Hunter-Barrett leaving Wolves to become Rangers Academy Director

Thelwell was Academy Manager at Molineux when Hunter-Barrett first joined the club, as a coach and scout, in May 2011. After that, Hunter-Barrett rose to become Foundation Phase Lead, Head of Coaching and then, in June 2022, the Academy Manager.

He is a UEFA A Licence coach and also holds the Masters in Sporting Directorship. Rangers have not had a permanent Academy Director since June 2024, when Zeb Jacobs (now at Feyenoord) exited. Professional Development Phase Manager (and Under-21s Lead) David McCallum has been doing the job on an interim basis since then.

Rangers have undergone major changes behind the scenes in the last six months. In the summer, Thelwell joined from Everton to become Sporting Director and was soon joined by his former Toffees colleague Dan Purdy, as Technical Director. 

Then, earlier this month, Thelwell’s son Robbie joined as Head of Recruitment, Nathan Fisher as Head Scout and Jaymes Monte as Data Insights Lead, while Jamie Ramsden was promoted to Head of Performance.

Hunter-Barrett is one of a number of senior exits from Wolves’ Category One Academy in recent months. Laura Nicholls, who worked in tandem with Hunter-Barrett in a split Academy Manager role, with responsibility for operations, joined Stoke City in March as Director of Community Engagement.

Head of Player Development Darren Ryan left in August to become Head of Youth at Dubai Irish in the Middle East. 

Wolves placed 29th in TGG’s Academy Productivity Rankings for 2024/25, up from 32nd the year before. The club are advertising on TGG for a new Academy Director.