Huddersfield Town's capture of Leeds United figure almost landed them huge cash windfall | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town's decision to appoint Leeds United coach Carlos Corberan almost made the club millions.

As Huddersfield Town face the prospect of another season in League One, their success in the Championship under Carlos Corberan certainly feels like a long time ago.

After Corberan's sudden exit in the summer of 2022, Huddersfield spent two years battling against relegation, and after narrowly surviving in the first of those seasons, they were condemned to the drop last term and returned to the third tier for the first time in 12 years.

Managerial instability has contributed significantly to the Terriers' decline, with Danny Schofield, Mark Fotheringham, Neil Warnock, Darren Moore and Michael Duff all coming and going in the post-Corberan era.

As Town prepare to appoint a new permanent manager in the summer once Jon Worthington's interim spell comes to an end, they desperately need to find someone who can bring stability back to the John Smith's Stadium, and as supporters begin to turn against owner Kevin Nagle, he is under pressure to get it right.

Like many of Huddersfield's recent managerial choices, Corberan was viewed as a gamble at the time of his arrival in the summer of 2020, but the club's bold call to give him the job almost made them millions.

Huddersfield Town gambled on Carlos Corberan, Marcelo Bielsa connection

Having taken over at a time when the club sat bottom of the table with just one point to their name, Danny Cowley did an excellent job to keep Huddersfield in the Championship in the 2019-20 season.

However, despite all but securing safety with a 2-1 home win over automatic promotion hopefuls West Bromwich Albion in the penultimate game, Cowley was sacked just two days later, and Corberan was named as his replacement the following week.

Corberan had previously had brief spells managing in Cyprus with Doxa and Ermis before becoming the new Leeds United Under-23 boss in June 2017.

Shortly after Marcelo Bielsa was appointed as the Whites' new head coach in the summer of 2018, Corberan was promoted to the first-team coaching staff in addition to his academy role, and he clearly made a big impression on the Argentine.

"Carlos is a good colleague, I have found that," Bielsa told the Yorkshire Evening Post in 2018.

"He is very talented. I listen more to his opinion than I give mine to him."

Corberan certainly made an impact at senior level as he helped Bielsa to transform Leeds into promotion contenders in the Championship in the 2018-19 campaign, while his Under-23 side became the national Professional Development League champions in the same season.

As his coaching profile continued to grow, Corberan was offered the chance to return to first-team management with Spanish third-tier side Cultural Leonesa in June 2019, but he turned down the opportunity to remain at Elland Road with Bielsa, and it proved to be the right decision as the pair led the Whites to promotion to the Premier League following season, ending their 16-year top flight exile.

However, just days after Leeds won the Championship title, Corberan departed to take over at Huddersfield, and that marked the start of his impressive managerial career.

Having only narrowly avoided relegation the previous season under Cowley, it was a risky move by Huddersfield to appoint Corberan given his lack of managerial experience, but they would have been confident that his time working with Bielsa at Leeds had sufficiently prepared him to become a number one in his own right.

While the Terriers were inconsistent for much of the first half of the 2020-21 season, it looked as though they were making progress as they sat 13th in the table at the halfway point of the campaign, but a run of just three wins from their final 24 games saw Corberan's men eventually finish in a disappointing 20th place, just six points clear of the relegation zone.

A dismal run of form like that would have seen most clubs make a managerial change, but Town kept faith with Corberan, and he brought in a number of new signings in the summer transfer window, including the likes of Lee Nicholls, Matty Pearson, Tom Lees, Levi Colwill, Jon Russell, Danel Sinani and Jordan Rhodes.

Few expected much from Huddersfield in the 2021-22 season, but they quickly emerged as a force to be reckoned with as Corberan built a side with outstanding defensive organisation, as well as a dangerous attacking threat.

After a stunning 17-game unbeaten run between December and March, the Terriers even sat in the automatic promotion places at one stage, but while back-to-back defeats to Millwall and Bournemouth ended their top two hopes, they went on to secure an impressive third-placed finish.

Town overcame Luton Town in the play-off semi-finals to book their place in the final at Wembley, where they faced a Nottingham Forest side who had surged up the table to reach the top six, despite sitting bottom when Steve Cooper replaced Chris Hughton in September.

The Championship play-off final is often described as the richest game in football, and it is estimated that promotion to the Premier League could earn a club an increase in revenue of between £135 million and £265 million, depending on their performance in the top flight, so Huddersfield would have been well aware of the potential prize on offer.

Just five years earlier, the Terriers had tasted success at Wembley as they beat Reading on penalties in the play-off final, but unfortunately, they could not replicate that achievement on this occasion, and Colwill's first-half own goal sealed the victory for Forest on a day when arguments about VAR - as Huddersfield were denied two penalties - reared its ugly head.

If missing out on promotion was not devastating enough for Town, Corberan resigned just weeks later, with the 42-year-old believed to have been concerned that he would not be given the backing needed in order to challenge for promotion again the following season, and that started a series of events that led to the club's eventual relegation to League One.

While Huddersfield have had a nightmare few years, Corberan's managerial career has gone from strength to strength, and after spells at Olympiakos and West Bromwich Albion, he is now the head coach of La Liga side Valencia, where he has earned plenty of praise after guiding them away from the relegation zone.