Manchester United man confirms exit after accepting ‘fantastic’ Newcastle United offer

Sporting director Dan Ashworth has looked to transform Newcastle’s academy set-up in his first full season at the club with a number of new roles and appointments made - the latest of which is Man United academy scout Andy Basterfield.

Basterfield will join Newcastle as a new North West regional scout for under-13 to under-18s. He has spent the last 12-years at Manchester United and will leave his foot as football in the community manager and academy talent identification scout.

Basterfield, who is also an FA qualified tutor, PE teacher and UEFA B licence coach, confirmed he had accepted an offer from Newcastle on social media.

“Excited to have been offered & accepted the role of NW Regional Scout (U13’s-U18’s) @NUFCNewcastle United,” he wrote.

“Fantastic Club, Great Aspirations, Ambition, & Incredibly Passionate People. Look forward to the Challenge, Networking, & Offering Real Value to the Club.”

As part of Newcastle’s behind the scenes recruitment drive this season, the club has poached several staff members from rival Premier League clubs. Paul Midgely, Paul McLaren and Ciaran Hughes have joined from Manchester City as head of youth recruitment, head of national youth Scouting (ages 13-18) and lead video analyst respectively.

From Arsenal, Newcastle appointed Eddie Black as as lead academy scout for under-9s to under-14s and Delroy Ebanks from West Ham as academy lead scout for the South of England. Paul Baker has also been promoted to the academy lead scout for the North of England.

Ciaran Hughes’ positional analyst team will comprise of Josh Appleyard (Norwich City), Graeme Tiffin (Middlesbrough), Peter Clark (Arsenal), Chris Nix (internal appointment) and Oliver Slater (Blackburn Rovers)

This week also saw Newcastle recruit Claire Burrows as recruitment operations manager from Leicester City.

She confirmed the appointment on Twitter, stating: “So excited to announce that I will be joining Newcastle United as Recruitment Operations Manager.

“Great club, great city and amazing passionate people. What a time to be joining – the aspiration and ambition of the club is only going up.”

Burrows will “ensure a seamless flow of information between Academy and recruitment staff (and) co-ordinate and assist local and UK recruitment teams”.