Town chief scout Steve McCall has backed the club's decision to appoint an international scout to assist him in discovering new talent. The Blues are currently interviewing candidates with the new man likely to be named in the next few weeks.

McCall told the club site that despite the assistance of consultant Charlie Woods, more needs to be done to check out potential new signings: "I spent some time in eastern Europe last season building up contacts, but there is only so much you can do.

"We had to work within the confines of a budget and you are also trying to cover a world-wide area with limited resources.

"The investment that has come into the club has now given us the platform to look for someone with good knowledge of the international game that can come on board and help enhance our scouting set-up.

"Football is a world-wide game and it's important to build up a network of contacts around the globe to provide the best chance of picking up players and having an overseas scout will only help that."

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