"What we have done since we came in has been to try to take a situation that was in its comfort zone and manage and progress it. To have such a reward for that work with the transfer of Matty Hughes is a massive boost."

"I inherited the youth squad and there were some good players in the squad but when I came in I recognized that we needed to progress things and that gave opportunities to the boys in our Under 16's squad. I watched there games, got them into training early and opened things up for them. Matty was part of that group and he did very well. I offered him a scholarship 12 months early and got in touch with his father and had discussions with his school to arrange a day release for him so that he could come in and train with us every Monday. That was the start of a process that has resulted in his moving to one of the biggest clubs in Britain."



"Through his day release and his development he became a regular in the Youth team and with the first team having so many injuries he was given an opportunity in the Reserve side. Initially it was because the manager was looking at players who were doing well in the Youth team and Matt filled the bill because he was in front of the scholars that we had at the club at the time. The rest is history and he earned the right to become a regular in the Reserves irrelevant of who was fit. He progressed very well and as soon as you play above your age lots of scouts come to the games and there were more of them at our Youth games than I have ever seen."

"For me there is no doubt that Matty will be a professional football player simply because of his attitude and the way that he applies himself. Who can measure potential? Many coaches in the past will thought that players will do this and do that and equally think that certain players wont progress and they have. As I have said Matty will be a professional football player at what level is dependent on his next 3 or 4 years of development. If he had stayed here he would have developed quickly and I am sure that he would have had opportunities to play in the first team. He has now gone though and the club have been compensated for that. I am sure that he will do very well and we wish him all the best in his career. For me it is just a great measure of what we did last year in the Youth section."

"I would have loved him to play 200 games for Rochdale and then move on for good money because ultimately I want to sit in the stand on a Saturday afternoon and watch Will Buckley score the winning goal and others from the Centre of Excellence and Youth section follow him into the first team environment on a regular basis."

"I am more than confident that the Matty Hughes transfer is not a one-off. We are looking to develop a production line and once other clubs became aware of that there will be more scouts coming to our games. The average age of the first team is already very low and the young players that we are looking to recruit will know that will have the opportunities if they have the right attitudes. We have a fantastic environment here and the cohort of first year scholars that we have brought in this year do excite me."