Wolves appoint new head of recruitment

The former Liverpool director of academy recruitment is expected to be announced as the club's new main talent spotter after leaving Queen's Park Rangers.

Webber, who was at Compton yesterday, was one of three chief scouts appointed by the Loftus Road club as recently as August.

But he is believed to have been replaced in the shake-up following Harry Redknapp's appointment as manager.

Now he has taken up a role heading up Wolves' scouting – effectively head of football recruitment Kevin Thelwell's right hand man – with responsibility of identifying and recommending players to the manager.

Ironically, Webber was drawn to Wolves after being interviewed for the newly-created role that Thelwell was appointed to last month.

But, while Thelwell - pictured above - accepted the main job, Wolves were impressed by Webber and have decided to offer him the head of recruitment role.

Thelwell and Webber got to know each other in their respective academy roles at Wolves and Liverpool.

Having previously worked with Wrexham, Webber joined Liverpool's academy in 2009 as a senior national scout before progressing to become their director of recruitment in 2011, where he remained until taking up his post with QPR.

Webber was recruited by QPR technical director Mike Rigg, who is well known to Thelwell. He was joined at QPR by his former Liverpool colleague Steve Hitchens, who was chief scout at Anfield, and Hans Gillhaus.

Both were replaced at Anfield when Liverpool's American owners removed Damien Comolli.

Webber's arrival and Thelwell's promotion help fill the gap left by chief scout Dave Bowman and European scout Ian 'Taff' Evans.

While working with Liverpool, he signed winger Raheem Sterling from QPR and striker Suso – both of whom have featured in the Reds' first team – plus Jerome Sinclair, who became their youngest ever first team player against West Brom last September.

"We were delighted to be able to get Stuart on board and he has now started working with us," said Thelwell.

"I have known Stuart for a little while now and particularly from our time working with academies.

"He did really well at Liverpool and played a major part in their recruitment drive at academy level, with the players coming through at Anfield now demonstrating how strong that process is.

"Stuart also gained senior experience during his time with QPR.

"He fits in with us at Wolves not only thanks to his experience and expertise but in terms of the sort of person he is as well.

"His role at Liverpool was Academy-based but when you think about that both he and I have got a high level of experience of players who have since gone on to play in people's first team or out on loan.

"Those players Stuart picked up may now be 21, 22 or 23 so he has a real working knowledge of the strongest, youngest and hungriest players that are out there.

"He also has that experience with QPR and knows the Premier League and Under-21 League very well, has strong European experience to bring to us as well as a wide knowledge of the Championship."

Webber said: "I'm excited to be here and really looking forward to the challenge. With Kevin's change of role and the club looking to go in a slightly different direction it is a good opportunity and an exciting one, although there is a lot of work to do.

"The guys that have left did a very good job but now we have to put our own stamp on it and take things forward.

"We need to have a good network of scouts in operation not only in England but also further afield.

"And we need to bring the department up to speed with modern day football. There are so many more resources available now than there has ever been and it is about utilising those to get the best for this club.

"That means identifying good players at good value to help the club develop and get back to where we want to be which is ultimately the Premier League."

With the January window now open, Webber admits the club will be active.

"We have to have an eye both on what is happening in January and what will happen in the future," he said

"In this job you have to be prepared and ready to deal with different situations.

"What if the top scorer picks up an injury and is out for the season? What if you get a goalkeeping crisis?

"We have to do our due diligence and have plans in place for different eventualities and lists of players ready and available.

"At the same time we don't want to be making rash decisions in January.

"That can sometimes be a time when you may be rushed into things and the health of the club overall is the most important thing. Clearly though you want to meet the manager's needs and if you can freshen things up and add a couple of players we will try and support and help him as much as possible."

Webber continued: "We have to be working 18 months in advance.

"We will be looking ahead to this summer, next January and the following summer as well.

"For example, we will look at players out of contract in 2014 who we may be interested in, taking into account who we may lose from our squad from contract situations or whatever the reasons might be.

"So we must be ready for a gap to emerge in a certain position and have something in place – all that starts now.

"We will also be putting a special focus on the Academy recruitment and making sure that comes in line with what the first team are doing.

"We have to make sure we have constantly got a conveyor belt of young players coming through, as well as transitional plans covering for different eventualities because if we are in the Premier League we would be fishing in a different pond.

"The only way to be ready for all of those different scenarios is via good communication, people working hard and having an open-minded attitude to recruiting players."

With Thelwell now having moved into his new role, Wolves have confirmed that academy head of coaching Gareth Prosser is taking on the position of temporary academy manager ahead of a permanent appointment being made in the summer.

Prosser, a UEFA 'A' license holder, joined Wolves in July, 2008, and has previously represented the club on several occasions on the Premier League's flagship 'Premier Skills' international coaching programme.