SAINTS have confirmed the appointments of two senior staff members, Mark Bitcon joining as director of performance while Darren Mowbary has been announced as the club’s new head of recruitment.

Bitcon arrives 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 also 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.

The head of recruitment role has been vacant since last summer’s hire - Joe Shields - departed the club for Chelsea.

Sport Republic CEO Rasmus Ankersen took a more hands-on approach to the January window without a recruitment head at the club but the Dane insisted at the time that it was no more than a temporary measure.

It promises to be a crucial summer ahead for the club as they deal with the potential play exodus that could follow relegation while rebuilding the squad for the Championship.

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.