Ladbrokes Coral appoints heads of football and racing

Ladbrokes Coral has made three additional senior trading appointments with Ladbrokes’ Paul Milwood given the head of football role and Coral’s James Knight handed head of racing, EGR has learned.

Coral’s Ian Wassell has also been appointed head of risk in a trio of appointments which would appear to end any idea the combined firm could operate with two separate trading teams, previously floated by Ladbrokes CEO Jim Mullen in 2015.

Following the departure of head of football David Burgin to BoyleSports late last year, Milwood has been leading the Ladbrokes football trading team in a joint-effort with Thomas Pullin. Meanwhile, Knight’s appointment sees him continue in the role he held at Coral.

All three heads will report directly into trading director Dave Brown, and follow the earlier appointments of Jamie Crossfield and Glynn Carroll as director of trading operations and director of trading performance, respectively.

The appointments come amid a period of ‘job swapping’ between staffers at the two legacy firms, with traders from Coral’s Stratford base travelling to Ladbrokes’ Rayners Lane offices, and vice versa.

The merger, which completed on 31 October, will lead to the closure of Ladbrokes’ HQ with the combined London workforce to be based out of Stratford, albeit with a small corporate base located in London Victoria.

The merger will also see a reduction in London headquarter headcount of around 700 and EGR understands the bulk of staffers should learn their fate in December.