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Barron Targeted to Head Town's Recruitment
Thursday, 22nd Apr 2021 13:06

TWTD understands Town are targeting former left-back Scott Barron to return to Portman Road as the club’s new head of recruitment.

Barron, 35, came through the club’s academy ranks and made 16 senior starts and one sub appearance for the Blues, while also spending time on loan at Wrexham during his time as a player with Town.

Preston-born Barron moved on to Millwall in June 2007 and was with the Lions for five years making more than 100 appearances - among them the 2010 League One play-off final victory - before joining Brentford in 2012 where he spent a two-year injury-hit spell, a hip problem eventually ending his career.

Since retiring in 2014, Barron has run sports management company Refuel Performance Management with his former Bees team-mate Richard Lee. Barron spoke about that role and his career in an interview with TWTD in 2015.

The Blues new owners are expected to make a number of new off-field appointments in the months to come in addition to the expected major changes to the playing personnel.

The new head of recruitment will work closely with incoming CEO Mark Ashton, who will begin his job at Town on June 1st, who has been heavily involved in recruitment at his current club Bristol City, as well as manager Paul Cook.

Dave Bowman has effectively been Town’s chief scout since 2012, although under the job title director of football, but appears likely to depart and join former Blues boss Mick McCarthy at Cardiff City, having also worked with him at Millwall, Sunderland, Wolves and with the Republic of Ireland.


Photos: Reuters/Contributed



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Sir_Bob added 13:19 - Apr 22
Be a shame to see Dave Bowman leave his role of chief scout, we've been thriving under his scouting system. (One man and his dog)
5

Suffolkboy added 13:20 - Apr 22
Do let's get everything done with good grace and professional objectivity : positivity is the key word – we do not want change for change sake !
COYB
4

johnwarksshorts added 13:23 - Apr 22
Decent left back, Striker and a big strong midfielder and 2 proper centre backs, new goal keeper. Keep Downes, KVY, Dobra, Norwood (only if he keeps fit) possibly Edwards the rest can go.
3

BlueandTruesince82 added 13:27 - Apr 22
Cardiff fans must be excited at the prospect of signing players on the back of them being quote good on football manager.
1

Monkey_Blue added 13:36 - Apr 22
Sir-Bob how can you say this and know who bowman has recommended? I know for a fact Keane ignored the scouting team during his reign. We did ok under MM transfer wise and who doesn't think the league one/two dross we signed was entirely down to Hurst? If we sign a player 9 times out of 10 it's rubber stamped by the manager.
3

OwainG1992 added 13:46 - Apr 22
Sounds promising.
2

BromleyBloo added 13:53 - Apr 22
Good to see and one of our own and the general approach so far seems to confirm PL's view of the club not having anything like the necessary infrastructure under Evans dismal ownership reign. Have to say I feel some, limited sympathy for Lambert - he may have lost the plot on some occasions in his dialogue with the media and the fans, but ultimately he only got terminated when he stood up and told Evans some home truths. More than Mick Mc did who kept taking the pieces of silver right to the end and chose continuing to back Evans in all things against the fans......................
14

Barty added 14:08 - Apr 22
I reckon 20 new players should be enough
7

Edmundo added 14:32 - Apr 22
Scott Barron - biggest role in the Club over this summer. No pressure, son.
0

PositivelyPortman added 14:42 - Apr 22
Should get hold of Russell Osman - the man that uncovered Tyrone Mings for us.
No, it wasn't MM.
16

Wickets added 15:03 - Apr 22
If Bowman leaves i think he should be best remembered for bringing Garner and Waghorn to Town , Mick took the credit but Bowman did the work so i was told .
8

rickw added 15:18 - Apr 22
It's good we're getting some more people in behind the scenes, the club has been reliant on the manager to do everything for far too long
4

Nobbysnuts added 15:27 - Apr 22
Who????? Never heard of him....
-1

Linkboy13 added 15:39 - Apr 22
Blimey i can remember him playing for the youth team and thinking what a great prospect. Remember playing against Arsenal youths who were the champions and looked twice as big as our lads and we beat them one nil i think. Scott had a very good game despite some rough treatment from the Arsenal lads who didn't take to kindly at having the run around. Unfortunately Scott was like so many players we produce at the moment very slightly built and had his injury problems.
2

Michael101 added 15:49 - Apr 22
Barty, only 20 what if we get a few injuries??.
1

BlueBlood90 added 15:54 - Apr 22
Wow. I remember him being in the academy which feels an eternity ago.

I don't want to bash the guy but what experience has he had at doing player recruitment? I read the interview he did during the link in the article and it sounds like his company are more of a player liaison type company that assists players with their utility bills etc. It's such a vital role and we desperately need to get it right so I hope he has the credentials.
0

WhoisJimmyJuan added 16:02 - Apr 22
I'd like us to have an international scout too. Someone to spy on Dutch, French club youth systems like we used to. He'll, Sir Bobby even had Ruud Gullit scouted and was told £30k or something similar would he enough.
10

tetchris added 16:06 - Apr 22
An interview he gave in 2018 says they give advice on performance, off-field business interests and PR and media. Doesn't deal with player contracts so not an agent. Maybe he is linked to a role like player liaison officer rather than head of recruitment as doesn't have the experience but could help new players with accommodation, schools for their kids etc
0

midastouch added 16:59 - Apr 22
Just checked the Championship form table. I've not kept a close eye on it this season but the last I heard McCarthy was meant to be pulling up trees. Somebody said on the match comments section that it looked like he had a good chance of taking Cardiff into the Play Offs. I just looked here (see the link below) and they are currently down in 18th place in the form table with no wins in any of the last 5.
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/championship/form-guide
Sounded like he got Cardiff off to a good start but seems they've been struggling more of late. It will be interesting to see how they go next season after he's had a chance to do some of his own recruitment.

As for our own recruitment, whoever we get (whether it's Barron or somebody else) they've got a hell of a job on their hands!
1

istanblue added 20:01 - Apr 22
Great that we're putting the off-pitch infrastructure into place. However, is this guy any good? Does he have any experience in recruitment? Is he qualified?
0

dirtydingusmagee added 20:22 - Apr 22
yes Bert 20 new ones
0

Essexipswichboy added 20:25 - Apr 22
Imp
I believe that ashton guy will be pulling the strings in this department
I would imagine he already got his eye on some of bristol youth
He is her to make money....going to be interesting
0

bluesince76 added 20:58 - Apr 22
Our scouts must have fear of flying maybe they take the boat to Ireland might explain lack of continental players.
0

bingboast added 21:29 - Apr 22
Low skill ex town players, like Cook little experience, if it was not for the points won by Lambert in early season we would have been relegated by now !!!!!!!
-3

d77sgw added 21:30 - Apr 22
Yes MidasTouch, Cardiff's form has dropped off a little, but they're still sitting 9th - a lot higher than when MM took over, and their last three games (all draws) included points gained at Brentford and Reading, so form perhaps has more to do with difficulty of fixtures. Fascinating that we're still talking about him though. Love him or loathe him (or, like me, a bit of both) there is no denying that his departure was a real turning point for this club. For all the sh*t football, the negative tactics, the stubborn team selection, I still suspect that we'd be in a lot better position if he'd been given the money that Hurst was... Still, that door has closed - let's get behind PC, and hope with some decent recruitment and a pre-season we can be a totally different team next season.
1


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