Technical director Matt Jackson believes retaining Jon Hunter-Barrett’s skillset and relationships across the board is crucial for Wolves Academy moving forward.
Hunter-Barrett became the club’s new academy director earlier this week, which will see him lead the whole academy programme, with a focus on a new training ground facility plan and the upcoming new EPPP audit.
Having worked at the club for more than 14 years, in various roles across the academy, Hunter-Barrett brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role, which Jackson believes signal positive times ahead for the academy.
On his new responsibilities
“The role is bringing together all of the brilliant experience he's picked up in his 15 years with us, and we're absolutely delighted that he's chosen to stay, it's great news for us – the academy will grow from this point to be stronger, which is great for everybody. We lost Laura [Nicholls] last February, so he will oversee the duties that Laura had, and is going to take us through the next cycle of the EPPP [Elite Player Performance Plan] audit, which is very, very important. We’ve got a big facility plan that needs to be established here at the training ground as well, so it’s very important that gets seen through.
“The most important thing is the type of person that Jon is, having been in around our Wolves experience for so long – you don't want to lose that type of person from the environment. He's got such good, established relationships, both internally and externally, so it's really good for us that he's still going to be around for a long time.”
On stepping up in role
“It's not actually a big step for him, because he's seen and done all elements of the job. My responsibility is changing, so it's going to be very good for me that I can hand all of those responsibilities over to Jon. I’ll still have oversight of the academy, having seen all of the processes as well, but it means the day-to-day duties I can pass to Jon. I know they're in really good hands, because he's been doing it for so long now. He's also got good staff around him, and we've got some other really exciting developments going on as well.”
Jon Hunter-Barrett has been appointed the club’s new academy director.
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 1, 2025
📰 @WolvesAcademy
On his skillset being well suited for the role
“His relationship with players and their families, those ones that are developing through the academy, is so important. He knows every single player, from under-8 upwards, which is so important. He will be overseeing the appointment of a head of coaching in the academy now, so that relationship to really drive the football culture is going to be important.
“There's a lot of administrative duties with EPPP that he's fully au fait with, which is great, and it's a lack of disruption in the academy system, which is so good for the football club, that continuity as we try and establish a way of being productive from the academy. It's tough when other big clubs keep buying our players, but we have to continue to fight to establish a link that gets exposure to our players, and Jon knows that pathway as well as anybody.
“It's often the likes of Jon who are underrated in football clubs at times, because they work incredibly hard and incredibly long hours. There are many names I could add at this football club and clubs up and down the country – never in the limelight, working diligently in the background, but the absolute fabric and the mainstays of football clubs.”
On how the academy moves forward
“Ultimately, everything that the academy is set up for is to provide a development pathway for getting players to the Premier League, with the unique challenges that come from being Wolves, in our particular geographical locations, within the guidelines of EPPP. It's a challenging landscape after Brexit, there's a multitude of reasons that make it tough to bring your players through and retain players in the academy, because the talent is so rare in the country that the big clubs know who the best players are, and unfortunately each will pay for them to move relatively easily at a price that's not necessarily economically viable for us an academy going forward.
“We have to be clever with our business principles, but Jon understands all of those things. We've worked very closely over contracts and various elements over recent years. I will have that oversight, which is great, but I'm delighted that it's a really safe pair of hands that's going to be inheriting the role.”
On the changing role of the academy
“When you think that 220 players start every week in the Premier League, and we have the entire world to choose from, for those to have come from the Wolverhampton area, the odds are very much against that. So, we have to be aware that there's some economic value to players that leave the academy for considerable sums of money, and we retain ownership of players like a Luke Cundle, for example, as they go and establish themselves as Championship players – Dion Sanderson, Ryan Giles, Theo Corbeanu – those who have left us relatively recently.
“The holy grail is to have those players come all the way through to our first-team, and to give exposure. I know they were slightly later into the system, but when you look at Max Kilman and Hugo Bueno, those are the great transitions, but the overseas recruitment is almost impossible now, certainly before the age of 18. So, it's so much more difficult.”
On exciting times for the academy
“It's really, really challenging. But I think everybody's aware of those challenges. We have a staff that works incredibly hard, and the players develop. But you look at the success rates that are under-14 to under-16s are now having nationally, that's a really good sign. Retaining those talents is the biggest challenge, but the look of those teams, the dynamic that they have, the physical attributes that those players have, they started to look like developing Premier League players, and that's all we can do as a first step.”
