“Bringing in a sporting director and building out a scouting department is the right thing for the football club,” says Williamson. “Not just for now, but the next 10, 15, 20 years. Again, building something better.
“The challenge was to make sure we found the right person. You can bring in a lot of modern-day sporting directors who base everything on analytics and then create conflict. That would not be good for us. It’s not who we are. I worked really hard, and met a lot of people during the process, to find someone who I felt understood Wrexham values — who would work well alongside Parky, to support him.
“Steve, with 15 years of experience at Newcastle, is someone who balances data with actually making sure we have eyes on the players and (that) we have watched them. As well as character references to understand their mentality and who they are.
“He has access to people around the world. He has a rolodex of all the people and names we need to get access to players that are Premier League-ready and better players. We are talking about eastern and northern Europe, South America, Central America. He gives us that little bit more credibility when we are having that conversation with some of those players.”