Manchester United man confirms Newcastle United switch after accepting offer

A long-serving Manchester United employee has announced he is swapping Old Trafford for St James’ Park. Andy Basterfield, who has been the Red Devils’ Football in the Community Manager since 2011, is the latest person to join the Magpies’ academy.

Since joining as the club’s sporting director from Brighton and Hove Albion last summer, Dan Ashworth has gone about restructuring United’s academy by creating a number of new positions.

Paul Midgley (Head of Head of Youth Recruitment), Paul Mclaren (Head of National Youth Scouting 13s to 18s) and Ciaran Hughes (Lead Video Analyst) have joined from Manchester City, as have Edward Black (Lead Academy Scout U9s to U14s), Delroy Ebanks (Academy Lead Scout for the South of England), Josh Appleyard (Positional Analyst), Oliver Slater (Positional Analyst) from Arsenal, West Ham, Norwich City and Blackburn, respectively.

On Monday, it was also confirmed Claire Burrows had been appointed Recruitment Operations Manager after three-and-a-half years at Leicester City. Now, Basterfield has announced on Twitter he’s joining Newcastle United as North West Regional Scout (under-13s to 18s).

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

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

During his time at Man United, Basterfield focused primarily on Talent Identification, whilst engaging with Education, and Grassroots Football across the North West of England. He previously worked for The FA.

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