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Decent read, enjoy !
Rob Newman: Who is West Ham’s new head of recruitment from Manchester City?
In a transfer window where West Ham United are keen to make more additions to the team, it is the off-field appointment of Rob Newman as head of recruitment that could prove most important.
The Athletic can reveal Newman will begin his new role in late September. The 57-year-old, who has been placed on gardening leave by Manchester City, joined the reigning Premier League champions in 2008 and worked as an international scouting and recruitment manager. Previously, he managed Southend United and Cambridge United, and was then assistant manager at Bournemouth.
Newman was involved with first-team recruitment at the Etihad Stadium and worked alongside Txiki Begiristain, James Smith, Brian Marwood and Gary Worthington, all of whom are key figures in City’s extensive scouting department.
He also worked with the analytics team, and was assigned to scout young talent in Spain and France and is fluent in both languages. The former defender, who made almost 250 appearances for Norwich City in the 1990s, had some involvement in the signings of Brahim Diaz, Angelino and Pablo Maffeo between 2013-15.
During that timespan, the City Football Group wanted to bring in top talents from Europe to increase the level of competition in the academy. Newman played a key role in this and is also understood to have been involved in recruiting Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao in 2018.
Diaz, Angelino and Maffeo were signed for a combined fee of £200,000 and subsequently sold for a grand total of around £40 million to Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and Stuttgart respectively. West Ham manager David Moyes has stated on numerous occasions he wants to sign young players who have resale value. Newman’s impending arrival will enable the Scotsman to achieve this.
When it comes to scouting full-backs, Newman is keen for them to be big, strong and quick. For midfielders, they need to have good technique, passing ability and a tactical brain.
At City, Newman was known for being a hard worker, active, with a bulging contacts book, popular among the scouts and a people person.
This will be great news for Moyes, given the camaraderie with his backroom staff and the squad. Also, the two men were team-mates at Bristol City in the 1980s.
“Rob was really good with young players and approachable,” says Josh Simpson, who played under Newman at Cambridge. “He made us all feel welcome and was really good at telling us how we could improve our game. He brought a lot of young players to the club but he wasn’t given enough time. I can see why he went on to become a scout because he’s great at identifying talent.”
Most importantly, Newman joining West Ham will help take the pressure off Moyes and co-owner David Sullivan.
Over the past 19 months, the signings of Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Said Benrahma show the club is heading in a positive direction. Yet prior to Moyes returning for a second spell in charge in December 2019, West Ham were often very reliant on agents’ recommendations, with Sullivan effectively acting as their director of football.
“I want to get us a state-of-the-art recruitment department for the future which we can look to use,” Moyes said shortly before the last winter transfer window. “We are undoubtedly behind, I would argue, probably every other club in that area. But it’s something I will fix, it’s something I want to get in place better.”
The appointment of Newman is a step in the right direction and The Athletic understands he will focus on identifying talent already in the UK. Moyes is also keen to develop a younger department packed with analysts. The long-term plan is for the club to build a European scouting system. In previous spells as manager of Preston North End, Everton and Manchester United, it was Robbie Cooke who worked alongside Moyes in senior recruitment roles.
But a quick look at West Ham’s recent history will tell you they have had a poor record with the director of football role.
Gianluca Nani worked under Gianfranco Zola and then Alan Curbishley between 2008-10 and was responsible for the signings of Savio Nsereko, Valon Behrami, Diego Tristan, Herita Ilunga, David Di Michele and Alessandro Diamanti.
Mario Husillos, who worked under Moyes’ successor (and predecessor!) Manuel Pellegrini, had also not previously worked in English football but had some involvement in the arrivals of Jack Wilshere, Sebastien Haller, Lucas Perez, Pablo Fornals, Goncalo Cardoso, Samir Nasri, Ryan Fredericks, Albian Ajeti, Roberto, David Martin, Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko, Xande Silva, Fabian Balbuena and Carlos Sanchez.
Of the 15 players signed between 2018-19, five remain at the club, with Fornals the only first-team regular.
Having splurged £170 million on players, which yielded mixed results, Sullivan said: “Under the previous regime, the only two players I picked were (Issa) Diop and (Lukasz) Fabianski; I bullied the manager to take them because I liked both players.
“All the other players him and his director of football picked.
“I regret, in a way, not stopping some of the signings, because you have to back the manager. The fans were on my back to have a director of football, a big-name manager. We did what the fans wanted. It didn’t work.”
Newman has a proven track record and it is an added bonus that he was one of City’s key scouts in Europe.
Lessons have been learned from Pellegrini’s year and a half in charge and one of the reasons why Alphonse Areola, the goalkeeper signed on loan from Paris Saint-Germain after spending last season in the Premier League with Fulham, has been the only summer arrival for the first team is down to the emphasis on bringing in the right personnel.
Newman’s arrival will allow him and Moyes to plan ahead for the January window.
Head of recruitment is a position the manager has been keen to address for quite some time.
The signing of Newman could prove to be the club’s most astute yet.
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