Former Accrington Academy boss joins Manchester City

In a first-person piece for TGG following his exit last year, Hough wrote: “It was difficult and emotional to try to comprehend how something that had taken years to build could be ended so abruptly – and even more difficult to put that into words to hundreds of people. 

“My own opportunity to lead an Academy was taken away after just one season, although years of experience were squeezed into my final week alone.”

As Senior Player Pathway Manager at City, Hough is providing leadership across the Junior Academy & Local Recruitment department to “ensure a connected, high-performing player pathway into and within the Academy from the Club’s Junior Academy, Local Recruitment and City Select functions.”

In August, Accrington announced that they were teaming up with Accrington Stanley Community Trust to create an Under-16s ‘Weekly Training Group’.

The group has trained at the Stanley Sports Hub this season and also played friendly fixtures. Stanley said “stand-out players” would “have the opportunity to secure a two-year scholarship place” beginning in July 2026, and join the club’s full-time Youth Team squad.

This Youth Team squad is to be guided by First Team Captain Seamus Conneely and “other UEFA-qualified coaches” and is aimed at “talented players with a history in Academy football who are seeking a pathway back into the professional game.”

The programme will “combine elite-level coaching with an education offer based at the £4m Stanley Sports Hub, training alongside the Accrington Stanley First Team,” the club said.

In his piece for TGG last year, titled ‘Anatomy of an Academy closure,’ Hough concluded by saying: “We set out to become the best Category Three Academy in the EFL, and we were getting so close.

“Now the Academy will live on in the players, the staff, the ideas, and the belief that something small can still be something pretty special.

“Moving forward, I would like to ask the Premier League and EFL to begin planning for youth development rule changes that reduce the risk of sudden and unexpected Academy closures in the future to prevent any other Academy going through what happened to us.”