Sporting director David Downes insists Blackpool's ownership model is extremely rare

With foreign takeovers becoming the norm in the modern game, Sheffield Wednesday's former Head of Recruitment and Analysis says the Seasiders are incredibly fortunate to have a local proprietor.

Downes has been highly encouraged by everything that he's seen and heard from the businessman since his arrival from Hillsborough last month, adding that it was the 53-year-old's enthusiasm that sold the move to him in the first place.

"We're looking more mid- to long-term in delivering the aims that Simon [Sadler] wants and supporting Neil [Critchley] in the short term of being successful on the pitch as well," he stated.

"I had quite a few conversations with him prior to joining and it was his enthusiasm that sold it to me really and his drive for the club to be successful.

"It's a rarity in football now that you have a local owner, who understands the roots of the club, the values and what the local area means to the people.

"All that entwined and the fact that he's always involved, we speak every day, we throw ideas around, he's engaged in what I'm doing and want to do with the football club, and that was a massive draw for me to come here in the first place."

Downes, who succeeds Chris Badlan in the role at Bloomfield Road, also has a strong connection with the town, having been born at Victoria Hospital while his dad, Bobby, ended his playing career with the Tangerines.

He said: "I was actually born here at Victoria Hospital, my dad worked here a long, long time ago. The turnaround is ironic. We lived here for four years, my first nursery was here, my first game was at Blackpool, so it's ironic how football circles turn back around. We're back here again.

"Coming here, it's a younger staff, they buy into ideas, they want to try and push the club forwards, and it's an exciting project to get your teeth stuck into, getting the club back on track to where it was 12 months ago.

"It derailed a bit over the course of last season so we want to be successful on and off the pitch again."

Downes has left his mark in previous posts when working with Uwe Rosler at Wigan Athletic and Brentford, before combining with the likes of Steve Bruce and Steve Round (currently assistant first team coach at Arsenal) at Aston Villa.

Now he's looking forward to engineering a period of growth at Blackpool on all the fronts in which he specialises. Downes concluded: "Everything is about growth; you want to leave something in a better position than how it was left before.

"The areas I've touched upon in my career are academy, recruitment, analysis and later into my time at Sheffield Wednesday we bought a data analysis department, so those are the key areas I want to affect at the club."