Fire bring on Gregg Broughton as sporting director

The Fire announced that Gregg Broughton, most recently director of football for the Blackburn Rovers in England, has been brought on as sporting director. The move is the second front office hire for the team in less than a week after announcing Michael Stephens’s appointment as head of recruitment for the team as Gregg Berhalter continues to fill out his front office.

The job title was previously held by Georg Heitz, but under the reshuffling of the team’s sporting side, Broughton will report to Gregg Berhalter as director of football. With Berhalter taking on dual roles as a head coach and sporting director, building out a front office of competent, trusted executives and advisors around him is likely to be crucial to the team’s success in coming seasons.

In a statement released to media, Berhalter was quoted as saying “Gregg brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from his time in Europe, and we’re excited to have him on board as our Sporting Director. He is a passionate leader with a proven track record of developing talent and building competitive teams. As a key member of our leadership team, Gregg will help establish a high-performance culture to drive sustained success across all areas of the sporting department.”

Broughton was named director of football at Blackburn ahead of the Rover’s 2022-2023 season, and the team finished 7th place in the English Football League Championship – a spot above their finish the previous season – while making it as far as the FA Cup quarterfinals before falling to Sheffield United off a goal in second-half stoppage time.

In the following season, the Rovers were unable to build upon their success and Broughton, who had been under pressure from ownership to make a substantial cut to the team’s wage bill, was terminated following a 19th place finish for Blackburn, just three points clear of relegation.

Although this will be Broughton’s first time working in North America, he has prior experience outside of England working as academy director at FC Bodø/Glimt. In explaining the move in a podcast recorded during his time with the club, Broughton said “We decided, as a family, that we really wanted to experience life abroad.” The move to the Fire presents a second opportunity for the family to do so, this time across an ocean.

While with Bodø, the team won their first-ever league title and defeated a Jose Mourinho-lead AS Roma 6-1 in the Europa Conference League with a starting lineup that featured three academy graduates. In the same interview, Broughton said “I’d be lying if I could say that three years down the line we’d be sitting here having won the league having just defeated Roma, and with a team with a lot of Academy graduates; that would have been beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.”

The move to Norway followed six years in a variety of roles focused on player development at Norwich City. While at Carrow Road, Broughton was instrumental in bringing players including Max Aarons, now at AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League, and Jamal Lewis of Newcastle United to the team.

Broughton also spent time earlier in his career at Luton Town, AFC Rushden & Diamonds and Wycombe.

Although the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs were just completed last weekend, Broughton won’t have much time to settle in: MLS free agency opens up next month and preseason matches are likely to begin in less than ten weeks.