West Ham appoint Rob Newman as new Head of Recruitment
West Ham have appointed Rob Newman as their new Head of Recruitment, following a lengthy spell with Premier League champions Manchester City.
Newman spent 12 years at City as an International Scouting and Recruitment Manager, helping the club rise to become one of the most successful in Europe.
Prior to this, he enjoyed a successful playing career. Starting his career for Bristol City in 1981, he would go on to spend a decade with the Robins, before spending seven years with Norwich City. Spells at Motherwell and Wigan Athletic on loan followed, before he winded his career down at Southend United and several non-league sides.
Commenting upon his new role, Newman said: “I’m really pleased to be here and coming in at a great time, especially after what’s been a fantastic start for the Club this season.
“In the last window alone, West Ham brought in four international players, coming to the Club because they’ve seen how well everything is going. They’ve seen what a great Club it is and what an even greater Club it could become. Hopefully I can be part of that process now. I’m going to give it 100 per cent.
“The most important thing is you can’t just bring players in who you think 'he’s a great player for that team, he’s automatically going to make us a great team.' That’s not how it works, because there are different players, different teams play different ways, different managers have different styles, so we’ve got to do it in a way that’s the best for West Ham United.
“Again, that’s down to the department’s due diligence on players not only on the pitch, but off the pitch as well. You have to bring [not only] good footballers in, but also good characters as well.”
Joint-Chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold added: “We would like to take this opportunity to welcome Rob to West Ham United and wish him every success in his new role, which leads the restructuring of our football recruitment and scouting department.
“As a Club, we have conducted a very thorough and comprehensive search for the person we all believed was right to lead in this vital role – someone we feel will fit in perfectly and shares our united vision to ensure we continue to build on the strong progress we have made.”
Newman will be working closely with West Ham manager David Moyes, who likes to take a hands-on approach to recruitment.
“I am delighted to welcome Rob to West Ham United and look forward to working closely with him as we continue to restructure and enhance our recruitment and scouting department," he said.
“Rob has fantastic experience and a wonderful pedigree in the game. He has rightly earned a lot of recognition for his excellent work at Manchester City and we are very pleased that he has chosen to take up this exciting new challenge here at West Ham.
“We have made some good strides forward with our player recruitment process but we want to continue improving and getting better and Rob’s arrival will help us to achieve that.”