The truth behind Aston Villa transfer guru Rob Mackenzie's links to Nigel Pearson's Bristol City Mackenzie was one of the masterminds behind Leicester City's Premier League title-winning squad Aston Villa's Rob Mackenzie has no intention of leaving the Premier League club to take over as Bristol City's new head of recruitment, Bristol Live understands. Mark Ashton's impending departure to Ipswich Town at the end of the month has left the recruitment department without a figure overseeing the operation and Football Insider reported on Tuesday that Mackenzie was in "advanced talks" with the Robins, just a year after being appointed at Villa Park. But multiple sources have insisted there is no truth to those reports and the 35-year-old remains happy and very much committed to his role at Aston Villa. Mackenzie was head of technical scouting at Leicester from 2011-2016, working initially with Nigel Pearson, where he built his reputation by bringing in the likes of Ngolo Kante, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to the King Power Stadium. All three were largely unheralded prospects at the time but are now Premier League superstars and title winners, having been signed for minimal fees by the Foxes. He also worked alongside Pearson at Belgian side OL Leuven, modernising the scouting department with a data-driven approach that helped them gain promotion to the top-flight in 2020. Mackenzie, who has also held roles at Tottenham Hotspur as head of player identification and head of recruitment at Derby County, was then appointed at Aston Villa last summer following an internal review of their recruitment operation. As part of his remit as CEO, Ashton has led Bristol City's recruitment department for the past five years with direction from the Lansdown family for identifying value talent to develop and then selling at a premium fee. However, while there have been considerable success stories in Adam Webster, Lloyd Kelly and Josh Brownhill, finding suitable replacements for such individuals has proven, as this season has suggested, largely unsuccessful. Pearson is said to be playing an influential role in the search for a new head of recruitment as he seeks to rebuild and reshape the Robins squad in order to turn them into promotion contenders. It's set to be a summer of significant change at Ashton Gate with decisions to be made on 13 first-team players out of contract and Pearson's desire to bring in new players who subscribe to his mentality and vision for the club. The manager has admitted the Robins will need to be "creative" in the summer window, which only enhances the importance of having a strong head of recruitment on board. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-aston-villa-recruitment-5400079
Sounds good to me on 'Nigel Pearson's Bristol City' and it looks like his old crony would be a great asset but unfortunately it doesn't look like it will happen. I and many others have said for years we need more people with footballing nous to develop our future and this type of guy fits the mould perfectly so let's wait and hope.
He was one of his team, it says in the report. With him at Leicester and Ol Leuven. So it would of been him Craig Shakespeare (also at Villa) and he won’t be coming and Steve Walsh.
