STEPHEN WRIGHT has left his role as head of coaching with the Fife Elite Football Academy to join Rangers.

The Ibrox club confirmed that the former Pars youth supremo will become their head of intermediate academy and school coach, where he will lead their under-15s and manage the coaches and curriculum in the 13s-15s phase.

Wright, a former academy coach with the Glasgow side, was initially brought to Dunfermline as first team coach by Jim McIntyre in January 2008 before being appointed as head of youth development just over a year later.

It was a position that the former Aberdeen, Rangers and Scotland defender held until June 2014 - even through the trauma of Athletic going into administration - when the club joined forces with Cowdenbeath, Raith Rovers and East Fife to create FEFA.

The elite academy, part of an SFA pilot that included a similar venture in Forth Valley, was the brainchild of the governing body's former performance director Mark Wotte.

It gave the Kingdom's best young talents the chance to test themselves against Scotland's best in the elite games programme and, prior to regionalisation, none of the Kingdom’s four clubs were eligible for four-star elite status, where players are offered a minimum of three coaching sessions a week.

FEFA run teams at under-12, 13, 14, 15 and 16-17 level and, last October, appointed Henry McLeish as its new chairman.

However current SFA performance director Malky Mackay's new Project Brave initiative has cast doubt over FEFA's future as an elite academy and Wright has now decided to move on.

Ross McArthur, Pars chairman, said: "While it was disappointing to learn that Stephen has decided to move on to a new role, it is totally understandable at the same time. Stephen has previously turned down other career development opportunities, North and South of the border, which demonstrated his undoubted commitment to youth football at both DAFC and FEFA.

"Stephen has been very resourceful and resilient over these last few years, working under a difficult set of circumstances, following DAFC going through administration and the transition to FEFA, but his enthusiasm and dedication were always second to none.

"Along with Bill Hendry, he has worked tirelessly to develop FEFA and leaves with very best wishes of everyone at DAFC."