r00fie1
Well-known member
Middlesbrough's new head of scouting Chris Jones is a man Kieran Scott 'trusts implicitly'
Middlesbrough's head of football has been looking to fill the key recruitment role since his arrival last year
Kieran Scott has found the right man to head Middlesbrough's scouting department, turning to a man he knows well and 'trusts implicitly'.
Chris Jones will join the club as the new head of scouting, to work alongside Scott as head of the recruitment and talent identification team on Teesside. Jones joins Boro after just over a year at Crystal Palace, having previously worked at Norwich City, Huddersfield Town and Wolves.
Scott confirmed last year, not long after joining the club from Norwich as the new head of football, that the process of appointing a senior figure to the key recruitment role was under way, with the Athletic first reporting Jones' appointment on Teesside.
Scott and Jones first worked together at Wolves before parting ways as Jones followed sporting director Stuart Webber to Huddersfield Town, while Scott moved to Burnley. But the trio would reunite at Norwich in 2017, with Scott as head of recruitment and Jones as one of just three full-time scouts. Their work was renowned as the Canaries found many hidden gems abroad and was one of the key reasons Scott was appointed at Boro last summer.
And in a key appointment for Scott at Rockliffe, he is now set to reunite with Jones at Middlesbrough, having previously spoken about the excellent understanding they have.
In an interview with the Athletic, Scott, then still at Norwich, said: “I have worked at clubs where the team is huge and you just get a little bit lost. You naturally gravitate to the guys that produce for you anyway. The guys I’ve got I trust implicitly when they come up with a player.”
And explaining that further in an interview with the official club podcast, he added: “I have a really good scouting team behind me who know how everyone at the club. It’s not a huge scouting team but they’ve been working with us for around four years. It means we’ve got really trained eyes out there looking for exactly what we need.
"Nine times out of ten now, when a recommendation is made to me, it’s exactly the type of player we would want or we need. They’ve all been excellent and they all deserve recognition for their hard work which often goes unnoticed.”
In the Athletic interview, Scott also praised Jones for his ability to spot opportunities in markets that other scouts might not see. The Boro head of football said at the time: “We still look at young players and try to find little opportunities.
"Like Xavi Quintilla. He was playing at Villarreal and Chris noticed they had three other left-backs, a few were out on loan and all going to come back. There was an opportunity there not many scouts would have seen.
"Initially, we got a no but we just kept chipping away and it became a yes. Barring his injuries, I think we’d have had the best left-back in the Championship. His body has just struggled with the intensity, which you never know until they get here.
“That’s why I have a small team because they’re clever. I’ve never worked with scouts at other clubs that would think like that.”
Jones joins Boro after a difficult summer transfer window which saw the club recruit ten players, though many came in late in the window during what was a slow-moving market. And with Chris Wilder feeling his squad was still short, the club were forced to enter the market for a free-agent too. Scott will be hoping Jones' arrival and skillset can lead to smoother windows ahead.
Boro's new head of scouting Chris Jones is trusted 'implicitly' by Scott
Middlesbrough's head of football has been looking to fill the key recruitment role since his arrival last year
www.gazettelive.co.uk
