Marcus Flitcroft - Head of Recruitment. What does he do and what is his back story?

[grecian-near-hell]

As a disappointing (in terms of meeting supporters expectations) close season draws to an end, questions are being asked about our recruitment policy, do the management team have enough connections, what scouting system is in place and what the heck does this guy do?

As frustrating as it is for us as supporters to be told "big Budget" "game changers to be signed", I would imagine that it is more frustrating for Matt when approaching a player and his agent to be signed, only to be told there are other irons in the fire, and he has to move on to a second third fourth choice if lucky.

Surely as head of recruitment Matt tells him what is needed then after the initial analysis a head of recruitment should be approaching a players agent to sound out their availability and demands and worming their way into the agents confidence to ensure that the player he has identified signs on the dotted line. Christ knows what is happening if we are being beaten to so many targets but this area of the club is definitely an area that needs improving.

How in these difficult times with the club perceived to be awash with wealth and reputation are other clubs beating us to our targets, where are we getting it so wrong

With new directors being appointed surely we need a director of football who has a solid reputation in the game (Maidenhead have Alan Devonshire), who can help us as Steve Perryman used to do

 

[andrew p long]

Whilst g-n-h raises some important issues about recruitment, this focus on Marcus Flitcroft is (Egg and I believe) mistaken - a point that Egg and I try to make on page one of this thread.

Marcus is an analyst. His job is head of analysis for both performance and recruitment.

However many people read just the first three (potentially misleading ) words of his job title 'Head of Recruitment and Performance Analysis'

A better description would be Head of Analysis (Performance and Recruitment). I suspect Marcus has no role in dealing with agents, implementing deals etc.

 

[malcolms]

As a disappointing (in terms of meeting supporters expectations) close season draws to an end, questions are being asked about our recruitment policy, do the management team have enough connections, what scouting system is in place and what the heck does this guy do?

As frustrating as it is for us as supporters to be told "big Budget" "game changers to be signed", I would imagine that it is more frustrating for Matt when approaching a player and his agent to be signed, only to be told there are other irons in the fire, and he has to move on to a second third fourth choice if lucky.

Surely as head of recruitment Matt tells him what is needed then after the initial analysis a head of recruitment should be approaching a players agent to sound out their availability and demands and worming their way into the agents confidence to ensure that the player he has identified signs on the dotted line. Christ knows what is happening if we are being beaten to so many targets but this area of the club is definitely an area that needs improving.

How in these difficult times with the club perceived to be awash with wealth and reputation are other clubs beating us to our targets, where are we getting it so wrong

With new directors being appointed surely we need a director of football who has a solid reputation in the game (Maidenhead have Alan Devonshire), who can help us as Steve Perryman used to do

Alan Devonshire has been manager at Maidenhead since the year dot (seems like it)

 

[SEA Grecian]

As a disappointing (in terms of meeting supporters expectations) close season draws to an end, questions are being asked about our recruitment policy, do the management team have enough connections, what scouting system is in place and what the heck does this guy do?

As frustrating as it is for us as supporters to be told "big Budget" "game changers to be signed", I would imagine that it is more frustrating for Matt when approaching a player and his agent to be signed, only to be told there are other irons in the fire, and he has to move on to a second third fourth choice if lucky.

Surely as head of recruitment Matt tells him what is needed then after the initial analysis a head of recruitment should be approaching a players agent to sound out their availability and demands and worming their way into the agents confidence to ensure that the player he has identified signs on the dotted line. Christ knows what is happening if we are being beaten to so many targets but this area of the club is definitely an area that needs improving.

How in these difficult times with the club perceived to be awash with wealth and reputation are other clubs beating us to our targets, where are we getting it so wrong

With new directors being appointed surely we need a director of football who has a solid reputation in the game (Maidenhead have Alan Devonshire), who can help us as Steve Perryman used to do

The signings that fans have been so quick to judge have so far played zero minutes of competitive football for City. There is also nearly a month left of the transfer window. Perhaps, it might be an idea to see how we actually do in the league and what our squad looks like in September before we start conducting too many post-mortems.

