Club Doctor

Reports to: Director of Player Health

Location: Jersey Road Training Ground, with domestic and international travel

Department: Player Health

Sub-department: First Team Medical

Contract / Working Pattern: Full-time; professional football schedule, including evenings, weekends and agreed on-call cover.

The Club Brentford FC is a bit different from other Premier League football clubs. We put our fans first, we are a true community club and while we are financially sustainable, we are not afraid to take calculated risks. We take huge pride in our environment and culture within the Club which focuses on development, inclusion and not being afraid to think differently. Being progressive, humble and respectful while sticking together as one team across the Club guides how we work and the decisions we make each day. We also firmly believe that a diverse workforce is a better workforce which will help us develop ideas, solve problems and ultimately grow Brentford FC. We play in a new stadium, 15 minutes from Heathrow in vibrant west London. We will never forget where we have come from, but we are excited about the future that lies ahead.

Job Overview The Lead First Team Doctor is the senior medical practitioner for the First Team. The role provides independent medical judgement and is accountable for the safe, ethical and evidence-informed delivery of day-to-day medical care, including diagnosis, treatment, referral, emergency care, medical clearance and follow-up. Reporting to the Director of Player Health, the postholder operates within the Club’s wider Player Health strategy, multidisciplinary structure and governance framework, leading medical practice and coordinating with doctors supporting the First Team, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, performance and wider football colleagues. The Director of Player Health retains overall responsibility for the Player Health strategy, departmental leadership, organisational design, executive assurance, budget and system-level governance.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day First Team medical care, including diagnosis, investigation, treatment, prescribing, referral, medical clearance and follow-up.
• Lead emergency medical provision for designated First Team training, matches, camps and tours, ensuring Emergency Action Plans, equipment, medicines and multidisciplinary emergency scenarios are maintained, tested and documented.
• Own First Team medical rotas and cross-cover arrangements, ensuring doctors are appropriately credentialed, inducted, insured, competent and available for agreed clinical provision.
• Provide professional leadership, supervision and appropriate challenge to doctors supporting the First Team, while working collaboratively with physiotherapy, rehabilitation, performance, nutrition, psychology, coaching and recruitment colleagues.
• Lead the medical components of pre-season, periodic and pre-signing screening, including cardiac, blood, concussion and other agreed assessments, ensuring findings are tracked, interpreted, communicated and followed to closure.
• Coordinate specialist referrals, imaging, pathology, cardiac services and hospital pathways, ensuring the Club retains clear ownership of decisions and follow-up.
• Support infection control, vaccination, travel medicine, mental health and player-welfare pathways with appropriate specialists.
• Recognise and escalate safeguarding, mental-health, substance-use or welfare concerns through the appropriate confidential process.
• Attend designated First Team training sessions and the required proportion of home and away matches, friendlies, camps and tours.
• Participate in a clearly defined on-call and cross-cover arrangement, including agreed response expectations and compensatory rest.
• Travel internationally, sometimes at short notice, for signing medicals, matches or Club activity.
• Maintain safe practice, professional boundaries and personal wellbeing while working flexibly within a demanding elite-sport environment.

Knowledge

• Primary medical qualification recognised in the UK, full GMC registration with a current licence to practise and satisfactory fitness-to-practise status.
• Postgraduate qualification relevant to Sport and Exercise Medicine, General Practice, Emergency Medicine or another applicable specialty.
• Current Advanced Trauma Medical Management in Football qualification, or the current competition-mandated successor or equivalent.
• Adequate professional indemnity covering the full scope of Club duties, evidence of appraisal/revalidation engagement and relevant continuing professional development.
• Significant post-registration experience with recent autonomous clinical practice in a relevant field and substantial experience delivering medical care in elite or high-performance sport.
• Detailed knowledge of concussion, athlete cardiac and general health, anti-doping, confidentiality, safeguarding and sports-medicine regulation.
• Enhanced DBS clearance, safeguarding training appropriate to the role, right to work in the UK and the ability to travel internationally.

Specialist Skills

• Strong diagnostic reasoning, clinical risk assessment, prescribing, referral and emergency-care capability.
• Experience of clinical governance, including audit, incident review, policy implementation and quality improvement.
• Excellent clinical record keeping and the ability to communicate complex medical risk clearly and concisely to players, coaches and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to maintain safe delegation, clear handover, timely follow-up and appropriate escalation where uncertainty, disagreement, conflict of interest or risk arises.
• Ability to work confidently across emergency preparedness, medical screening, pre-signing medicals, injury and illness management, travel medicine and player welfare.
• Desirable skills include specialist registration in Sport and Exercise Medicine or another relevant specialty, membership or fellowship of the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine, experience in elite football, medical leadership training, diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound and/or image-guided procedures, and additional language skills.

