THE club’s hierarchy is delighted with the appointment of Lee Duxbury as the new head coach.

The former Bradford City and Huddersfield Town midfielder cut his teeth in management at another of his old clubs Oldham Athletic, where he was one of Paul Dickov’s assistants.

He then joined the Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy (RIASA) programme run by another former Bantam, Mark Ellis.

As part of his RIASA duties Duxbury spent last season as Eccleshill United’s head coach and had some success, guiding the club to two big cup finals at Valley Parade and a top-four league finish.

Dennyboys secretary and spokesman Mark Holstead said: “I think Thackley have picked up a very, very good coach and we are excited about Lee coming in.

“The first contact was made last weekend and myself and Phil (Woollias, chairman) had a conversation with Lee. He attended Tuesday night’s game and we had a chat again afterwards.

“An agreement was reached the following morning so, as from Wednesday, Lee Duxbury has been head coach of Thackley. He holds a UEFA Pro coaching licence, played a long time at a very good level and last season he won the West Riding County Cup with Eccleshill.

“Eccleshill is my old club and I still have a lot of friends up there and have heard a lot of good things about his time there. Obviously Lee’s CV reads like a who’s who and we feel he will come in and take this club forward to where we want to be.”

Duxbury takes over from interim head coach Carl Priestley, who had only been in the role a week. However, it was part of the agreement that Priestley would become Duxbury’s number two.

Holstead said: “Lee joined us on the proviso that Carl would remain at the club and immediately agreed that Carl would be his assistant. I think that will help Carl in the long-run.

“Lee got involved in training on Thursday and he will mentor Carl. We are all aware of Lee’s credentials and Carl is excited at the prospect of working with and learning from him.”