Newcastle United complete Academy recruitment overhaul

NEWCASTLE UNITED have completed their new Academy recruitment department following a major overhaul.

A total of 13 new staff have arrived at the club. As TGG has previously reported, Technical Director Dan Ashworth has been intent on improving Newcastle’s Academy productivity since joining in June 2022.

The Magpies were 27th in our Academy Productivity Rankings for 2021/22, putting them behind 21 other Category One Academies. Scouting and recruitment has been a major focus.

Paul Midgley will head up the new Academy recruitment department as Head of Youth Recruitment. He joined the club in December from Manchester City, for whom he was Northern UK Youth Scouting Manager.

Paul McLaren has been appointed Head of National Youth Scouting (13s to 18s), having previously spent almost six years as Manchester City's Head Regional Scout. Delroy Ebanks, who was West Ham’s Head of Youth Recruitment, has joined as Academy Lead Scout for the South of England.

Paul Baker, who has been with Newcastle since 2016, has been named Academy Lead Scout for the North.

Elsewhere, there are other significant arrivals. Andy Basterfield has joined from Manchester United, where he was Football in the Community Manager and Academy Talent Identification Lead for the last 12 years. He is now Newcastle's North West Regional Scout.

Dan Risk, who was Academies and Non-League Scout for Chelsea for the last four years, joins as London/ South Regional Scout. In addition, Ashworth has overseen the creation of a new position-specific scouting department, focused on the first team.

You can see the full list of Newcastle's Academy recruitment staff below:

• Paul Midgley: Head of Youth Recruitment (ex Man City and Leeds)
• Paul McLaren: Head of UK scouting 13-18 (ex Man City and Arsenal)
• Paul Baker: Lead North Scout (job change from within under new structure)
• Delroy Ebanks: Lead South Scout (ex West Ham, Fulham and FA)
• Glenn Craggs: Head of Local Recruitment (already in place)
• Drew Beardsley: U5-U11 Recruitment Officer (already in place)
• Andy Basterfield: (Ex Man U and Preston and FA) North West Regional scout
• Dean Edwards: (Ex Stoke, Stockport and Birmingham) North West West Regional scout
• Wayne Spooner: (ex Man City and Everton) Yorkshire Regional Scout
• Amos Mukiza: (ex Leicester and Peterborough) Midlands Regional Scout
• Ross Thorpe: (ex Leeds) Midlands Regional Scout
• Abdul Habib: (ex Crystal Palace) London/ South East Regional Scout
• Dan Risk: (ex Chelsea) London/ South Regional Scout
• Andy Gill: (Ex Leeds and Man United) South West Regional Scout
• Eddie Black: U9-U14 Lead Local Professional Club Scout (ex Arsenal)
• Michael Hutchinson: U9-U14 Assistant Local Professional Club Scout (promotion from within)
• Claire Burrows: Recruitment Operations Manager (ex Leicester)