City’s smart window shopping
RECRUITMENT CHIEF LIFTS LID ON IMPRESSIVE TRANSFER STRATEGY
IT’S fair to say that most Coventry City fans have been more than happy with the club’s transfer business this summer.
The Sky Blues moved quickly in the window, snapping up the likes of Gustavo Hamer and Callum O’hare early on, sending out a clear message of intent that the club means business back in the Championship.
Eight more players followed as Mark Robins and the supporters saw the labours of club’s recruitment department bear fruit – not an easy task following a season of uncertainty as to whether or not City would be promoted.
Head of recruitment Chris Badlan explained the process.
“In a simplistic way you do just have a Championship list and a League One list,” said the 37-year-old talent spotter, “but then within that list you have scenarios of A, B. C, D and E as well, with four or five targets per position.
“But it’s not a fact of ‘oh, we’ve got a window coming up,’ because, for example, I might have been at a game on Saturday anywhere in England or abroad and I might be watching a target thinking, ‘right, he’s one for January,’ but within that same game there might be a player who you can’t afford now but if you’re in the Championship he might be a target for you.
”There might also be a player there who is only 16 and making his debut and therefore one we might look to monitor as well.
“So when we’re at a match it’s not just thinking about the here and now in terms of say, last year when January was coming up and we wanted Ryan Giles on loan.
“You are always thinking ahead because forward thinking outside the box is smart recruitment, and it’s what I try to preach all the time.”
He added: “So last season we were looking at players and thinking, ‘he’s a target if we don’t go up,’ or something happens and we stay in League One. But, also, when I was in Holland watching Gustavo Hamer I was think
You are always thinking ahead because forward thinking outside the box is smart recruitment. Chris Badlan
ing if we go up, this guy will be a fantastic signing for us.
“So you are watching him as a ‘what if ’ we go up but you also have to have players on the list in case we don’t go up.” Following on from Tommy Widdrington, whose initial brief was to draft in players to help City get out of League Two, the way the club operate has changed significantly.
And the arrival of Bright Enobakhare in January 2019 signalled a clear shift in quality.
“When I first came in the recruitment was very different and the play
ers we brought in during the first window were very different to the types of players that we have brought in this window because the strategy and philosophy of the recruitment department hadn’t started,” he said.
“So we were almost bringing in players who were already down the line from the previous recruitment process that fitted the club. But then as it moved forward, from the January when Bright Enobakhare came in and things moved on.
“Then we brought in Liam Walsh and Callum O’hare and it gradually gets there, so recruitment is always two or three windows ahead and sometimes it takes two or three windows to see the results of it.”