He's not local, but the only ex-player I can think of is Stefan Schwarz. He was rumoured to be one of those under consideration for the Sporting Director role in November. Maybe it was Head of Recruitment he was being considered for.
That's a definite possibility as he's an ex-player. As I've said we're desperately short of 'senior figures' in the NE since Bobby Robson went. Who is there? Newcastle have Shearer who's arse dropped in management and he went back to the sofa with the other pundits. It's shameful that the NE don't have respected people to offer guidance and authority.
Not many ex players that have gone on to have a decent name in the game post playing career. Claudio Reyna is a sporting director and seems pretty well thought of.
i remember Bolo Zenden looking for a post well respected on the international scene, only an hours flight away knows the club and fans and is respected.
The trouble is they have had more cock ups than Jenna Jamieson and have been frankly incompetent for years. They can't afford any more high profile blunders so are probably triple checking everything and asking for more as it is obvious that they are not very good at what they are trying to do
Interesting! Think that would be a popular appointment. I'm not clear how a role for someone like him would fit alongside the one being done by Speakman?
It may just be that his brother is taking on a more prominent role than first thought ... ... although you'd think he'd have been there on Saturday if that were the case.
I’m not questioning @Smug in Boots sources at all, but I’m struggling to see the justification or need for another senior appointment. If KLD is going to be as hands on as it looks like he is, and if Rodwell and Davison are in place to look after the non-footballing side and Speakman has full autonomy over the footballing side, where does any new appointment fit? The only positions I can tell we need to fill (from a completely outside perspective of course) is Head of Academy and Head of Recruitment - both of whom I’d expect to report into Speakman rather than being “heavy hitting” appointments. Another “big” appointment above Speakman and Rodwell would just indicate to me that KLD isn’t going to be as hands on as it looks, which I’d now be quite surprised about as he appears to be wanting to be all over it, which is awesome. The only remaining factor could be somebody coming in with Rodwell leaving after a transition period. So that there’s a clear break from Madrox. I have no major issue with Rodwell, indeed I think he’s done a decent job in a hard period, but this transition away from Madrox would probably be for the best - so I can see this happening.
Would be very happy with that. Touch of class Bolo, should have given him another year when we released him imo.