FORMER Wanderers defender Dean Holden has left Walsall to join old club Oldham Athletic as first-team coach.

Holden, who came through the ranks at the Whites to make 21 appearances before leaving for Boundary Park in 2002, has recently been combining coaching with playing for the Saddlers.

But the Worsley-based player is returning to his native North West to work alongside Oldham boss Lee Johnson.

Johnson is delighted to have Holden on board at a club he knows well and said: "Dean is somebody I've known for a while and is very enthusiastic and hungry.

"People at the club know him and he knows the club, knows the division and that can only be an asset to a club like ours.

"It's a real opportunity for Dean to stamp his coaching philosophy and what he's going to be like as a first-team coach."

Holden will replace former first-team coach at Oldham, Paul Murray, who left to take up the job as Hartlepool boss.

Oldham's gain is Walsall's loss, according to Saddlers boss Dean Smith, but he wished Holden well.

Smith added: "Opportunities like this don't come along that often, so we weren't going to stand in his way.

"I hope he has enjoyed his first taste of coaching with us and and that it stands him in good stead.

"During his time here he's shown what a fantastic professional he is.

"He's been a great person to have around."

Meanwhile, two more former Whites players could be reunited at Championship side Leeds United.

Speculation in West Yorkshire is linking ex-Whites man Steve Thompson with a move from Huddersfield to the coaching staff at Elland Road under new manager Neil Redfearn.

The pair were Wanderers team-mates at Burnden Park under boss John McGovern in the early 1980s.