Gateshead's bold recruitment ambition after three transfer blows
January, by his own admission, was always a month that carried much trepidation for Gateshead manager Carl Magnay - and he is not the first Heed boss to enter a new year with such an outlook.
On the pitch, despite the disruption of former manager Rob Elliot’s departure to League One side Crawley Town and Magnay’s subsequent arrival, things are positive and the Heed are sat firmly in the midst of a battle for a historic promotion into the EFL.
However, impressive performances, FA Trophy success and unquestionable progress do not go unnoticed and vultures have circled in recent months. Within the first 24 hours of the new year, top goalscorer Owen Oseni secured a move to Scottish Premiership club St Mirren on the back of scoring 13 goals in 28 games since joining the Heed following his departure from Derby County in the summer.
READ MORE: I laughed at entitled Man United claim about Newcastle star Alexander Isak after PSR bombshell
Callum Whelan, a key cog in a progressive Gateshead midfielder, has reunited with former manager Mike Williamson at League Two strugglers Carlisle United and loan signing Ben Radcliffe returned to Derby before earning a permanent move to Crawley.
The trio are not the first Gateshead players to earn moves to higher levels in recent years and Macaulay Langstaff’s rapid progress into the Championship with Millwall and Ed Francis’ impressive form at Exeter City provide further indication the Heed’s recruitment policy and clear identity is working.
Yet for head of recruitment Luke Clark, the man tasked with unearthing more gems, those departures bring further pressure to enable Magnay to continue building momentum over the coming months and years.
One new signing has been secured as midfielder Max Sheaf penned an 18-month deal on Friday and a deal for a striker with experience in the academy system of two Premier League clubs is only awaiting clearance from the relevant governing bodies.
In a league bulging with big budgets and eye-watering wages, Gateshead are outsiders, yet Clark and his scouting staff remain as committed to their recruitment process as Magnay does to his playing style.
He told Chronicle Live: “You have to find the value in deals because of the finances at the club - so it’s players coming to the end of their contracts or the end of their Under-21s journey.
“Maybe there are some that have fallen out of favour in the leagues above - but the absolute must is that we want to continuously improve so we challenge ourselves to ensure every player that comes in is an improvement. If we don’t think they are, we don’t bring them in.
“We get agents putting a lot of players our way, this week I’ve had about 80 but I’d say only ten are on our radar - and there has to be a strong case otherwise we follow our process of watching them four times and going from there.
“We have a scouting network across the country, it covers all areas from the South East and South West and works all of the way to the North East. When players are flagged to me after being watched twice, I’ll go and watch them twice so by the time it gets to the manager, we have watched them four times and we have a good knowledge of them. We continuously recruit by position and profile so we have certain requirements for players in every position.”
Creating that identity for attack-minded, possession-based football has been a lengthy process for Gateshead and one that had its routes in the appointment of Mike Williamson and Ian Watson in the aftermath of a supporter-led takeover of the club almost six years ago.
After starting from scratch, the duo pieced together a squad over three seasons that led the Heed to the National League North title and an FA Trophy Final with an attractive style of play that has evolved under their successors.
A flourishing reputation saw Gateshead capture the eye of Premier League and Championship clubs - and after initially being facing a battle to persuade such clubs to authorise temporary moves for their young talents, the Heed have rapidly become a point of call for loan moves.
Clark said: “It shows the strength of the club in terms of we have created a real identity, a style of play and one that EFL and Premier League clubs can recognise. We are talking to technical directors at Premier League clubs and they know our style of play and how many players have forged careers on the back of coming to us. That’s a massive compliment and as a club that’s something we are hugely proud of.
“We get sent club loan brochures with players in with players we wouldn’t usually think we could get. So this week, we’ve had Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton and Brighton have done this - but we have to make sure we stick to the process and make sure they improve us no matter where they are from.
“That work started from Mike Williamson and Ian Watson and the playing style they stayed true to - even in the first season in the National League when it was tough. That continued with Rob (Elliot), who was here already in a sporting director role, as he evolved the playing style but stuck to the identity of being ball-dominant and Carl has done the same. It’s been a smooth transition and clubs at the top end realise what we are about.”
The consistent thread that has wound its way from Williamson to Elliot and on to current manager Magnay has been filling the Gateshead squad with the right characters and that has creating a strong bond within the dressing room despite persistent changes at the International Stadium.
There was understandable disappointment of the recent exits of Whelan, Oseni and Radcliffe - but Clark believes their progress is a sign the recruitment process is working and praised all three players for showing the right attitude as their departures moved ever closer.
He said: “We lost Owen Oseni, who did brilliantly for us and applied himself right to the end and he’s earned a move to the Scottish Premiership. The replacement for him has to be the same profile in terms of pace, electric pace, stretching defences and running the channels. We present to the player the platform and explain they are coming into a tight-knit squad, a strong culture and an opportunity to kick on as we’ve shown with the likes of Ed Francis, Stephen Wearne and Callum Whelan in recent weeks.
“With loans, if you take Ben Radcliffe, he wasn’t really in and around Derby’s first-team but I’d identified him during a loan at Banbury. We told him to come in, get some senior football under his belt and give himself a platform to earn a deal. We actually had something agreed on a permanent deal for Ben but the lure of playing in League One was too much for us and we understand that. However, much like Owen and Callum Whelan, right until the end, playing in high-pressure games with Hartlepool and York, they kept the right attitude until the very end, he has applied himself and we wish the three of them nothing but the best.”
There have been concerns Gateshead could lose more players before the January transfer window comes to a close and Magnay admitted there had been offers for three players in recent days. However, Clark revealed there is no need or desire for further departures and stressed the hard work to identify and recruit further new additions to strengthen the Heed squad remains the focus over the coming weeks and months.
“At this stage, we don’t want anyone else to leave. We’ve lost three players, we don’t want to lose anyone else and we don’t need to lose anyone else. We want players that want to be at the football club and anyone that comes in, we have to know they want to be here for the right reasons and we are actively looking to improve in midfield and wide areas in particular. We are also working hard on recruitment, we are able to strengthen and we will do so if the right player is identified or is put to us by a club.”
