Steve Weaver accepted the post of Huddersfield Town academy manager with a glowing recommendation from Joey Jones firmly in his mind.

The former Wales international defender is best known for his time at Liverpool, with whom he won the European Cup.

But Jones also played for Chelsea, Town -

making 76 appearances between 1985-87 - and Wrexham, where he also worked as a coach and where Weaver spent more than a decade.

Former Town player Joey Jones

“Joey’s a good friend of mine and a good bloke whose opinion I value,” explained Weaver, who also worked in player development for Wolves before scouting for Ipswich Town.

“He talks unbelievably fondly of Huddersfield - he loved it here.

“The first thing he told me was that I’d like the people, who will be dead straight, and that Town are a good club, and that’s what I have found so far.”

UEFA Pro licence holder Weaver, who replaces Mark Lillis, also worked with Town’s football operations chief Stuart Webber at Wrexham and Wolves.

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“Stu sees a lot of scope in where the club can go and in the potential here,” added Weaver, whose hopes of a playing career at Wrexham were ended by a snapped cruciate ligament at 18.

“Given he worked at Liverpool, that says something.

“The chairman (Dean Hoyle) is keen to push forward with things like the season-card deal and I think everything is in place to push to the next level.

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“I don’t feel like I’m fighting for anything - the attitude here is that if something can make the club better, we’ll do it. That’s really important.”

Weaver, 43, plans to coach hands on as well as overseeing an academy which he is determined will produce eventual Town first teamers.

“I have always been interested in player development, I have worked in the field for a long time, and I am lucky because I have learned from people better than me,” he added.

“I look back to Wrexham and the likes of Brian Flynn, who is a great operator, and Kevin Reeves, then Denis Smith.

“Then at Wolves there were Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor.

“People have their perceptions of them, but both are very development-led and bring in players for little who are sold for lots.

“There’s a great example in Tyrone Mings (the defender cost Ipswich £10,000 from non-league Chippenham Town and was sold for £8m to Bournemouth for a reported £8m).”