Jewell Happy With Scouting Set-Up
Tuesday, 9th Oct 2012 06:00

Boss Paul Jewell says he’s happy with his current scouting set-up despite being a man shorter than he had planned last season.

Last November, the Town manager added ex-Bolton defender Mark Seagraves, a fellow former Liverpool youth player, and one-time Everton man Andy King as full-time scouts alongside chief scout Steve McCall and David Hamilton, a member of his Derby and Wigan staffs.

Within a month, King was offered the assistant manager’s job at Northampton. Late last season, former Luton and England man Mick Harford was set to replaced King but he was given the chance to replace one-time Town coach John Gorman as the MK Dons’ assistant boss before he had joined up with the Blues.

“People who are out of work keep on ringing me asking me to give them a job because every time I offer people a [scouting] job someone else gives them a [management] job,” Jewell joked.

“We’ve got three full-time scouts at the moment and we’ve got three or four part-time. It’s an area which you’re always trying to improve but at the moment we’re just going to stick with what we’ve got.”

He says he wasn’t too unhappy with the set-up he inherited from former boss Roy Keane: “There wasn’t too much wrong with it.

“I wanted to have more full-time scouts on the ground to get more games covered. Not just analysis of the opposition but also to have a wider variation.

“When people are doing things part-time they have other jobs and they can’t go to Scandinavia, they can’t go abroad or up to Scotland. When you’ve got three full-time scouts they go wherever we tell them to go.”

He says having more full-time scouts than the club has had in the past affords the freedom to follow tip-offs regarding prospective signings: “Either they’ll go or we’ll go. We went to Scandinavia a couple of times in the summer to watch games.

“It’s not just tip-offs, it’s just watching games. They might go away for four or five days just to take six or seven games in.

“They might come back and say that there was no one they fancied there, but it’s never a waste of time because you’ve got a knowledge [of football in that country]. It does take time to build that up.”

Photo: Action Images

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SomershamBlue added 13:22 - Oct 9 Coyle - dear God no. Another over-rated manager who would probably just keep us bumbling along in mediocrity...
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NSL added 13:33 - Oct 9

"matthewharley added 09:05 - Oct 9

why scandinavia? and only 3 or 4 scouts ,if this is the case what info did they bring back last time i havent seen a anything regarding any players in scandinavia, but what about the countries that are hard to get to the countries that have quality national sides , Brazil springs to mind Jamaica with all those hidden villages ect ect"

I am not sure you can simply pick up an unkown talent from Brazil or Jamica and just give them a contract you know, unless you smuggle them in through Felixstowe that is. Maybe thats what we have to resort too.

irishtim added 13:49 - Oct 9 @somershamBlue. Not saying we wany coyle its just we r still stuck with jewell. Other clubs take action. Our club hope we win 2 then all well. Prob is we dont win for 8.Thats the reason we need change. Now.
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Sindre94 added 14:25 - Oct 9 Hahah yeah cheers mate ;) Id love to!
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hairbear added 14:48 - Oct 9 Wrightyblue what is your problem? Take no notice DurhamTownFan.
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tractorblue added 16:53 - Oct 9

Blackburn SACK kean whilst lying in 3rd place.
Bolton SACK Coyle on a bad run in 15th place
Ipswich sitting 23rd,2 league wins in last 19,Crowds down to 15,000,Under Paul Jewell after 21 months we clearly are going down to the 3rd tier of english football,and well,well well old ME gives him his 4th vote of confidence.

Where will all this MESS end,we really are on the decline chaps.

wrightyblue added 18:45 - Oct 9 Oi Durhamtownfan- and what's wong with my avatar???? Don't you think he looks handsome??? ;)
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TractorRoyNo1 added 00:43 - Oct 10 Tonto might be worth a punt, didn't he work for the LOAN ranger?
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Marcus added 12:23 - Oct 11 I see a flaw in this thinking. If you want to scout a country then you employ a part time scout within the country and hopefully there's at least a steady flow of suggestions and trialists if not first team players.
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Marcus added 12:26 - Oct 11 @tractorblue - on the other hand it also shows that Ipswich are prepared to stick with their managers and not panic. I'd hate us to become like QPR when they changed managers almost on a weekly basis.
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