Former West Bromwich Albion chief analyst Lee Darnbrough has joined Hull City following a seven-year spell as the club’s Head of Scouting, according to reports.
Darnbrough moved to the Hawthorns as a 27-year-old when Bryan Robson was in charge in the summer after the club pulled off the great escape under the Manchester United legend, remaining in the Premier League on the final day.
Following seven years with the club, working alongside managers such as Robson, Roy Hodgson, Roberto Di Matteo and former Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray, Darnbrough left West Bromwich Albion to join Burnley in 2012 when Sean Dyche started his tenure at Turf Moor.
Eventually, after three years with the Clarets, Darnbrough took on a new position as Head of Scouting at Norwich City but spent merely two seasons at Carrow Road, which included one campaign in England’s top-flight before moving to Hull in the same capacity.
The Englishman has been at the MKM Stadium for seven years, putting together a team that competed for the play-offs this season when Liam Rosenior was in charge, overseeing the signing of the likes of Fabio Carvalho and Tyler Morton from Liverpool, Liam Delap from Manchester City and Jaden Philogene who was arguably the club’s most impressive acquisition during Darnbrough’s stint in Yorkshire.
Nevertheless, Hull Live released a report on Sunday, claiming that Darnbrough is set to leave the Tigers to join fellow Championship outfit Stoke City, who recently named former player Jonathan Walters as their Sporting Director following an interim period in charge.
Writer’s View
Darnbrough has been a great asset at every club he’s worked for, particularly at West Bromwich Albion and Hull City. Stoke offers him a completely new challenge. Like the Tigers, the Potters have fallen from grace from their days in the Premier League and now look ready to assemble a squad capable of returning to the promised land.
The 46-year-old built a team at Hull that could have finished inside the play-offs only for some poor results in the closing weeks of the season, hence why Rosenior was dismissed. Now, Stoke will be relying on him to do the same over the coming years to make them competitive in the Championship once more.
