Lee Maybury, a former top scout for Swansea City and Stoke City, is appointed head of recruitment at Huddersfield Town.
With the hiring of Lee Maybury, a former chief scout for Swansea City, as their new head of recruiting, HUDDERSFIELD TOWN has expanded their team with yet another important strategic footballing individual.
Maybury started work this week after completing his notice period with the Welsh outfit and brings over 15 years of experience in player recruitment at a number of Premier League and Championship clubs.
They include Stoke City, where Maybury worked as head scout for seven years and forged a successful working relationship with Town’s sporting director Mark Cartwright.
He has also previously worked in recruitment roles at Burnley and Portsmouth and ran successful businesses outside of football.
Maybury replaces Emyr Humphries, who left his role as recruitment supremo at Town last month.
It represents the second significant appointment of the week at Town, who brought in David Wetherall as in a new role as strategic advisor to the academy on Monday.
Cartwright said: “We’re delighted that Lee has joined the club from Swansea City this week.
“I’ve seen the quality of his work first-hand from our time working together previously at Stoke City.
He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve dealt with in football, and we trust each other’s judgement in terms of what good looks like. That’s vitally important.
“Lee and I only form part of our recruitment process. We have a real blend of qualitative and quantitative methodology, with our analysis team playing just as important a role.
“With a mixture of data, video footage and live work, we then present the best fitting players for our club and roles within our team to the manager.”
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Defender Matty Pearson of Huddersfield Town on following Tom Lees’ example and his letter to a stalwart Terriers fan after role reversal
To say that Tom Lees is one of those modest, steadfast professionals who you don’t really notice when he is there is not doing him any damage.
He performs his duties quietly and generally very effectively, leaving the attention-getting to others.
When he is not present is when you really notice.
The absence of Matty Pearson was lamented by Huddersfield Town fans at this time last year, not Lees.
In July 2022, while playing for Town against Bolton Wanderers in their final preseason game before the 2022–23 season, Pearson broke a bone in his foot. He didn’t rejoin the first team until January.
The central defender, like Lees, is typically a dependable player and one of the first names listed on the teamsheet.
The defensive triad of Lees, Pearson, and Michal Helik served as the cornerstone of Town’s ‘Great Escape’ in the latter third of the previous season, and this is not a coincidence.
Neil Warnock made it clear that he would not have substituted them for any other opposition trio.
If all three are healthy at once, Huddersfield’s defense is in good hands.
Due to calf and back difficulties, Lees has not yet appeared this term. It is a setback for a dependable athlete who, in his early 30s, had some of his greatest form of his career.
Pearson, another member of his team, recently turned 30 and is hoping the same is true of him. He also hopes that his friend will rejoin the group as soon as possible. He and his club would benefit from the excellent news.
“With Tom Lees, the roles are reversed,” stated Pearson. He’s had a difficult start to the season, just like I had last year, when I ended up being out until January.
“It’s just a part of playing football and how you respond and recover. Tom will return in the same manner; he will be in great shape and ready to go.
It’s a step in the process. You cannot pout; you must simply go forward.
“I believe I still have a lot to offer. I feel like I still have four, five, or six years of playing at a high level while most guys don’t stop playing until they’re 34 or 35.
“Especially last year, when I was injured, I feel like it practically offered me a rest for six months while I was healing.
“I believe that break motivated me to push harder and improve my fitness and overall effort to push on.”
In Saturday’s crucial victory over West Brom, Pearson enjoyed the kind of on-message, under-the-radar “seven-out-of-ten” afternoon that has been his trademark since joining Town.
It saw the Terriers win their first Championship at the fifth attempt after a difficult 2023–24 season in terms of results.
Prior to Saturday’s victory at The Hawthorns, Pearson had a few rather careless incidents by his own high standards.
If he had made a few mistakes back then, especially early in his career, he might not have been the most likable person.
At one of his previous clubs, Accrington Stanley, Pearson earned the pejorative moniker “Mr. Angry.”
It described a serious professional who took his job on the field extremely seriously.
Pearson is still motivated today, but he has gained some experience. One who can also take the occasional rollicking from Warnock.
He said, “There are some aspects of games, and he chooses aspects of games that he is not satisfied with, identifies specific issues, and lets it all out in terms of exactly what he feels.
“He does it to everyone, not only defenders; anyone or anything can do it.
“He does express his desires clearly, and I believe that is best for everyone. There are no middle grounds; rather, “that’s what he wants, and that’s what he gets.”
When I was younger, I used to be a bit noisy and receive a yellow card every other game while playing for Accrington and Halifax, among other things. But I’ve adjusted my strategy.
“You can only improve and
This time around, a comparable total would be welcome, but more people will need to volunteer.
“A successful team shares the load,” continued Pearson. There is no reason why we cannot continue and move forward if we manage to accomplish that.
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We split the workload even the season we advanced to the playoffs. That is what productive teams do.
gain knowledge from your errors. I’ve learned to modify my behavior as I’ve grown older, which will ultimately be to my long-term advantage.
Following a humiliating and costly loss to Norwich City at home, Town’s relieved victory in the Midlands brought a smile back to everyone associated with the team
Delano Burgzorg and Jack Rudoni scored their first goals of the season, and it is hoped that this is only the beginning.
Last year, the Terriers’ biggest weakness was scoring goals. Pearson ended up being the club’s joint-highest Championship scorer with five goals despite only being eligible from January on.
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