Huddersfield Town should have made ex-Wigan Athletic boss prime target after Neil Warnock decision: Opinion | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town looked to have turned a corner in recent weeks, as they climbed the Championship table.

The Terriers claimed their first win of the season against West Brom before the international break and then followed that up with another win this time against Rotherham United.

There looked to be signs of improvement, but then came the surprising news that manager Neil Warnock is going to leave the club after Wednesday night’s game against Stoke City.

It was reported that Warnock was unhappy with the club’s transfer activity in the summer transfer window and while that may still be the case, it seems the club have accelerated their plans to appoint a long-term manager.

It has been reported that an overseas manager has already been lined up as Warnock’s possible replacement.

But even though that is the case, the Terriers couldn’t have gone much wrong in appointing former Wigan Athletic manager Leam Richardson.

Richardson, surprisingly, remains out of work since leaving the DW Stadium in the early part of last season.

The 43-year-old has spent most of his coaching career as an assistant manager, but after working at Wigan for a few years, he was given the role of being the club’s first team manager during their off-field issues.

Richardson overall did an excellent job at Wigan, and in many people's eyes, he was harshly dismissed by the club.

He has since been linked with several vacant roles, but as of yet, he has yet to get back into management, with him spending some of his time working as an EFL pundit.

Why should Huddersfield Town appoint Leam Richardson as their new manager?

Huddersfield have obviously accelerated their plans and are looking to appoint a long-term manager now rather than wait until the end of the season.

It seems an overseas manager has been picked by the club, but even with that news, in hindsight, you could argue that Richardson was a manager a lot closer to home who could have been perfect for the club.

Most of Richardson’s managerial career was spent in League One, as he guided Wigan to the title in his first campaign in charge.

He not only guided the team to a title, but he put together a squad that was very competitive for League One, despite their recent off-field issues.

He is fairly young in manager terms, and given how difficult the job at Wigan was and the fact he was harshly sacked, it could be argued he deserves a crack at a Championship job.

Richardson managed 116 games at Wigan and during his time at the club, he averaged 1.56 points per game. Despite being out of work for a long period of time, he us someone who still has a high stock and could be the ideal man to lead a club like Huddersfield for the long-term.

The 43-year-old liked to play a style of football that was easy on the eye, and he wasn’t afraid of letting some of the younger stars have a chance in the first team.

Furthermore, it isn’t something that Huddersfield won’t want to think about, but if relegation to League One were to occur, Richardson would have the tools necessary to get the club back into the second tier.