“This is a huge risk” – Huddersfield Town close in on 38-year-old as new manager: The verdict | OneFootball

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Football League World

·27 September 2022

“This is a huge risk” – Huddersfield Town close in on 38-year-old as new manager: The verdict

Article image:“This is a huge risk” – Huddersfield Town close in on 38-year-old as new manager: The verdict

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Huddersfield Town have finally found their replacement for Danny Schofield.


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That is according to Football Insider, who yesterday reported that the Terriers have agreed a deal with Mark Fotheringham to become their new boss.

The 38-year-old will leave his role as Hertha Berlin assistant manager to take up the role, with the move potentially set to be finalised within the next 24 hours.

With the above news in mind, below, three of our FLW writers have offered their verdict on Fotheringham’s potential appointment.

Marcus Ally

This is a huge risk.

Fotheringham does have more high profile coaching experience than Danny Schofield did, and Huddersfield have been successful in recruiting from the Bundesliga in the not too distant past, but this still represents a huge risk.

There is an argument that the Terriers are amongst the weakest squads in the division since the departures of Lewis O’Brien and Harry Toffolo in the summer, and though I appreciate that the club hierarchy are prioritising the long term with this appointment, it does make relegation more likely.

Rotherham United, Wigan Athletic, Birmingham City and Reading have all made promising starts to the campaign, it feels like a long shot that Fotheringham steers them clear of relegation without any bumps in the road.

Quiz: What nationality are these 18 ex-Huddersfield Town players?

1 of 18

Article image:“This is a huge risk” – Huddersfield Town close in on 38-year-old as new manager: The verdict

Nahki Wells

Northern Irish Bermudan Mongolian French

Carla Devine

For me, this isn’t the kind of appointment Huddersfield should have been making. After the failure of Danny Schofield’s appointment, I thought it would be a much safer bet to go for an experienced manager at this level.

That being said, Fotheringham has gained his experience as a coach at higher level and is well involved in Hertha Berlin suggesting that maybe it’s a similar kind of appointment but a level up.

If this works out well, this could be a great and very much inspired appointment from the Terriers this season so I’ll be interested to see how it pans out.

However, you couldn’t blame the fans for looking at this one nervously and if it goes a similar way to Schofield’s reign, the Terriers may be in trouble this season.

Simmey Hannifin-Donaldson

From reports that have surfaced and the names that have been linked, Huddersfield Town were determined to recruit a young ambitious head coach.

In Mark Fotheringham they have done that, so in terms of sticking to their principles of how they want the club to look and be run, it’s a good appointment.

However, it has to be said that it’s a gamble appointing another manager with no head coaching experience.

Danny Schofield was familiar with the ins and outs of the club having been a coach before taking over as manager, so given it didn’t work out with him, putting their faith in Fotheringham seems an unnecessary risk given their current league position.

Ultimately only time will tell if this appointment works, but if things do go south, you wonder whether Huddersfield will be able to recover their season at all.

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