Oldham Athletic are pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Thompson as the club’s new Head of Recruitment.
The arrival of Thompson to a newly-created role is another significant development in implementing a new recruitment strategy for the club.
Working alongside manager David Unsworth and his support staff, Thompson will oversee the structure for the signing new players, including a regional and nationwide scouting system.
Speaking to Latics Player, Steve admitted that he was excited to be working for his hometown club.
“My Dad and Grandad played for Latics, and I’m from Shaw, so I’m delighted to be here.
“There are some great staff here, who’re putting in the work to get Latics back to where we should be.
“We’ve got to make sure we get the right players in, ideally ones who can develop and become sellable assets, if not, it’ll be loan signings who’ll have an instant impact.
“We’re going to have a network of scouts who’ll write reports on players, I’ll take a look at ones who fit the remit and then pass them onto the coaching staff who’ll get the final say.
“As well as being a good player, they’ve got to be a nice person too, with the right attitude for the dressing room.”
Born in Shaw, Steve had a successful playing career, appearing over 300 times for Bolton in addition to long spells with Leicester and Rotherham.
After retiring from playing, he started out at Blackpool as a coach, working his way up to first-team coach under Ian Holloway as The Seasiders won promotion to the Premier League.
Spells with Huddersfield and Leeds as assistant manager followed, before joining Preston in 2015.
He spent seven years at Deepdale as number two to Alex Neil, Simon Grayson and Frankie McAvoy, before departing the club earlier this year.
Latics gaffer David Unsworth spoke on Steve's wealth of knowledge and contacts in the game.
“I’m delighted with the recruitment structure we’ve now got in place, not just with Steve but with a number of talented and quality scouts we’ve got to work alongside him across the country.
“I’d like to thank the Board for allowing me to have the structure in place, Steve has got an unbelievable knowledge of players and a vast range of contacts within the game.
“It allows me the opportunity to spread our net even wider and we’ll work very closely over the coming years.
“Recruitment is everything in football and is an area we’ve really needed to focus on. We’ve done a lot of good work in improving the coaching and the environment around the club, and it’s vital that we have now done the same with recruitment.
“We’ve started to bring in new players, we aim to bring in a lot more, and this structure is all about working towards us getting promoted.”
Welcome to Latics, Steve!