THE longest serving academy chief in English football is looking ahead to a retirement spent watching the next batch of locally produced talent emerge under the watch of Craig Liddle, his successor at Middlesbrough.

Dave Parnaby’s 20 years as Boro’s academy manager is coming to an end and he has backed Liddle, the former Darlington boss and captain, to carry on the good work of his own reign by shaping the stars of the future.

Parnaby is a hard act to follow, even if the 62-year-old is keen to stress that the impressive Middlesbrough production line – which has seen 95 players go onto play first team professional football and 44 of them for the Teesside club - was the result of a team effort.

And he will still take great pride in seeing those numbers increase in the years ahead, under the leadership of Liddle and the team of academy coaches beneath him.

“Of course I want to see more come through in the future,” said Parnaby. “I am a big North-East believer. I hope ourselves, Newcastle, Sunderland and Hartlepool continue to develop the talent which we know exists in this area.

“We feel there are one or two gems in the younger age groups here that, given the right mix, will come out perfectly. We just hope they come through and are successful in their lives really.”

Parnaby, speaking extensively and exclusively to The Northern Echo in an interview that will be published in full on Saturday, is looking ahead to spending more time with his family having taken enormous pride in seeing the likes of Stewart Downing, Ben Gibson, James Morrison and Lee Cattermole come through the ranks at Rockliffe Park.

Even though his shoes are big ones to fill, Parnaby is confident Liddle is the man to deliver.

He said: “I have been very impressed with Craig’s introduction and I didn’t expect anything else. He is a very efficient worker. It has been a very good appointment. The chairman (Steve Gibson) has thought it through carefully with Neil Bausor (chief executive).

“It’s important we kept our foundation, what we have built over the years and Craig fits that bill. He is also a really good person and he will lean on the ethos and core values we have stood by while myself and Ron Bone (head of recruitment) have been here.”

Parnaby has been hanging around at Rockliffe to help Liddle and the academy staff prepare for an audit on March 15-19. After that he will makes a final exit, and thinks Liddle will have to do things his own way.

“Craig will make the job his own and I hope he does do that,” said Parnaby. “Everyone has their own way of working and he may have to shock the system to get a surge (of players) in again.

“He understands the Elite Player Performance Plan and he works with it, is well qualified, so I have no qualms with him moving into the role. It has been a nice couple of weeks stepping back watching Craig move into the job.

“Craig started as an Under-13s coach with Curtis Fleming here, then the Darlington opportunity came along to be director of the centre of excellence there. That experience he had was a life experience for him at Darlington, with all the problems they encountered, so what he went through at Darlington will never leave him.

“That will put him in good stead for the challenges he has taken on with this job.”