After more than 25 years prowling the touchlines of English football’s lower leagues, Russell Slade has traded tracksuits for lawsuits to lead a claim against the giants of the betting and gaming industries and the alleged illegal misuse of performance data.
Slade has managed and coached at 13 clubs, including Cardiff, Grimsby and Leyton Orient, where he helped England captain Harry Kane launch his career as a teenager on loan from Tottenham.
Since working as a managerial consultant at Stevenage in 2020, however, 61-year-old Slade has devoted his time to a crusade to ensure footballers — and professional athletes in all sports — regain control of the data routinely collected to measure and improve performance and often sold-on for profit without their consent.