Huddersfield Town's Danny Cowley factors 'quality of training' into Ryan Schofield's latest loan move

Working with goalkeeping coach Tony Caig was an important factor in Huddersfield Town's decision to loan 20-year-old goalkeeper Ryan Schofield to Livingston.
Huddersfield Town's England Under-19 international goalkeeper Ryan Schofield has joined Livingston on loanHuddersfield Town's England Under-19 international goalkeeper Ryan Schofield has joined Livingston on loan
Huddersfield Town's England Under-19 international goalkeeper Ryan Schofield has joined Livingston on loan
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With Matija Sarkic recalled by Aston Villa following an impressive loan spell at the Almondvale Stadium, and Tom Heaton's season-ending knee injury, England youth international Schofield should have a good chance of regular senior football.

But beyond that, Terriers manager Danny Cowley was keen to find the highly-rated youngster a club where he could learn a lot outside of matches too.

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For that reason, they turned down interest from Leagues One and Two to send Schofield to West Lothian.

“It's not just about the games programme, it's the quality of training too,” Cowley revealed before Christmas.

“We need to give him the stepping stones to continue to develop and hopefully somewhere in the future be a big part of this football club.”

Huddersfield's head of goalkeeping Paul Clements called the move "exactly the step he needs to further his development.

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“He did well to cope with the challenge of men’s football at Notts County last season and this move will provide him with new tests against higher quality opposition in a very competitive league.

“It was also important that Ryan has a high quality of training and under the supervision of goalkeeping coach Tony Caig, I believe he will be in good hands.”

Former Scotland midfielder Gary Holt is manager at Livingston, but in Caig he has a highly-experienced goalkeeping coach who has had spells at Newcastle United and Bury before moving to Scotland. He also had two spells as caretaker manager of Carlisle United, where he spent the bulk of his career.

Schofield made his League Cup, then his Championship debut for Huddersfield this season, but has not added to those appearances. Joel Coleman had established himself as the substitute goalkeeper in the ten matches until Town's FA Cup defeat at Southampton, where Schofield was on the bench.

Schofield has previously had loans at FC United of Manchester, Telford and Notts County.

Livi are fifth in the Scottish Premiership, albeit 11 points behind fourth-placed Aberdeen.