Ex-Carlisle United skipper Paul Thirlwell has signed a new long-term deal with the Blues' fellow League Two side Harrogate Town.

The assistant manager has agreed a further three-year stay along with boss Simon Weaver at the Yorkshire club.

Thirlwell has been No2 at the EnviroVent Stadium since 2017 and helped Weaver guide them to two promotions and then last season's first-ever campaign in the EFL.

It has seen 42-year-old Thirlwell carve out a coaching career after a nine-year playing spell with Carlisle.

He told the Harrogate website: “Joining the club at 36, I wanted to be somewhere with a coaching opportunity, thankfully that came here and I’m thankful to the manager and the chairman for giving me the opportunity.

“I’m delighted to be staying here, it’s been a really good six years going from player to the youth set up to assistant manager, and I’ve loved every minute.

“The gaffer and I are good friends off the pitch, our thoughts on the game are very much the same, but at times we are different characters and I think that brings the best out of each other, hopefully long may that continue.”

Chairman Irving Weaver said securing the futures of Thirlwell and Weaver junior was an "important step" to making further progress.

Simon Weaver said the ex-Bules captain was "a good presence", and "has a great personality and sense of humour, but overall he is a really good person, which is important to me.”

The former Sunderland and Derby midfielder was with United from 2006-15, spending many of those seasons as captain, including for the 2011 Johnstone's Paint Trophy victory at Wembley.

He made 265 appearances for the Cumbrians, scoring seven goals, and also had a stint as joint caretaker manager alongside Tony Caig after Graham Kavanagh's exit in 2014.