DAVE Huzzey will work closely with Colchester United’s youngsters pushing for the first team after being appointed as the club’s transition coach.

Huzzey has started the role having earlier this season worked alongside former U’s first-team coaches Ben Garner and Scott Marshall, who have both now left the club.

The former Southend United youth-team coach, who had also previously worked alongside Wayne Brown and Joe Dunne in the senior set-up at the U's, has been at Colchester since August, 2019.

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Colchester sporting director Dmitri Halajko said: “Dave’s been at the club for a long time, in numerous different roles – academy manager, 21s coach and first-team coach as well.

“You don’t want to lose experience like that out of the building.

“He’s had a big part to play in the success of our young players such as Junior Tchamadeu, Ossama Ashley and Brendan Wiredu, which he’s contributed massively to.

“He’s a big part of the football club and he’s always done really good work.

Gazette:

“He’s back around it now and helping in numerous different areas with some of the on-field coaching, with some of the young players, with a little bit of top-end recruitment for some of our under-21 players and loan players and just giving us really good advice on player development and coaching.

“He’s very good at what he does and is an important part of the football club.”

Halajko feels Huzzey’s experience of working at various different levels at Colchester makes him perfect for the role of transition coach.

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He added: “As transition coach, Dave will work across the top end of the academy helping those boys who are on the cusp of the first team, hoping to break in – he can do some extra work with those.

“It might be on-field coaching, it might be off-field coaching or it might be identifying trialists and external players and whether they’re at the right level.

“He’s got a great eye and understands what good looks like at this level and that will really help push us on even further.

“He knows the whole journey – he knows what academy, 21s and first team looks like and I think if you’ve lived all of those lives, you’re in a good position to know what’s needed and make the right decisions for the player.”