Town CEO Mark Ashton provides summer transfer hopes

Town CEO Mark Ashton says he and manager Kieran McKenna are already working on recruits for the Blues’ return to the Premier League.

According to Ashton, the pair have met to discuss upgrading a group that was primarily playing in League One little over a year ago in order to compete in the top division. There will also be changes to the club’s scouting team, with head of recruiting Sam Williams leaving for a position with Manchester United.

“Already begun,” Ashton told TownTV when asked about the search for players in a lengthy interview looking ahead to the campaign ahead, with the additional three weeks automatic promotion rather than going via the play-offs affording them crucial more time.

“Planning has already begun; Kieran is in my office again today, and we’re discussing how he wants the squad to thrive and compete in the division, as well as the type of players he wants. We’ve been working through it.

“The recruitment team is now working on it; there will be new members and some changes.

“But he knows exactly what he wants, and I believe the systems will remain mostly unchanged. The sort of player, the finances of that player, will vary, and I believe that the challenge comes with spending more on players, the larger the finances, the larger the contracts, the less you can get wrong.

“But we’re very clear on what we’re doing and what we’re looking for and Kieran’s in today and we’re well and truly under way.”

Town has traditionally focused on the domestic market when recruiting players under Ashton and McKenna, but the CEO admits that bringing in abroad recruits has always been a consideration for the club.

“I’d say it always has but the right player has got to pop up and fit the technical and tactical and financial specification and has got to be the personal fit that Kieran wants,” he stated.

“We would not hesitate to do so, but we will not simply sign an overseas player for the sake of doing so.

“We’ve seen it before; the rumour mill is wild. I would just remind Town fans to trust us and not accept everything they hear on social media. When the time is perfect, it will come from the football club, and we will inform you of the situation.”

He continued: “We’re a newly promoted football club, we’re a strong financially positioned club and we will be used by agents and other stakeholders in the game to drive the prices of other players, to drive engagement of other players.”

In terms of retaining current squad members, Ashton believes being in the Premier League will assist, but the Blues were far from the soft touch he perceived prior to the takeover.

“I think clubs probably look at us, whatever division they’re in, as a difficult club to take players from now,” he said.

“It felt like a selling club. We’re not a selling club anymore, and that’s where the investment, the shareholders, the backing of that board, and the backing of that group come into play, because if someone tries to take a player from this football club, 1) it won’t be easy, 2) it will be a large number, and 3) right now, I’m not sure any player wants to leave this football club.”

Regarding off-field recruitment, Ashton believes the club will not expand significantly because most departments are currently at the required level.

“The club will expand this summer, but not significantly. It’s been a fascinating conversation. We set our own criteria in League One. We promised to establish Premier League standards and infrastructure in League One and the Championship, which we believed would propel us to the Premier League.

“When it comes to off-pitch staffing, there will be one or two, but not ten or twenty, because we are already there.

“There will be an expansion in the media department. Why? Because it is most likely the one area that will be stretched due to media demands.

“Kieran might tweak or turn the backroom staff, he may add one or two to it, but it’s no more than one or two.”