'Mr Larne' Jeff Hughes given new role at the club following retirement

Hughes will start in the new role following his recovery from the ruptured ACL injury that caused him to call time on a wonderful career which included helping Tranmere Rovers gain promotion to League Two in 2018 and spells with the likes of Notts County, Lincoln City and Bristol Rovers.

The midfielder started his career out with Larne before departing for England in 2005 but returned to his hometown club 13 years later to help them win the NIFL Championship and earn the Inver Park outfit a spot in the top-flight.

He was named in the Championship Team of the Season for his performances during that campaign and also won three consecutive County Antrim Shield crowns.

Hughes will now pass his vast experience onto future stars aged between 6-12 years old within the academy set-up at Larne and he’s looking forward to giving back to the club that gave him his start in senior football.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to creating an environment where kids will have an even better chance than what I had to make it in the game,” he told Larne’s website.

"For kids to have more contact time with the ball, more sessions and ultimately more fun while playing in a positive environment, it can only improve their chances of progressing into our Professional Development Phase within the club and beyond.

“When I was younger, a lot of the best local players had to go to other teams to fulfil their potential, but thanks to the work Tiernan and Kenny have done over the past number of years, the young players now and in the future will have one of the best teams in country, if not the best team in the country on their doorstep.”

First team manager Tiernan Lynch believes there’s no one better than ‘Mr Larne’ to take over the role.

“Our Youth Development Phase is another massive part of where we want to go as a club,” he said.

"This phase will give our young players the grounding to progress into our Professional Development Phase, and our Scholarship Phase and first team squad thereafter.

“By focusing on players from the age of six-years-old upwards, we want to give players, especially young boys and girls from Larne, the opportunities to develop their technical and functional abilities first and foremost.

"This will involve doubling and trebling their contact time with the football, making them technically competent and creating the best chance to progress through our academy phases.

“When we were talking about this phase, it was decided that there was no better person to lead the project than ‘Mr. Larne’ himself, Jeff Hughes.

" He [Jeff] has all of the experience in coming from the Youth Development Phase age groups, up to the heights of international football and I think that every young player from Larne will be really excited to come into contact with someone like Jeff in this new role.”