Steve Bruce has revamped Wigan Athletic's scouting network.

Bruce has brought in the experience of Bernard Paintin from Birmingham to run the overseas scouting network.

Paintin will have three talent-spotters working for him, one of them being former Norwich City defender Rob Newman.

They'll travel to Europe and South America watching players, with general manager John Benson also involved.

Closer to home, first-team coach Frank Barlow will be in charge of scouting Latics' future Premier League opponents.

Bruce told the Wigan Evening Post: "I've been putting in place a new scouting system.

"Frank will be responsible for match assessments - we get two or three reports on every team we're going to play. As far as player recruitment is concerned, I've brought Bernard Paintin here who will be in charge of three scouts.

"We've got Rob Newman on board who has been working at Bournemouth lately. At the moment we're in the process of getting two others in.

"Those three will be our foot soldiers around Europe and South America, with Bernard in charge of it all. John Benson will do his bit too - he's out in Colombia at the moment looking at matches.

"The club's had unbelievable success in recent years and we need to keep adding to that. That will take a lot of hard work because it's not a fluke what we've done so far."