TOP talent spotter Barrie Tait has ended 12-years of Red Devil roving to establish Leeds United's scouting network in the region.

The former York City winger and York RI manager confessed it had been a difficult decision to leave Manchester United but believed the opportunity provided at Elland Road was too good to miss.

Tait's new role will see him, together with up to eight scouts he has yet to recruit, scouring an area stretching from Hull in the south, along the East Coast and up as far as Northallerton.

Tait will oversee the establishment of development centres in Hull and Harrogate, and possibly York, where youngsters with potential can be coached before heading to Leeds' Thorp Arch complex in their teens.

Tait explained strict rules preventing clubs recruiting youngsters under the age of 14 who do not live within an hour of clubs' training centres had hindered his work at Old Trafford.

The ruling should not prove a problem now and Tait, of Beckfield Lane, York, said he was relishing working alongside a number of former Old Trafford colleagues who have also switched their allegiances across the Pennines.

Most notably Tait will link up again with former Manchester United first team coach and Blackburn Rovers boss Brian Kidd, who has been installed as technical director at Elland Road in place of Alan Hill. Kidd's new staff also includes Bryan 'Pop' Robson from Sunderland.