People Skills

• Provide professional leadership and supervision to doctors supporting the First Team, helping to maintain safe, consistent and high-quality medical provision.
• Work with the physiotherapy team and doctors supporting the First Team within the multidisciplinary structure set by the Director of Player Health.
• Build trusted working relationships with players, coaches, football leadership, the Director of Player Health, First Team doctors, physiotherapy and rehabilitation leads, recruitment, safeguarding, People and Academy medical colleagues.
• Be clinically credible, calm and decisive, with sound judgement under pressure and the confidence to challenge, escalate, acknowledge uncertainty and learn from error.
• Communicate with discretion, respect and clarity, building trust while maintaining confidentiality, professional standards and appropriate boundaries.
• Be proactive, organised, reliable, collaborative, resilient and adaptable within a demanding elite-sport environment.

External Impact

• Coordinate effectively with consultants, radiologists, hospitals, laboratories, medical suppliers, visiting team doctors, match officials, paramedics, tunnel and crowd doctors, stadium personnel and relevant football authorities.
• Represent Brentford FC appropriately and professionally in clinical, regulatory, matchday, travel and medical-provider settings.
• Support safe and timely external referrals, investigations, imaging, pathology, cardiac services and hospital pathways while ensuring decisions and follow-up remain clearly owned by the Club.

Decision Making

• Own day-to-day First Team medical care, diagnosis, medical investigations and referrals, prescribing, medical records, concussion management, emergency medical leadership and medical clearance.
• Recognise that the Director of Player Health owns club-wide Player Health strategy, multidisciplinary departmental leadership, organisational structure, executive reporting and assurance, budgets and major investment, First Team-Academy alignment and the overall governance and performance framework.
• Exercise independent clinical judgement, including withholding a player from training or competition where clinically indicated.
• Escalate material uncertainty, unresolved disagreement, conflicts of interest, pressure to depart from safe practice or risk extending beyond delegated authority to the Director of Player Health.
• Delegate clinical tasks only to appropriately competent practitioners, with clear handover, deadline, record and follow-up.
• Stop or modify activity where medical cover or emergency readiness is inadequate.

Innovation

• Continually improve medical governance, service coordination, emergency preparedness, clinical audit and quality improvement across the First Team medical environment.
• Use evidence-informed practice, audit outcomes, incident learning and multidisciplinary feedback to enhance medical pathways, protocols and player care.
• Contribute to a collaborative, system-minded culture that improves the service rather than simply completing tasks.
• Maintain a strong record of closing actions, being honest about limitations and receptive to challenge and feedback.

General Club Accountabilities

• To comply with all Club policies, including health and safety, data regulations and other legal, ethical and social requirements.
• To build and maintain good working relationships while maintaining a professional image.
• To keep confidential any information gained regarding the Club and its personnel.
• To always maintain a flexible approach to work.

Inclusion Statement

Brentford FC is proud to be an organisation that values equity, diversity and inclusion. We strive to create a culture that celebrates difference and ensures fairness, safety, representation, and belonging. We recognise that some groups remain underrepresented in our workforce and are actively working to change this. As part of that commitment, we strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds — particularly those from ethnically diverse communities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and disabled people. We’re committed to a fair and inclusive recruitment process, with all decisions made based on merit and suitability — regardless of background or protected characteristic. Should you be selected for interview, we welcome the opportunity to discuss any specific arrangements, accommodations or reasonable adjustments you may require to be made.

Safeguarding Statement

Brentford FC is fully committed to promoting equality, and to safeguarding the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and is a core part of the Club’s culture. All staff and volunteers share a collective duty to create and maintain a safe and supportive environment, both on and off the field. To ensure this, all staff are required to complete regular safeguarding training appropriate to their role. This training supports a proactive and informed approach to safeguarding practice. The successful candidate will be expected to understand, adhere to, and actively uphold all relevant safeguarding policies and procedures. This includes recognising signs of abuse or harm, responding appropriately, and reporting any concerns in a timely manner to the Club’s Safeguarding Team. Brentford FC operates safer recruitment practices. We remind individuals that it is a criminal offence for a person barred from engaging in regulated activity to apply for a role that involves such activity.