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Leigh Bromby will join as Derby's new recruitment lead after a spell at Huddersfield

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

As Derby County prepare for what could be a crucial summer of recruitment, the club looks set to bring in a familiar face to EFL followers - former Huddersfield Town Head of Football Operations, Leigh Bromby.

According to The Telegraph's John Percy, Bromby will step in as interim recruitment lead.

With previous experience leading Huddersfield’s recruitment strategy during a time of transition, Bromby arrives at Pride Park with a mixed reputation.

His time in West Yorkshire included both savvy free signings and some misfires.

Leigh Bromby brings a mixed transfer track record from Huddersfield Town to Derby County

Football League World spoke to resident Huddersfield Town expert Graeme Rayner, to ask what the Rams can expect from their new recruitment guru.

“It’s quite difficult to say really with Leigh Bromby, because so much that’s happened since he left, it’s almost difficult to remember. What I could say to Derby fans is, that, like many people in charge of recruitment, it’s a little bit hit-and-miss,” Rayner told FLW.

“So we - in his first transfer window - I don’t think we spent any money on transfer fees, it felt like everyone that came in was either for free or a loan, but then we didn’t really make much money from sales either. We were a club very much going through transition, I suppose.

“The highlights were some of the people he was able to bring in. We had a superb loan signing in his first window in terms of Levi Colwill, who at the time I immediately said to my son he’s going to go on and play for England, if he looks after himself right, and he has done within two or three years of that.

“So that was a good, good signing. Alright, he’s gone off the boil recently, but bringing in Matty Pearson on a free transfer and Tom Lees as well on a free transfer. Both of those have had big parts to play at the club.

“There’s been some misfires as well. You know, Carel Eiting we brought in on a free transfer probably didn’t happen in the way it possibly should. Jordan Rhodes, coming back for his second spell. It just felt like we brought him in and didn't really play to his strengths or capabilities that would suit him, so did we give him a great opportunity to kick on and have a good second spell? Probably not.”

“The loan signing of Mipo Odubeko from West Ham was a massive failure. Lee Nicholls was a good signing, so we’ve had real kinds of ups and downs. We’ve had other players that have come in and just not quite hit the heights - Florian Kamberi, Martyn Waghorn came in on loan, Will Boyle came in from Cheltenham coming back to the club he’d left as a kid, not brilliant, but then Jack Rudoni came in, and we sold him at a profit, Michal Helik was good for a couple of seasons, so it’s really hit-and-miss.

“And that’s the thing - there became a bit of a theme though, that certain Huddersfield Town fans felt that we were looking, potentially, at cheap options or inexpensive options, whether that was a club diktat or not, I don’t know. There were a lot of people that came in past their best and weren’t able to help the club or kick on the way we wanted them to - some of the transfer windows felt a bit uninspiring.”

Rayner was clear in his assessment of Lee Bromby’s biggest weakness during his time in West Yorkshire.

“The biggest criticism I would have is that when I look through the list of players that he brought in over two or three seasons, the one thing that’s lacking and has consistently then given us problems is goals - and a goalscorer.

“I would say that really - we brought in Tyreece Simpson from Ipswich, I think we spent about half a million quid on him - an absolute flop, sadly. We brought back Jordan Rhodes and didn’t then play football that suited Jordan Rhodes - he’s a proven goalscorer, but we didn’t set up to give him the supply that he needed.

“And really, they’re the only two notable strikers that we brought in - we didn’t really bring in many people that could play at that end of the pitch, and it’s bit us on the bum massively to the point where even this season in League One, after he’s gone, but a large proportion of that squad is still there, we’ve had to bring in - in the last two January windows - we’ve brought in four strikers, and none of them have done anything, but we’ve brought them out of desperation because we have massive gaps there.”

“Good luck to him at Derby. I’m not a big fan, and I’m not quite sure what he’ll do there, frankly.”