Joey Barton has praised "close assistant" Eddy Jennings for the "huge part" he has played at Bristol Rovers after the club formalised his role.
Jennings has long been an influential figure at Rovers, working alongside Barton from the moment he took the job in February 2021, but that was on a consultancy basis until the Gas named him head of football operations on Thursday, officially making him a member of the staff.
Very little change will result from Jennings' new job title. He will continue to work "in the shadows", as Barton describes it, leading Rovers' recruitment strategy as well as overseeing operations at The Quarters. But the Rovers boss was keen to emphasise Jennings' importance at the club.
"He’s been here as long as anyone, really," Barton said. "He’s been here with us and he’s one of those guys who doesn’t really need a title, he just gets on with doing his job. Whatever title you put on it, he’s an integral part of what we do here.
"At Fleetwood and here, he’s been with us since day one and operated in the shadows. He’s a huge part of what we do and why we’ve been successful here.
"The recruitment aspect of it, he obviously sits at the apex of that, but also in terms of our cultures and day-to-day procedure, he’s very much involved in running it.
"You could argue he’s a very close assistant of mine. Not out on the grass or in a coaching aspect of it, but certainly off the field and moving the daily standards and the daily operating procedures.
"He also dovetails quite well between the owner and myself and Tom Gorringe and allows communication to run smoothly between the four of us, who are probably the most influential people when it comes to decisions on and off the field at the football club."
The pair have been close ever since they crossed paths under the umbrella of Puma. Jennings worked for the German sports brand when they sponsored Barton. Jennings has also been part of the Wasserman agency that represented Barton as a player and he later joined his backroom team at Fleetwood Town.
His promotion at Rovers also follows a theme from their stint together at Fleetwood as on that occasion, Jennings initially served as a "consultant" before being appointed full-time to the director of football role after roughly a year.
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