Chesterfield appoint former Burton Albion and Ipswich Town man as new head of recruitment

Neill Hornby joins having held a similar position at Burton Albion and before that he was a first-team scout at Ipswich Town.

Chief executive John Croot said: “We particularly want some young, hungry lads that are going to come in and really want to be part of what we’re doing.

“We want to make sure that we’re in a position to bring the best possible players to the club.

“Paul (Cook) certainly knows the type of player he wants and Paul’s here to see that project through.

“It is about building foundations for the club moving forward. Hopefully after this season coming we will have EFL football back but it is one step at a time.

"We want to be on the front-foot with bringing players in. There are a lot of players who want to come to this club."

According to his online profile, Hornby has been head of recruitment/chief scout at the Brewers since February 2021.

Hornby was also part of the backroom staff at Burton as they achieved back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship.

He worked under Gary Rowett, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Nigel Clough at the Staffordshire club.

In 2017 he was appointed assistant manager at Barrow AFC.

In his early days he held youth coach roles at Walsall and New York Red Bulls and had a sports development job at West Brom.

As well as the announcement of Hornby, one of Cook’s sons, Kieran, has taken up a chief scout role looking at players in the south of the country.

The additions are a positive step forward for the Blues who are keen to strengthen this department of the club, which has been a key aim for the community trust since they took ownership.

The appointments are the first of their kind since chief scout Paul Lemon departed a year ago. Lemon is now a scout at Scunthorpe United.

Former Spireites player Lee Turnbull, who came in at the same time as Lemon, held a similar role at the club to what Hornby will be doing but he left in December 2020 after just one month.

Earlier this year Croot also announced plans to open a specialist recruitment room at the club.

Chairman Mike Goodwin added: “It is no secret that when we came into the club we wanted to bring in the right players so we weren’t knee-jerk in purchasing players when we got injuries or players left the club. To a degree we did do that with Lee Turnbull but that didn’t work out. But since Paul (Cook) has come in he has wanted to do exactly the same (as the trust).”