Baggies prepare to name a new scout leader
ALBION will step up their plans the January transfer window appointing a new chief scout.
Technical director Luke Dowling confirmed the club want to have the position filled in the coming weeks to prepare for the month of trading, which begins in the New Year.
Dowling will work with head coach Darren Moore to recruit players with the chief scout heavily involved in identifying talent.
“We’re not flooded with a load of scouts at the club,” said Dowling. “We’ve got some in certain areas. We’re looking to appoint a chief scout in the coming weeks to head that department up.
“Once that person’s in then I’ll sit down with them and discuss what other scouts we want in other areas of this country and Europe. And then we’ll slowly build it without it becom- for by ing too vast and too big. You need people who have the same eye as we have and has an idea of what the football club needs. That’s something we want to expand on and put our little stamp on it.”
Albion employ six scouts on a full-time basis, which is a relatively large number for a Championship side, and Dowling says the next addition to the department will be among the last for now.
“We have six full-time scouts, four out watching games and two others doing different bits at the training ground and putting together videos,” the 41-year-old continued.
“With the chief scout that will be seven and we won’t look to add too many more to that. I’d say for a Championship club to have six full-time is a bigger department than most.
“When you get to the Premier League it’s different and in the top eight of the Premier League it’s worldwide.”
Dowling joined the club only last month from Albion’s Championship rivals Nottingham Forest. But the concept of reuniting with Moore, whom he worked alongside at Blackburn Rovers, is well established.
The pair had contemplated joining forces even before Moore was promoted from loans manager to firstteam coach under Alan Pardew in December.
“We’ve got that relationship and had spoken about football and different roles, before he even became on Alan Pardew’s staff,” Dowling explained.
“It’s been in the back of my mind that if an opportunity ever came to work with him again it would work. He knows how I work and I know how he worked as a coach. It’s having working relationships and someone you feel comfortable with.
“A sporting director and head coach need to talk daily, either face to face or on the phone. Sometimes you come across a head coach where that doesn’t happen and there’s friction. You want daily updates and you want them to bounce ideas off you.”