Interesting piece that adds to recent discussions about the club structure and changing approach:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...-city-19719249

The Bluebirds have made big changes to the way their recruitment team is structed over the last 12 months, affecting how players are brought to the club from under-9s all the way to the first team.

Over the last 12 months, Cardiff City have slowly but surely reshaped the way they conduct transfer business behind the scenes.

The Bluebirds have made changes to the way they bring players to the club, starting with the under-9s and working all the way through to the first team.

It is no secret that Cardiff have tried to change their transfer philosophy since the departure of Neil Warnock. The days of multi-million-pound transfers for players hovering either side of 30 are now long gone.

Though Warnock was strident in his views and had a wealth of experience to shoulder much of the transfer burden, when Neil Harris came in he was keen to reinforce the recruitment department and that is exactly what Cardiff did.

Firstly, Harris' desire to revamp the club's academy aligned with the hierarchy's aim of becoming more self-sustaining and producing their own talent.

It is at academy level where we have seen the biggest change.

Previously, all recruitment at under-18s and under-23s level fell in the hands of academy boss James McCarthy and his father, Paul.

Paul, an experienced scout who has been with the club many years, was tasked with bringing players in from under-9s all the way through to under-23s, however his role has now shifted to concentrate on the younger age groups.

The two big coups come at the top end of the club's academy system. On the recruitment side of things, Cardiff managed to prise Kevin Beadell away from Arsenal's under-23s at the start of the season.

Beadell heads the club's recruitment operation now for the under-18s, under-23s and the first team. It is a rather impressive appointment and one which academy insiders have been really impressed with in recent months.

The second coup, of course, is the arrival of former Bluebirds player David Hughes from Southampton as the academy's head of coaching.

This frees up James McCarthy to deal with the every day running and administration of the youth system, while Hughes can then take a more hands-on role with the football side of things below the senior team.

While talk of implementing a director of football is not entirely off the table, per se, this is all part of an internal restructure to give the club more footballing nous within its system.

Beadell has formed a team in the recruitment department, which also includes Patrick Deboys who last January moved to a new role as lead recruitment analyst following his post as first-team performance analyst, to advise the board and the manager.

Beadell is seen as a buffer in between management and the coaching staff to help bring in young, talented players from the under-18s upwards.

That goes hand in hand with the club's new transfer philosophy of finding good young players in an attempt to ramp up the value within the squad.

Since the summer, Cardiff have brought in eight players and only one - Kieffer Moore - has been over the age of 25.

Cardiff feel their academy has a lot of potential and that is why they have overhauled the structure. They like the Brentford model of identifying young talent, progressing them to the first team and having a young team packed with potential transfer value.

Although the B-Team model does not appeal to Cardiff, they believe there are lessons to be learned from the way Brentford in particular structure their recruitment department from the senior team down.

However, Cardiff are not simply going to chop the head off the team and go gung-ho in creating an entire first-team squad of players under the age of 23.

They would ideally like a hybrid squad, with more experienced players still in situ to bring through exciting youngsters, just fewer of them than in recent years. With Cardiff's average age of their squad now at 27.7 years of age, they appear to be driving the age down and striking a better balance.

So, how does a transfer get done?

Players are identified and sourced through the recruitment operation, headed by Beadell, and the manager, now Mick McCarthy.

That recommendation is put through to the transfer committee, which comprises Ken Choo, Steve Borley, the manager and committee chair Mehmet Dalman.

The committee are then tasked with the negotiation side of the deal and finding the funds to complete the transaction.
The club believe the new recruitment department, working in conjunction with the transfer committee, has worked well in the last two transfer windows.

It is widely accepted that, with the group of players which have been assembled over the last two windows, Cardiff have underdelivered this term. It is by no means a reflection on how the club have conducted their transfer business.

It is understood that McCarthy has been extremely receptive of the club's recruitment operation and has been in contact with Beadell's team since his appointment last Friday.

The Bluebirds boss is also very interested in incorporating youth and even on day one he highlighted some players in the club's academy system who could be of use to the first team.

He is also set to recall City academy graduate Ciaron Brown from his loan spell up at Livingston this weekend, having been tipped off by one of his scouts.

Following the draw with Barnsley on Wednesday night, McCarthy said it might be time to trust in youth moving forward, such is the talent currently in the City academy.

"Maybe we have got to give some of our younger players a chance," McCarthy said. "Let's see what they've got."

With just four days left in the transfer window, it remains to be seen whether McCarthy will trust what he has or whether he makes a last-ditch dip into the market.

Those conversations are doubtless going on as we speak.