"Players didn't know who he was" - Manager named in Huddersfield Town worst ever debate | OneFootball

FLW's Huddersfield Town fan pundit has given his verdict on who he believes is the club's worst ever manager.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Huddersfield Town have certainly experienced their fair share of managerial upheaval in recent years.

Since the departure of Carlos Corberan in the summer of 2022, five managers have been sacked by Huddersfield - Danny Schofield, Mark Fotheringham, Neil Warnock, Darren Moore and Andre Breitenreiter - and Michael Duff became the latest name to step into the hot seat at the John Smith's Stadium this summer following the club's relegation from the Championship.

Duff will be hoping to succeed where his predecessors have failed and deliver better times for the Terriers, but he has already come under pressure this season after a mixed start to life back in League One.

While many of the managerial appointments since Corberan's exit have not worked out, few have been quite as underwhelming as that of Jan Siewert, who was named as David Wagner's replacement in January 2019.

In fairness to Siewert, Town sat bottom of the Premier League table with just 11 points to their name when he arrived, and they were already 10 points from safety, so it was unfair to blame him for Town's relegation from the top flight.

However, Siewart's lack of impact was alarming, and after the Terriers failed to win any of their first three games in the Championship the following season, the German was sacked, departing having won just one of his 19 games in charge in all competitions.

Huddersfield Town fan pundit makes damning Jan Siewert claim

When asked who he believes is the club's worst ever manager, FLW's Huddersfield Town fan pundit Graeme Rayner said that the appointment of Siewert marked the start of the Terriers' decline, and he believes the 42-year-old's confrontational approach was a key reason behind his struggles.

"There's a long list, particularly in recent years," Graeme said.

"A lot of people would look at recent years and there's a few people on there who had a really bad run.

"Going way back, Malcolm McDonald had an awful situation where he lost three quarters of his games or something like that, he lost he a ridiculous number of games.

"But in recent years, I would say that in the era since David Wagner, we've not really had a manager who has been a success, other than Carlos Corberan.

"A notable candidate would be Mark Fotheringham, who came in out of the blue and nobody really understood the messages he was trying to convey to the fans or the players.

"He didn't really seem to have a clear idea of how to play, other than really stoic football.

"Darren Moore came in and had a woeful win percentage, probably one of the lowest we've had, and he spoke really confusingly at times about how he wanted to play, but he's gone on and done really well at Port Vale.

"Andre Breitenreiter came in at the back at end of last season and he started well.

"We thought that maybe he was going to be the man to keep us up, but clearly, something went very wrong there.

"For me, where it all started is when David Wagner left the club and we went straight back to Borussia Dortmund and brought the next coach off the rank in Jan Siewert.

"He came in and won just one league game in his time with the club as we were relegated, and at the start of the following season, we were really, really poor.

"You hear stories of this guy who isn't known in football, the players didn't know who he was walking into the dressing room.

"He came in with an attitude of maybe trying to bring players down a peg or two, but these players didn't know who he was, so he immediately lost respect.

"There's a phrase about losing the dressing room, but I'm not sure he ever found it, and that's a real shame, because at that time, we still had a chance to kick on and potentially stay in the Premier League for a second season.

"He's not really done anything since, he went to Mainz and had a short spell there, where he again only won one game, and he's now managing in the second tier of German football.

"It was one of those that was a big gamble on paper, and it didn't pay off."

Huddersfield Town supporters will be desperate to forget Jan Siewert spell

Having poached Wagner from Borussia Dortmund a few years earlier, it is easy to see why Huddersfield decided to do the same with Siewert, but the outcome of the two appointments could not have been more contrasting.

As Graeme says, it was far too much of a gamble for the Terriers to appoint such an inexperienced coach with the club in a precarious position at the bottom of the Premier League, and he clearly failed to win over the dressing room.

Town acted quickly in sacking Siewert after just three games of the following season in the Championship, and there is nothing in his subsequent managerial career to suggest they made a mistake by not giving him more time.

Siewert won just one of his 12 games in charge of Bundesliga side Mainz last season, and he has just returned to management with German second division side Greuther Furth, so it will be intriguing to see if he fares any better there.