 

[malcolms]

I was always critical of PT and his lack of interest or inclination to engage with the nuts and bolts of the game, but in reality this is a part of the club that has been woefully lacking for years. No one seems to want to get in their car and travel to watch the players that might help us out...I realise that this has been more difficult since the pandemic, but it's not like we were doing it before...

 

[ExmouthMart]

Marcus Flitcroft - Coaches - First Team - Exeter City FC

Player profile for Marcus Flitcroft

www.exetercityfc.co.uk

 

[ExmouthMart]

I was always critical of PT and his lack of interest or inclination to engage with the nuts and bolts of the game, but in reality this is a part of the club that has been woefully lacking for years. No one seems to want to get in their car and travel to watch the players that might help us out...I realise that this has been more difficult since the pandemic, but it's not like we were doing it before...

My understanding of it under Tisdale was if you lived in Bristol, could car share, get in touch!

 

[simcity]

What he does will be completely dependent on the requirements outlined by the manager/director of football if there is one in place. His job title just means be the person responsible for getting the scouting team to view certain players/games and then collates all the information provided by the scouts before providing that info to Taylor in the way that Taylor wants it.

He won't have any say on who the club will sign nor will he have any dealings with agents/clubs but will provide a list of recommendations based on what Taylor has asked for.

Just a quick look on LinkedIn and you'll see that there are a few people who say they work as scouts for the club either for the academy or first team so there is a structure in place but how those reports will be used by Taylor and his team when trying to bring players in is a different story.

 

[grecian-near-hell]

Whilst g-n-h raises some important issues about recruitment, this focus on Marcus Flitcroft is (Egg and I believe) mistaken - a point that Egg and I try to make on page one of this thread.

Marcus is an analyst. His job is head of analysis for both performance and recruitment.

However many people read just the first three (potentially misleading ) words of his job title 'Head of Recruitment and Performance Analysis'

A better description would be Head of Analysis (Performance and Recruitment). I suspect Marcus has no role in dealing with agents, implementing deals etc.

Poorly titled maybe but moving away from personalities how does our recruitment process work. We know we have an analyst, but what about scouts, or negotiators, or even an agent liaisons if ever there is such a thing to build rapport with the people controlling players futures. With the Academy we have hubs all over the south west, do we have people as Malcolm says who are prepared to put the miles in trying to spot talent, we seem to be able to pick it up in children is it that far removed for the adult game.

The signings that fans have been so quick to judge have so far played zero minutes of competitive football for City. There is also nearly a month left of the transfer window. Perhaps, it might be an idea to see how we actually do in the league and what our squad looks like in September before we start conducting too many post-mortems.

I agree and as you may be aware on another thread I believe that the signings to date aren't as bad as most people's knee jerk reactions, however this summer we hear that we've tried for this player and that player and are waiting for them to come back, and then we see our competitors signing what are perceived to be marquee signings whilst we are still waiting. So what I am asking is there, other than an analyst and Matt, anyone in charge of recruitment, who is in control of a scouting network, knows the agents can get insider information on players availability or is it just left to the figures then a phone call, one of many a player may receive, and then waiting in the meantime weeks pass and the season gets closer.

 

[malcolms]

What he does will be completely dependent on the requirements outlined by the manager/director of football if there is one in place. His job title just means be the person responsible for getting the scouting team to view certain players/games and then collates all the information provided by the scouts before providing that info to Taylor in the way that Taylor wants it.

He won't have any say on who the club will sign nor will he have any dealings with agents/clubs but will provide a list of recommendations based on what Taylor has asked for.

Just a quick look on LinkedIn and you'll see that there are a few people who say they work as scouts for the club either for the academy or first team so there is a structure in place but how those reports will be used by Taylor and his team when trying to bring players in is a different story.

You must have a different Linkedin to me...The only one who could possibly be described as a senior scout for ECFC is Paul Mitchell who is based in Bradford...The only Paul Mitchel I know besides the guy who does hair products, is the one who is sporting director at Monaco.