Birmingham City: Frank McParland brought in as Blues head of recruitment
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Frank McParland has previously held important roles at Liverpool, Bolton, Watford, Brentford, Burnley, Rangers and Nottingham Forest
Birmingham City have appointed Frank McParland as their new head of recruitment, to work under technical director Craig Gardner.
The Championship club have also brought back former Blues backroom man Joe Carnall as chief scout, as part of a reshaped recruitment team.
Liverpudlian McParland, 63, has twice had spells with Liverpool, first as chief scout, then as academy manager.
He has been a football consultant since leaving Nottingham Forest in 2017.
McParland, who also had spells with Bolton Wanderers and Watford, has worked alongside Mark Warburton for Brentford, Burnley and Rangers since leaving Liverpool for the second time in 2013, when Brendan Rodgers was manager.
Carnall returns to Blues after twice working for the club before.
He spent over seven years in performance and recruitment related roles, prior to joining Sheffield United, before becoming head of performance analysis and technical recruitment under Gary Rowett, from 2014 to 2017.
He then worked again under Rowett at Derby County, Stoke City and as first team technical coach at Millwall.
The changes have been made following "board approval" for former Blues, Aston Villa, Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion midfielder Gardner, who has been looking to enhance Blues' player recruitment operation since his own appointment in June 2021.
"It is great to get approval for these appointments," said Gardner. "Both Frank and Joe are experienced professionals and excellent at what they do.
"I have spoken before about the need to be creative when it comes to recruitment and these appointments ensure fresh impetus and ideas."
Chinese-owned Blues, who were subject to offers last summer, revealed last month that they are again "in talks" with an unnamed prospective investor.
John Eustace's side are 18th in the Championship, seven points clear of trouble, two thirds of the way through the season - their 12th consecutive in the second tier of English football.
Their next game is Friday's derby with high-flying neighbours West Bromwich Albion, who they outplayed to win 3-2 thanks to a Scott Hogan hat-trick at The Hawthorns in late September.
Hogan previously worked under McParland when he was director of football at Brentford.
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