Huddersfield Town sack Michael Duff despite being in League One playoff contention

On the back of relegation from the Championship, the Terriers made the decision to hand former Cheltenham Town, Barnsley and Swansea City boss Duff a three-year contract.

With Birmingham City and Wrexham having also moved into the third tier of English football, an immediate promotion charge was never going to be an easy task.

Nevertheless, despite sitting just four points adrift of fourth place in the League One table, the club's hierarchy have decided to part ways with the 47-year-old.

Owner and chairman Kevin Nagle has cited the club's recent run of just four wins from 15 games as the reason behind the decision.

'We were desperate for him to succeed'

Speaking to the club's official website, Nagle said: "This is not a decision that I have taken lightly. I really like Michael as a person and I know how diligently he has worked for the club since he was appointed as head coach in the summer, so we've all been desperate for him to succeed.

"However, our results on the pitch since the turn of the year have simply not been good enough. It is true that we've had an unprecedented injury situation to contend with, particularly recently, but I believe that the resources we have available are capable of more than the four wins we've registered in our last 15 games.

"I feel we must make this change now to reignite our challenge for promotion. I want to thank Michael, and I wish him all the best for the future."

Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers represented Huddersfield's seventh in the space of 15 games. Each of those losses were by one-goal margins.

Duff had also guided Huddersfield to three wins in his last seven matches, suggesting that the call made by Nagle is a relatively harsh one.

A total of 20 wins, seven draws and 16 defeats were recorded from Duff's 43 matches in charge.

Replacement already found

Huddersfield have decided to promote academy coach Jon Worthington into the role of interim head coach for the remainder of the campaign.

His first game in charge will be on March 15 when Huddersfield play host to struggling Crawley Town.

Written by

Darren Plant