Wrexham confirm the appointment of key Hartlepool United staff member

Wrexham have confirmed the appointment of Lowe as their new academy manager after he spent over a year in the position at Hartlepool.

Lowe was brought into the role by former chief operating officer Stephen Hobin after the club regained its Category-4 status as an academy following its promotion and subsequent survival back in the Football League.

Lowe oversaw the club’s academy reintegration alongside the likes of Ian McGuckin, with the club welcoming a fresh intake of players this summer.

Hartlepool have built on the initial infrastructure of the academy returning with Pools’ youngsters having made a positive start to the season.

Lowe’s remit was to help develop a strategy and structure that would be able to produce players capable of playing for the first team whilst building towards a longer-term objective of obtaining Category-3 status.

And in that time Pools have seen the emergence of a selection of players; the likes of Louis Stephenson, Campbell Darcy, Joe Kitching, Max Storey and Leo Robinson all getting a taste of the first team environment over the last 12 months when involved in squads across the league and cup as well as in pre-season under John Askey.

But after 15 months in the job Lowe has moved on, joining the North Wales club who returned to the Football League themselves at the expense of Hartlepool last season.

“I am delighted and honoured to have been given the opportunity to become academy manager at Wrexham and I really look forward to establishing an EFL academy with the club,” said Lowe, following his appointment.

“It has been fantastic to see the positive feel the re-introduction of the academy has brought within the club in recent weeks. There is a real buzz, and it has been very evident to see in such a short period of time what the club means to so many people.

“A lot of hard work goes into setting up an academy and this is an extremely exciting project for the football club, myself, and young people in the local and surrounding areas.

“With the team of full-time staff assembled in recent weeks we have already laid some solid foundations which will create a long-term programme that will develop the Wrexham players of the future.”

Wrexham CEO Fleur Robinson added: “We are delighted to welcome Andy to the football club as we take on the task of building up the academy in line with our well-stated ambitions of building an infrastructure capable of nurturing North Wales’ finest talents.

“This football club has a proud history of developing home-grown players, and I’d like to welcome Andy and all the new full-time academy staff to Wrexham as we build to continue this proud tradition into the future too, in line with the new academy structure.”

Hartlepool have yet to comment on Lowe’s exit, though it’s anticipated that development coach McGuckin will continue to lead duties in the interim.