Pearson looking to achieve hat-trick of success as new goals spring up

A YEAR ago, Adam Pearson’s energies were being poured into Hull City’s quest for a striker capable of firing them into the Premier League.

The Tigers, then managed by Nick Barmby, were handily placed in a play-off place going into the January transfer window. Back-to-back 1-0 defeats, however, at the end of 2011 had made it clear to the powers-that-be at the KC that a goalscorer was needed to push City on.

As head of football operations, Pearson was charged to find more firepower but, despite his best endeavours, the search proved to be a fruitless one.

A year on, the 46-year-old has been, if anything, even busier in the transfer window thanks to the successful launch of a new recruitment company aimed at professionals in the sports industry.

Pro Sports Recruitment (PSR) was set up last year by Pearson, Leeds-based Tigercom chief executive Tony Doherty and renowned Yorkshire-based football agent Hayden Evans.

“The business is going really well,” Pearson explained about his new venture, which aims to place staff in positions across all levels of sports clubs up to and including the boardroom.

“It was an idea I’d had for quite some time, as I thought there was a gap in the market that wasn’t being filled. Sport is such big business these days, from the negotiating of media rights through to player contracts, and this demands a high standard of executive.

“That is where we come in, as we do when managers come to us and say they have a gap that needs filling on, say, the physio side, in the sports science set-up or their technical analysis staff.

“They know we have the knowledge and contacts to fill those positions. In effect, we are a one-stop shop for all levels of recruitment – players, managers, executives or technical staff.”

As part of PSR’s launch, Pearson also became an investor in Evans’s HN Sports agency. He combines working for both firms with being chairman of Hull FC rugby league club, whose season starts tomorrow.

Along with the intense planning that goes into preparing for a Super League campaign, Pearson has been particularly busy with PSR and HN Sports.

While his specialist field is the management side of the game, the demands of the football transfer window has meant him becoming involved in the often head-spinning market of trying to move players on. It is, of course, an area he knows all about from his two spells on the Tigers board and his two years in charge of Derby County.

Pearson, who already numbers Premier League sides and clubs from the top tier of both rugby codes among PSR’s clients, said: “I am more focused on working with clubs to get the right staff in place off the pitch, while Hayden deals with the sporting angle on the pitch and the management side.

“But because there is obviously a crossover, then we can stray into all sorts of areas. I thought the window could be quite frantic and time-consuming from a chairman or football director’s perspective but this past month has been a lot busier. The work is much more varied, too.

“The managerial side has been very busy in the window. As has the playing side, though getting deals done is, as is always the case in January, proving difficult.

“I am also working with a couple of clubs who are in financial trouble and trying to stave off administration. So, I’ve been ringing round on their behalf to try and move players on. So, as you can see, the work is quite different compared to when working solely for a club.

“At Hull City a year ago, for instance, it was pretty quiet. The target going into January was a centre-forward but, as is inevitably the case, January proved a difficult window to get anyone in because the power is invariably with the players.

“This January, my work has been much more varied with a lot of the Premier League clubs also seeing the start of a new year as the ideal time to look around for potential additions to their administration staff, particularly at executive level. It is hard work but hugely enjoyable.”

One area that PSR – whose head office is on the Headrow in Leeds – and HN Sports are hoping to extend into is the Middle East.

In fact, Evans, whose clients during 20 years in the business have ranged from Leeds duo David Batty and Gary Speed through to former Huddersfield Town winger Anthony Pilkington, just this month helped broker the deal that saw former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson join United Arab Emirates side Al Nasr as technical adviser.

Pearson added: “Sport City (the $4bn mixed-use complex currently under construction in Dubai) is something we would love to become involved in as the entire area is, thanks to football, growing so quickly out there, and is going to be huge in the future.”

Pearson, who spent five years as a director at Leeds United before taking charge of Hull in 2001, is hoping all three of the companies can continue to grow.

“Sport has changed hugely over the past 10 years and will continue to change but through my time in sport I understand the culture of sports clubs and the personalties involved. And what is involved off the pitch.”