Asked by The Telegraph about the duties of recently- appointed club Vice President (Player Recruitment) Tony Jimenez, Chairman Chris Mort replied:

"Tony's role will be to negotiate deals and to use his contacts, especially in Europe He will be part-time and will only really work for the club during the two transfer windows. He will identify players, particularly on the youth side, and recommend them to Kevin (Keegan) and Dennis (Wise). He will then help negotiate those deals.

"I met him through Mike Ashley who has been friends with him and Paul Kemsley for a long time. They all go to England games at Wembley together. His background is in property but he is also very well connected in football now - he knows a lot of people and he will strengthen us in this area."

"We have not been surprised by the public reaction to the changes. But we are very clear about what we are trying to do here.

"We had a shortlist of three people for the executive director role. The other two on the list were in their sixties and former managers. But there will be a lot of travelling with this job and we just felt it was better suited to a younger man."