainable with a lack of long-term planning.”
He also shared how his plans are helping his current team.
“It’s flying by. The idea is to reduce the playing age and promote from within, and right now, we have 55% of our squad from the academy, proof that what we’re doing works.”
He also suggested that though he would love to go back to his boyhood club and work again in the homely atmosphere of Melwood, his current commitments are huge that keep him busy all day.
