It's been a long and winding road from West Wales to West Yorkshire for Stuart Webber.

But Huddersfield Town’s head of football operations has picked up some invaluable, and varied, experience along the way.

And he believes it will help him play a part in pushing the club forward under David Wagner, with whom he works closely.

Webber, 32, who had a key role in recruiting the German head coach, was born and bred in Aberystwyth.

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He grew up watching local club Aberystwyth Town and Shrewsbury Town, 75 miles and a two-hour train journey away.

Webber was a keen player, but realised if he was to have a career in football, it would have to be behind the scenes.

He began his coaching badges at 16, and got a foot in the door at Wrexham, working with former Town and Liverpool favourite Joey Jones.

“After moving to the town to live I got to know a few people at the club,” he explained.

“I started coaching one of the junior sides, carried on with my badges, then got my break when Denis Smith was sacked as manager in 2007.

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“Brian Carey stepped up from first-team coach, and the reshuffle which followed left a vacancy as assistant head of youth, which I got.

“I later became head of youth, and what a learning curve my time at that club was.

“It was a brilliant grounding, and I picked up so much from people like Joey Jones.”

Wrexham have long had a close association with Liverpool, and the Anfield giants snapped up Webber in July 2009.

“I got a call from Frank McParland, the academy director,” he explained.

“It was a recruitment role, a different job, and the chance to go there was amazing.

“Frank put a lot of faith in me, and I also got on well with Damien Comolli (Liverpool’s director of football strategy).

“I became director of recruitment for the academy, and again I was fortunate in the people I worked with.

“Kenny Dalglish was academy ambassador, and a great man to count as a friend and colleague.

“It was mind blowing really, and I will always be grateful for that period of my career.”

Webber wasn’t quite as happy at his next port of call, Queens Park Rangers, where he moved in August 2012.

“Working at first-team level was always an ambition,” he said.

“The head of scouting job was offered by Mike Rigg, now technical director at Fulham.

“He had been head of recruitment at Manchester City, and again, he was a great man to learn from.

“So was Mark Hughes, the manager at the time, but things didn’t work out for any of us.

“It was a realisation of just how hard it is at the top level.

“Mark was sacked (in November 2012), another new experience for me, and Mike Rigg was put on gardening leave.

“I was thinking ‘this club isn’t for me’ when I received a call from Jez Moxey (chief executive of Wolves).

“He invited me to drop in for a chat and the upshot was I became head of recruitment.

“I was there for three years and worked with as many managers (Stale Solbakken, Dean Saunders and Kenny Jackett).

“We were relegated in 2013, but the following season went well, and we won promotion at the first attempt as League I champions.

“There was a lot of hard work to change the ethos of the club, we got the fans back onside and had a decent first season back in the Championship (finishing seventh).”

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