Brisbane Roar have recently appointed James Gow as the club’s new Sporting Director, and he has arrived with a clear direction for the 26/27 seasons and beyond.
“[You have] got to have a really clear strategy. The club says we want to, for example, go and win something next season and at the same time we want to bring through our own talent, I’ve got to build a plan and a strategy towards that,” Gow said.
“I’ve got to articulate that to the head coach, to the B team coach, to everybody that works inside the organisation to say, this is what we’re going to go after.
“You’ve got to build your work towards achieving these different objectives. I think there’s an opportunity to go and win things and go and compete and [that’s] something I always believe in.”
Gow looks forward to contributing to the identification of young Queensland talent and providing opportunities for them.
“Coming from a city like Liverpool, there’s no better feeling than when a young local player makes his debut in the first team and becomes one of your own,” Gow said.
“And I’d like to think that I can really open up some of those pathways and put some plans in place for them [to make sure] we’ve always got a nucleus of young, talented Queenslanders coming through our system and playing for the first team.”
Gow is determined to bring back exciting football for Brisbane Roar fans to watch and it all starts with recruitment.
“When I’m looking now at the players that we want to try and recruit, I have a very clear profile on the type of player that I want to bring in to play the type of football that we want to play. And we want to play football that excites people that’s got energy, that’s got passion, that’s vertical, that’s forward thinking against the ball.”
Gow is excited for what’s to come for the club’s A-League Women program and looks forward to taking it to the next step in the 26/27 season.
“It’s fantastic to get to the finals and I think they definitely had an amazing performance. I think the first game that I watched was live against Wellington in Brisbane.
“I think there’s a lot to be hopeful about going into next season. I know the coaching staff have really worked hard to prepare a team that can go and compete.”
