Scot lands dream scouting job at Rovers
12:16pm Friday 28th March 2008
ROVERS' new scouting and recruiting co-ordinator Kevin Cruickshank has admitted his appointment won't properly sink in until he walks through the doors at Brockhall on Monday morning.
The 32-year-old. from Elgin in the north of Scotland, is arriving in East Lancashire to take on the brand new role - liaising with manager Mark Hughes on a daily basis, profiling the club's major transfer targets and co-ordinating the movements of their 60 scouts across the globe - after a career with clubs in the Scottish Football League.
Cruickshank, who beat off 100 applicants and mastered two successful interviews at Rovers, previously worked with Elgin City for four years and Montrose for two, with his duties as diverse as writing the club programme and mastering the accounts.
And he is hoping his experience and hands-on approach in the lower leagues will stand him in good stead at Rovers.
He said: "I was always pretty hopeless as a footballer so I think the next best thing was to try to work for a football team.
"I've worked at a lower level so I've got a good grasp of what goes on.
"I could be sweeping the stands while ordering the pies, and then I would go and do the players' wages and write the match programme.
"It's a brand new position that's just been created and it's an opportunity for me to get in there and stamp my authority on it.
The chance to work on such a big project at such a big club is something that really excites me."
His first task will be to arrange Blackburn's scouting itinerary for this summer's European Championships in Switzerland and Austria, arranging flights, accommodation and match tickets for the duration of the tournament.
Cruickshank added: "When I first got the call that I got the job, I had to sit down.
"It caught me completely out of the blue."
"I asked her if she was serious. I think I asked her three times.
"To be honest, it's not sunk in and I don't think it will until I start on Monday."