Former Town player Marcus Stewart says the appointment of Michael Duff “will steady the ship” at the League One club. The former Barnsley Manager was appointed as Town manager last night.
Marcus Stewart had his say on the club and Duff, “When I played for the club, we were sitting mid table in the first division. The club is definitely in a tough situation right now with the changing of management constantly, but I think Duff will steady the ship at Huddersfield and hopefully take them back into the Second division.”
Stewart is now Head of Player Development at Yeovil Town after suffering from Motor Neurone Disease in June 2022. After a year of testing a charity match played at Memorial Park in order to raise funds for the MND Foundation.
Town have pipped Barnsley to the signature of Michael Duff, as the tykes wanted to re-hire the man that took them so close to the Championship in 2023 after losing in Extra-Time to Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley Stadium.
Duff’s football at Barnsley was differently perceived by many, but fanzine writer of the Tykes Talk, Matt Brown had this to say on the football on display at Oakwell during the 2022/23 season “The football was okay, we just adapted to our opponent’s football. Like when we played Fleetwood it would be long ball but versus Derby the ball was played on the ground. Duff had a game plan and it worked and had a good structure with a good team. But now our fans hate him as he publicly lied about being ‘in it for the long run’ then jumping ship at the first time of asking”
Duff spent the first part of the 2023/24 season at Swansea City before inevitably getting the sack from the swans after 5 months in the job.
Town who struggled in the Championship finishing 23rd and eventually being relegated to League One. André Breitenreiter who led Town out as Head Coach in the second part of the season after taking over from Darren Moore. Breitenreiter left his role by mutual consent as his main aim was to keep the club afloat in England’s second division.
Huddersfield Town have struggled with managers over the last 5 years, and since 2019 the club has had 11 different managers. Also, Duff became accustomed to not being in his role for an extended stint after having only 1 season in charge of Barnsley and 5 months at Swansea after being in charge of Cheltenham Town.
Huddersfield Town Chairman Kevin Nagle commented: “We have huge ambitions both on and off the pitch, and every discussion we have held with Michael has given us confidence that he not only shares those same goals but knows what it means to represent Huddersfield Town.”
Town, home and away, fan, Jacob Hirst, had this to say regarding the appointment “So I’m actually happy with the appointment. I feel like this is one of the best available names we could have got when we look at where the club is and what league we now will play in. Duff has proven himself as a player and manager in every league, especially the lower football league. You can’t help but see how he took Cheltenham up from league two and then to their best league finish in league one. Then during his Barnsley days, he came in with an impact boosting them straight to the play off finals. That sort of stuff cannot be overlooked as it is proven he can do the job. We at Huddersfield have not been successful with managers having less than a handful stay in charge for lengthy periods of time, especially the last 2 seasons. This appointment makes me believe in Nagel and his decision of Duff. I look forward to this next season where promotion is vital and almost can’t not happen”.
However, these comments are juxtaposed with ‘X’ user @Tim_Ozzy72 “An appointment where the ambition is to survive, not thrive. Disappointing #htafc”. Mixed reviews regarding the new Town manager.