Ardija Announce Watanabe Replacement

The Squirrels have confirmed the identity of the's club new president as Shigeru Suzuki, who takes over from Seigo Watanabe with immediate effect. It is believed that Watanabe will remain at Ardija, although his role and the length of term are not known. Two further office appointments have also been announced, although they will not take up their posts until November: Tsuyoshi Kubota is the new Director of Operations, Yuji Higashiyama is Head of Administration.

As for Shigeru Suzuki, the new Ardija president is an NTT man, having joined the company upon graduating in 1975; at the same time Suzuki became a member of Omiya's corporate predecessor football club, NTT Kanto, going on to take a position within Ardija's administrative structure between 1999 and 2004. Most recently he has been a director at TelWel East Japan, part of the NTT Group, while on the football side working since 2005 as a J-League match commissioner.

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