Huddersfield Town, Carlos Corberán and Danny Schofield

On Thursday, Huddersfield Town announced the resignation of Carlos Corberán, after just shy of two years in charge of the Terriers and with just three weeks until the start of the season, there are a lot of questions still to be asked and answered.

Wednesday afternoon for Huddersfield fans was encouragingly positive and had an optimistic feel about the upcoming season, especially when you partner this with rumours spreading about the potential return of Aaron Mooy to the club following his release from Shanghai SIPG.

A sharp contrast to Thursday, and in less than 24 hours, all of the positivity from Wednesday was seemingly gone. Whispers emerged and escalated in the early hours of Corberán’s decision, with many expecting, hoping for it to be a cruel joke. However, just before noon, the news was confirmed of the Spaniard’s departure from the club.

What followed was almost anarchy, with fingers pointed at almost everyone at the club, trying to find reasons as to why. Why off the back of the past season had Carlos Corberán decided that he didn’t want to continue at the club? Was it due to a lack of backing? Was it to do with player sales?

These questions still remain about what happened behind the scenes, with the closest answer being that the 39-year-old felt he was unable to replicate the club’s successes from last season, as told by Leigh Bromby in an interview with BBC West Yorkshire.

It’s not unfair to suggest that arguably the Spaniard was the club’s most prized asset, however, can it also be asked if he actually was?

Yes, last season at the club was magical, a club that once again believed in itself, its players, and its manager. Whilst Corberán is very much the focal point of the management team, Danny Schofield, Narcís Pèlach and Jorge Alcarón also have large parts to play in the success, and given that half of that team now take up the manager and assistant manager roles so to speak, can this same model be continued?

This is not a statement to say, Huddersfield Town will or will not be better off without Corberán and Alcarón. But rather one to say, they could have done much, much worse.

The consistent attention from the club has been targeted at continuity, and it makes sense as to why this is.

Phil Hodgkinson two years ago sacked the Cowley brothers, to bring attractive football to the John Smith’s Stadium. Which in turn saw the appointment of, the now-former coach, Carlos Corberán. Since then, the club has found its philosophy once again. Returned to its former state, a heart of a community, and the community has regained its belief and love in that heart, that recently had disappeared.

Whilst the departure of Corberán has potentially taken a hit on this heart, you’ve got to look at the wider picture. It has taken 24 months to overhaul the feel of the club, appointing a new coach means potentially risking overturning all of that, which could take a pre-season in the best-case scenario, or could take two years if the past is to repeat itself.

Football is about risks and searching for a new manager at this time just isn’t a risk worth taking, or even calculating. There would be several factors to consider, before even starting a search.

The players in the squad, would they suit a new system? Wage demands of a new manager, could the club afford? Compensation if a manager is currently in work is another thing to be considered. Furthermore, would they want a reshuffle of the backroom staff? Just to name a few of the things in the picture.

Looking at the current climate of managers available, there is really only Sean Dyche that comes to mind. On the other hand, there have been rumours of Liam Manning of MK Dons and Ryan Lowe of Preston potentially being on the club’s radar, however, these wouldn’t make sense to bring to the club.

Which in turn makes the current appointment even more understandable than it was potentially before.

To actually focus on the appointment of Schofield, which was touched on in the original article of Carlos’ departure but fully announced by the club on Friday morning.

Danny Schofield re-joined the club as a coach in January of 2020, a name already known to fans due to his prior time at the club between 1998 and 2008. Having been a part of the team at Leeds United prior to joining the side, it made sense that the Englishman would be promoted to a new role upon arrival of the Spaniard to the club, given their past role alongside each other.

The 42-year-old has a great track record coaching with the club already and has played a pivotal part in the upsurge of the amount of B-Team players graduating into the first team, with the likes of Sorba Thomas, Aaron Rowe, and Jon Russell recently making strides into the first team picture or actually fully establishing themselves within the sides’ matchday squads.

To further this, with the club’s current approach to the market, focusing on cheap talent that can be developed, Schofield can play an integral part in this given his prior role at the club was focused on developing younger talent to a first-team level, there will be many similar aspects with established professionals already too, to bring them to a competitive level.

How Schofield operates his side is very similar to how the Spaniard did with the first team. Looking for fluid transitions from defence to attack whilst having versatility in his team in order to change the game as it progresses.

As a result, it means that the club will not have to have a major overhaul of players to suit a new system given the familiarity and confidence that Schofield and the club currently have in it.

Looking at the move to the first team for the Englishman too, before Corberán’s appointment, Schofield was the more advanced coach, so it can be suggested that potentially the club are in a better place now than it may have been when the Bielsa disciple took the reins 24 months ago.

In addition, it was revealed that the new head coach had turned down an offer from a European club in the top league of their respective footballing pyramid, furthering the reasoning as to why the club sees him as a perfect replacement.

In fact, it is likely that should Carlos have departed later this season to another club, it was probably likely that Schofield would be the successor. Those plans have obviously been fast-tracked, but there were perhaps talks after Schofield was offered a job abroad that he would be in the hot seat should Carlos depart in the near future.

Taking a step back and looking at the entire situation, yes, it is less than ideal that Corberán has left, and yes, it is a major risk to appoint Schofield. However, there is already a connection there with the fanbase due to his prior stint at the club.

As head coach, this connection will grow exponentially, likely to levels more than there ever were with Carlos, who only really connected with the fanbase on a major level towards the end of the season.

The turnover period so to speak will be minimal if there even is one at all. Given the fact that the former Town winger was already prominent at the training ground, it isn’t as if players will be unfamiliar with him as a coach, given that he has likely played parts in sessions with the first-team squad.

This leads to the final point, could Huddersfield have found better? Potentially, yes. But could Huddersfield have done worse? Definitely. Schofield, like any appointment, is a risk. It’s one worth taking though, an exciting and respected coach, who knows the club and the fanbase and who was deemed to be ready by another club this summer.

For a club that has taken a lot of managerial risks in their return to the second division, Schofield might just be the bravest so far, but long-term it could be another stroke of genius from the higher-ups at the club.

And Whilst they might not reach the same heights as they did in the campaign just gone, their identity will be the same. With that same Terrier Spirit that helped so much last season likely being the philosophy and motive for seasons to come, they might be back sooner than imagined upon the announcement of Corberán’s departure.

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