Plymouth Argyle are on the lookout for a Director of Football to offer support to manager Carl Fletcher and his coaching staff.
The recommendation has been made by new Director Colin Sexstone, who has recently joined the Pilgrims Board after spells as Chief Executive and Chairman of Bristol City, to owner and Chairman James Brent in a bid to improve the footballing knowledge at the club.
Fletcher and his team admirably kept the Pilgrims in the Footballl League last season as they came out of Administration and recovered from a poor start which saw them only pick up one point from their opening ten league games of the 2011-12 campaign.
This season, Argyle have failed to win their last eight games and Sexstone believes the input of an experienced figure can benefit the club.
He said: “Since my appointment, I have had the chance to get to know the club, including talking with Carl Fletcher, whose passion and commitment for his task are quite striking.
“The club appears to be in pretty good shape after its problems of last year.
"However, as the Board has acknowledged, it does not possess the sort of in-depth football experience which I think can greatly benefit Argyle.
"I believe this can be addressed by appointing a Director of Football, initially until the end of the current season.
“It demonstrates the Board's determination to support the manager, as well the manager's willingness to embrace that support.
"Argyle are taking an early position on what we think will become a trend in English football to employ a Director of Football, Sporting Director, Technical Director or similar.
“I am pleased that Carl totally shares the same foresight and welcomes the idea, and he will be a key driver in appointment process.”
Examples of where such a system has been used successfully was at Bristol Rovers during the 2006-07 season when, with Lennie Lawrence acting as Director of Football alongside then manager Paul Trollope, the Pirates won promotion from League Two.
Elsewhere in the Football League, Steve Perryman and Barry Fry are employed as Director of Football at Exeter City and Peterborough United respectively.
