Wanderers can confirm the appointment of two members of Head Coach Steven Schumacher’s new backroom staff.
Mark Hughes - previously assistant manager under Schumacher at both Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City following a lengthy playing career in the EFL - joins the Whites as Assistant Coach, while Richie Kyle arrives at the Toughsheet Community Stadium as Assistant Head Coach.
Kyle brings a wealth of top-class coaching experience to the new set-up, having worked most recently as joint assistant manager at Luton Town.
The 40-year-old, whose own playing career was curtailed by injury, started his coaching career after moving from teaching into a position at Blackpool’s Academy.
Progressing rapidly through the ranks at Bloomfield Road, Kyle became assistant manager of the Blackpool team promoted from League Two in 2017.
He was then recruited by the Football Association as a coach in their age-group set-up before former Blackpool defender Rob Edwards took Kyle to Forest Green Rovers as assistant manager in 2021 after the pair had worked together at the FA.
After guiding Forest Green to promotion from League Two in their first season the duo moved to Watford and, following Edwards’ appointment as Luton Town manager in November, 2022, he again joined forces with Kyle as his joint assistant-manager alongside Paul Trollope at Kenilworth Road.
Luton secured promotion to the Premier League at the end of their first season in charge with Kyle then working for a year in the top-flight to add that experience to the CV he brings to Wanderers to work as part of the new coaching set-up.
Like Schumacher, Kirkby-born Hughes started his playing career at Everton before going on to play almost 600 games as a defender for clubs including Northampton Town, Bury, Morecambe, Stevenage and Accrington Stanley.
A team-mate of Schumacher at Bury and Stevenage, Hughes, 38, had a first taste of coaching at Bristol Rovers and then linked up again with Schumacher for a successful spell at Plymouth Argyle, initially as first team coach and then assistant manager from May, 2022.
The pair led Argyle to promotion to the Championship as League One winners in 2023 and after a spell working together again in the Championship at Stoke City, Hughes, along with Kyle, now becomes one of the first additions made by Schumacher following his appointment as Wanderers’ new Head Coach yesterday.
Schumacher said: “I’m delighted to have made Mark and Richie my first two appointments since joining the club. They are going to be very important additions, alongside the staff already here, who I know will make a huge contribution to the work we plan to do.
“I have worked closely with Mark for a number of years and know exactly the impact he will have on the squad in implementing our plans and I’m looking forward to now working with Richie as someone who brings so much knowledge and coaching experience from a high level to us.
“I know they will both settle in and make a positive impact straightaway as we work together to build on what we have here and move the team forward.”
The new coaching staff members at Wanderers will start their roles immediately and will be with Schumacher when he leads the team, with the support of the interim management duo of Julian Darby and Andy Taylor, at Reading on Saturday.