Former Town general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill has joined the United Soccer League as senior vice president of USL League One.
Former academy player O’Neill left the club in the summer of 2022 having taken the general manager of football operations late in 2018, while continuing as academy manager, essentially replacing managing director Ian Milne, who had left his position at Portman Road.
A former Woodbridge Town player and PE teacher, whose father Tommy was in the Blues’ 1975 FA Youth Cup-winning team, O’Neill had been appointed to the academy manager’s job in 2016 after two years as assistant to Bryan Klug having initially returned to the academy as a part-time coach in 2007.
A Loughborough University graduate, O’Neill had also been the academy’s head of sports science and at one time worked with the Wales youth set-up.
He holds a UEFA A License and is currently studying on the Football Association’s Elite Technical Directors Course as well as an MBA in Sports Leadership and Management at the University of Portsmouth.
The USL has instituted a new senior executive role for each of its two men’s professional leagues with an appointment for the USL Championship - in which the Three Lions’ Phoenix Rising compete and Town striker Ben Morris is set to play with Detroit City - to be announced later this month.
"USL League One is an exciting, growing league with a vital role in the overall development of the sport in America,” O’Neill told the USL’s official website.
"As the league enters its fifth season, I look forward to aiding the clubs with both the commercial and technical sides of the business to continue the league’s upward trajectory.”
USL president Jake Edwards added: "Lee brings a wealth of experience and collaborative, results-based approach that meshes perfectly with the exciting things ahead for USL League One,”.
"The league is growing, our business is becoming more valuable, and now we have an experienced executive solely focused on the rapid evolution of the league.”