Last week, we were pleased to announce that Mark Bowen has joined Forest Green as the club's Director of Football.

Bowen spoke with Paul Furley from BBC Radio Gloucestershire following his appointment with the interview words below.

Paul Furley = PF

Mark Bowen = MB

Alternatively, you can listen via BBC Sounds using this link.

PF: Good to meet you, Mark. How’s this come about?

MB: Contact was made about five or six weeks ago, I had conversations with Dale (Vince) and Asif (Rehmanwala) – we spoke generally about football and then more so about football with my career path and where I’ve been, what I’ve done, and then about the club, where we think it can go, the hopes for it.

We were exchanging ideas and certainly when the disappointment of the playoff game happened, we spoke again – and an offer was made to come in as the director of football. I had done my homework on the club, it was something that really appealed to me on the back of the situation with Dale, the ambition of the club going forward, and working with good people. I had four stressful years at Reading in difficult circumstances so it was important for me, whatever I was going to do, that it was going to be a club that had a really good footing and ambitious to move forward.

PF: I imagine whilst at Reading that Forest Green would’ve been on your radar, over the years FGR have taken a few loan players from Reading?

MB: Yes, there wasn’t too many when I was there but certainly a connection. I took Charlie Savage into Reading – I know his dad Robbie very well. I took him to Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City when I was coaching there – he was my first point of contact. I spoke to Charlie, he had fantastic things to say about the club and that adds to it. There was nothing negative about the place, it was high-profile because of Dale and what the club represents, but you ask if there is any concerns about the club, there was nothing. Everybody who advised me said it was a fantastic opportunity and one that even in these early days, that there is a draw to the place.

PF: We know the title of director of football, but what does the role look like? Is it a buffer between the board and the manager? How do you support the team and the structure that is here?

MB: It’s a good question. I had a situation at Reading where the whole football structure was under my remit and that goes from the Academy, Women, Medical, Scouting, Data, everything. I was used to that role, and I’ve come here with that sort of remit as well.

It’s important that with Steve (Cotterill) being here that he can get on with the job that he’s good at in coaching, organising the team, and setting out a game plan. I’ve got the remit to make sure the health of the club is good. When you’re a sporting director, you develop relationships, and support the manager and help build a squad that can go out and really produce for the club but also my number one remit is to make sure of the health of the club – to make sure in the time that I’m here, however long it lasts, that the club progresses. If there comes a time when I can look back in two, five, or 10-years time and say, ‘the club’s in a better state than when I went in’.

PF: Richard Hughes made a success of the model, including a double promotion, was that something that was on your radar?

MB: It was very important to me as I feel I have a few more years left in me to put back into the game that wherever I went, in whatever capacity, I had to feel that the club had ambition going forward. People can say every club in the league has ambition, but to be able to put that ambition into fruition – that was the key thing for me. I quickly realised that having spoken to Dale and Asif with the feelings for the club that were that there’s no reason why when you look at the likes of Wrexham, Stockport and Luton before that, if a club is run well and you have good recruitment – going forward there is not a lot between National League, League Two and then jumping into League One. I’ve come here with a full intention that we want to make the club successful, and we’ll do our best to climb up the leagues again.

PF: Steve Cotterill, the manager, a very determined character, how much have you bumped into each other around the circuit?

MB: I’m not sure if I’ve ever played or coached against his teams – we’ve definitely crossed paths at different times – I remember one time when I went to Blackburn Rovers with Mark Hughes – Steve was manager at Burnley – we were on the training ground one day, and there’s an old saying that all coaches are thieves, you’re always looking at other coaches and seeing what they’re doing and maybe implementing those at your own club. I think Steve was renting a place that overlooked the training ground at Blackburn – one day we were coaching and we saw him out the window just to see what we were doing – that definitely made us smile! Steve is well experienced and has been in the game a long time, I’m looking forward to working with him.

PF: It’s crucial that the relationship is good going forward I guess, isn’t it?

MB: That’s the idea behind it, we’re in a crucial part of the season now where we’re looking at recruitment and strengthening the squad and the team itself. It's a situation where people have opinions in football – Steve will have different ideas than I will – but it’s a question coming together the best we can to make decisions on players that will help us. There may be some give and take in some areas, that goes to show what goes on in the weeks and months to come but certainly we have to work together but I’d like to say we’re both winners and we have many years in the game and we think we know what it takes to create winning environments.

PF: You took an interest in the playoff match here, how far away do you feel Forest Green are away, how much better do you think FGR need to be than last season?

MB: I think the best way to answer is that when you go through the season, we were top of the league in February, from there onwards, the form wasn’t great but finished in a good playoff place. I look at that and think the players did very well to get where they did, you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water – you’d like to think by adding considerately in some areas and a tiny bit more quality in the team that we should again be really competitive in this league. I’ve made no mistake in putting my neck on the line, I don’t mind saying at all that if we came so close last time out, that we’re looking to make that next step further and getting that promotion next season.

PF: Where have you been watching your football since leaving Reading?

MB: I try to do local teams as much as possible – I watched Crawley Town a few times last season and so keeping my eye on League One and the players in that division. I think more than anything, that around the time you get a feeling you’re going into a club that you’re looking at the final few games – the disappointment for everybody here at Forest Green - the fans, the players, Steve and the staff. I did feel it - not to the same degree as they did – you’re hoping that things go well but then okay, they didn’t. You have to dust yourself down. I think the key thing is that it doesn’t become a hangover going into the new season, it’s important that we hit the ground running next season.

PF: It took a lot of work to turn the direction of travel around last season with the double relegation, how do you see the momentum at the club, it’s a positive one, right?

MB: That’s all I’ve seen coming into the building – talking to different people and you get an instant feeling from the place and that what I’ve seen so far, there’s a really positive view. The key thing is now adding some quality into the squad, maybe a different type of player but certainly there’s nothing that I’ve seen that shouldn’t fill the supporters with an ambition and excitement going into next season.

PF: Supporters will want to know, are you close to signing anyone?

MB: That’s the difficult thing. Everybody will be sat there thinking he’s been in there a week, why hasn’t he signed anyone? (Said with a smile). Believe me, there’s nothing I like more than getting players in and getting them over the line but it can be a situation where the dynamics need to work. The most difficult thing is that a lot of the players want to see how the next few weeks develop and that’s only natural. It’s important that when we get into the back end of pre-season and the season itself that we’ve got the people we want, the people who want to be here and those who can drive us forward.