Kevin Thelwell could be Wolves' version of Dan Ashworth

After looking over next door's fence and seeing what a good job the Albion technical director has made of the garden, he is quite happy to tap up the neighbours for a bit of advice.

Thelwell will do things his way, however and, although fans might not immediately see it as the most exciting appointment Wolves have made, it could be one of their most important for many years.

The 39-year-old intends his promotion to the newly-titled Wolves' head of football development and recruitment to change the club's way of scouting players forever.

No longer will Wolves rely on a manager bringing in his trusted band of talent spotters, only for the several backroom staff to depart en masse when the boss leaves.

Thelwell's job will be to implement a recruitment structure to last, whoever the manager is. And, naturally, he will seek some neighbourly advice along the way.

Thelwell said of Ashworth: "I have met Dan on several occasions to discuss lots of different things in terms of youth development and academy structure.

"He's been very successful and done a great job so I would be daft not to sit down with Dan and, hopefully, use that going forwards.

"Anyone who took the role would be daft if they didn't try to mirror some of the success they have had.

"But we're a very different club and we have to have our own agenda. Let's have our own DNA, our own footprint."

Like Ashworth, Thelwell followed a similar career path after being appointed to the new role following a near five-year stint as Wolves academy manager.

The Cheshire-born coach, who started as a trainee player at Shrewsbury, has spent enough time researching the technical director role so that when Wolves approached him about becoming theirs, he knew it was right for him.

He said: "There aren't that many doing the job but I have good relationships with those doing it and good knowledge of them and the work they do. Myself and Mike Rigg, who is technical director at QPR, have followed a very similar pathway.

"He was technical director of the Football Association of Wales, which I then worked for, then he went on to become academy manager at Sheffield Wednesday, like I did here."

Thelwell admits the departures of chief scout Dave Bowman and European scout Ian 'Taff' Evans plus their network of talent spotters to Ipswich with Mick McCarthy have left Wolves light on scouting.

But he believes it offers the opportunity to start afresh and build something lasting.

He said: "We are not so much starting with a blank sheet of paper, but a new sheet of paper. There are people who were still in the system under Dave and I'm pleased they are, because they are good people.

"But we have lost a lot of that network, so it's important to rebuild that process. And, with the January transfer window looming, it's not something I can be very patient on and I need to act quickly.

"But we are getting very close to a position where we are going to have a chief scout on board."

For his part, Thelwell is happy to be clocking up the air miles over the next few months as Wolves build a new network across Europe.

He said: "I will be visiting lots of the countries we have identified as having potential players to come to us."