The sun was shining at Wembley ahead of the 2018 FA Vase final. Paul Midgley was preparing for his final game as first-team coach at Stockton Town, a role he combined with his lead recruitment position at Sunderland's academy at the time, when a colleague turned to him. "How good is this Paul?" he said. "We never dreamed we would be able to achieve anything like this."
Yet Midgley's career has only gone from strength to strength since then. Having served as head of national academy recruitment at Leeds United and as northern UK scouting manager at Man City, Midgley has now been appointed as Newcastle United's new head of youth recruitment.
It caps a remarkable rise for the 34-year-old, who will play his own significant role in Newcastle's future. Youth development, after all, is a huge passion of sporting director Dan Ashworth and investing in the academy could potentially help Newcastle save millions in the long run as the Magpies bid to become a more sustainable club who produce their own players. Smart recruitment at this level will be crucial when Financial Fair Play regulations limit what Newcastle can spend on transfers so Midgley's expertise will be needed.
READ MORE: Newcastle owners are about to see something special as 'extremely busy' stadium message sent
Midgley, clearly, has an eye for talent - the new arrival's CV tells you as much - but what exactly makes the Stockton native so highly-rated in the field? Agent Martin Waldron is the former head of academy recruitment at Everton and has personally dealt with Midgley, who brought client Jeremiah Mullen to Leeds. As far as Waldron is concerned, Midgley is one of the 'best up-and-coming' operators in the game.
"Paul is bright and aggressive," Waldron told ChronicleLive. "In recruitment, if you do well, normally, you're aggressive and you've got your players - and he is. He's good, thorough and did a good job at Leeds. You only have to look at all the young players that came into Leeds and he was involved with most of them.
"Also, if you're going to be good at your job in recruitment, you've got to be approachable. If someone rings you, you've got to answer it. In recruitment, people get phone calls and don't always answer and don't always get back to you, but Paul answers as quick as he can and gets back to you as quick as he can. An hour in football could cost you millions so you've got to be on the ball - and he is."
It is certainly going to take more than one man to bridge that gap, of course. This really will require a team effort from top to bottom at Newcastle.
Competing with elite sides such as Man City and Liverpool is difficult enough - talented youngster Bobby Clark left Newcastle to move to the latter in 2021 - but the reality is that the academies at Leeds and Aston Villa have also gone to another level in recent years. Midgley knows all about that, of course, having been on the inside at Leeds and the new arrival will certainly bring something different to Newcastle.
Unlike many in his field, Midgley started coaching aged just 17 and the Teessider was still out on the grass even when he landed a significant recruitment role at Sunderland years later. Indeed, it was only when Midgley moved onto Leeds that he had to walk away from his coaching position at Spennymoor Town at the time.
That background has given Midgley a unique perspective in, say, spotting kids who have untapped talent but maybe have not been coached correctly. In fact, Simon Carey, who previously worked with Midgley as Cleveland Schools FA secretary, told ChronicleLive his 'meticulous' former colleague's coaching background was 'ideal for spotting talent'.
So how did Midgley ultimately end up specialising in recruitment? Well, the seeds were planted at Stockton more than a decade ago when Midgley took up a role as the club's football development officer, where his responsibilities included junior player development and junior team development. Stockton chairman Martin Hillerby worked with Midgley during his time at the club and quickly realised his friend had the 'right skillset to deal with youth recruitment'.
"Paul had a keen eye on the best talent in the area," he told ChronicleLive. "He did his research even then so when it came to the junior teams he ran, managed and coached and the young players he attracted into the club, he was not just casting the net wide. He also had the ability to identify players, engage them and get them into the club from a young age.
"It was obvious that Paul wanted to work with the best players he could, to develop the best players he could, from the minute he walked in really. It was down to sheer hard work and persistence, and getting on the phone, building up contacts and getting to know people.
"It would have been very easy for Paul to just sit in his role and think, 'I've got a full-time job now. I can just cruise' - but he didn't. He was very keen to push the kids that came in and point them in the direction of academy football."
READ NEXT
Kieran Trippier's response after Pickford tried to embarrass Newcastle star in front of Beckham
Newcastle unearth talents who all have got 'something to offer' including exciting 16-year-old
Newcastle find 'mentality monster' who Liverpool know very well and Eddie Howe wants deal done
Newcastle owners may have got glimpse of future and angry player reactions Eddie Howe will love
Isaac Hayden reveals truth a bout Newcastle being 'richest club in world' amid FFP question mark
