'A big blow': Coventry City expert provides insight into Blackpool's crucial off-field appointments

Chris Badlan and Stuart Benthom make the move to Bloomfield Road as sporting director and chief scout respectively.

They will help fill the gap that will be left by John Stephenson, who will be stepping down from his role as head of football operations in March of next year.

To find out more about Blackpool’s double appointment, The Gazette spoke to Andy Turner, who is the chief sports writer at the Coventry Telegraph.

Coventry fans seem disappointed to be losing their recruitment team – are they right to?

“It is a big blow for Coventry, a very big blow.

“With those two, they work very well together and that’s why they’ve gone together.

“An opportunity has arisen for Chris and straight away he’s probably thought he wants his right-hand man with him, so that’s probably why that’s happened.

“They’re a strong partnership, so if it works why would you change it?”

What sort of success have they had at Coventry?

“Chris has been instrumental in bringing in a lot of players to the club who have been hugely successful.

“He’s probably got three big successes, with one of the biggest in recent years - in terms of his ability and value to the team - being Gustavo Hamer.

“He identified him at PEC Zwolle in the Netherlands. They bought him for just over £1m and he’s been nothing short of brilliant. I don’t know what he’s worth now, but it’s upwards of £10m I would have thought.

“Viktor Gyokeres is another one who was identified as an up-and-coming player from Brighton.

“He was struggling to get game time (on loan) at Swansea, so he initially came to Coventry on loan for half a season and he then went on to score 19 goals in his first full season.

“A lot of his development is down to the coaches as well but it was Badlan and his team who first identified what a quality player he was.

“He’s on a full-time contract now and he’s also worth a lot of money. All sorts of figures have been bandied around and he’s been linked with Premier League clubs. Kyle McFadzean, one of his teammates, even said recently Coventry should be holding out for £30m for him!

“The other one is Callum O’Hare, who is another fans’ favourite and another huge part of the team.

“They picked him up on loan from Aston Villa before eventually managing to bring him in on a permanent deal on a free transfer, so that was another very shrewd acquisition.

“Every transfer window he’s linked to higher-placed clubs. Burnley were desperate to sign him during the summer but he got injured, so that all fell through.

“But he’s another one who has been brought in, developed and his value has rocketed as a result.”

What’s been the key to their success?

“The business model at Coventry has been identifying young up-and-coming players with potential who can grow before being sold on for profit.

“That’s been really successful alongside growing some homegrown academy kids at the same time.

“There have been one or two that have fallen by the wayside and haven’t worked along the way, but you’re always going to get that because recruitment isn’t an exact science. But overall Chris has done an incredible job.

“Even identifying loan players like Liam Walsh, they took him in League One and he had a terrific season. He was outstanding for Coventry on a season-long loan.

“He’s not just good at identifying bargains, but just quality players who can come in and can really make an impact on the team.”