The accent immediately tells you Mark Lillis is a Mancunian.

But the 56-year-old certainly qualifies as an honorary son of Huddersfield Town.

His third spell at the club has just finished with his departure after four and a half years in charge of the academy - and four spells as caretaker manager.

The highly experienced Lillis, of course, is a popular former Town player.

Mark Lillis, who has parted company with Huddersfield Town

He scored 63 goals in 242 games between 1978 and 1985, when he joined Manchester City, who had rejected him as a 17-year-old, for a tribunal-fixed £132,500.

A Town promotion winner from Division III (now League I) in 1983, he also played for Derby County, Aston Villa, Scunthorpe United and Stockport County and Macclesfield Town.

After taking his first steps into coaching at Macclesfield, Lillis had a spell as Town youth-team coach in the mid-nineties.

He then worked for Scunthorpe, Halifax Town, where he was manager, Derby, Stockport and Morecambe.

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Lillis was also assistant manager of Northern Ireland (under Sammy McIlroy) and worked within the FA Premier League’s academy section.

Immediately before becoming Town’s academy head in December 2011, he was in Spain alongside ex-Leeds Road teammate Bobby Davison at the Visionpro institute at La Manga, aiming to rekindle the careers of young players released by European clubs.

Lillis, whose son Josh plays in goal for Rochdale, succeeded Graham Mitchell as Town academy chief and played a key role in gaining prized category two status under the Elite Player Performance Plan.

Capital One Cup, first round, Chesterfield v Huddersfield Town at the Proact Stadium. Mark Lillis

Lee Clark was first-team manager, and he stood in after the Geordie’s sacking in February 2012.

His steadying hand was also called upon after the departures of Simon Grayson (in January 2013), Mark Robins (August 2014) and Chris Powell (last November).

Twelve games as caretaker yielded four wins, including an FA Cup fourth-round replay success at Leicester City in February 2013, and three draws.