Huddersfield Town eyeing ex-Derby County boss and current Leicester City man | OneFootball

Town are said to be considering a re-think to their prior managerial plans for the season

Huddersfield Town are said to be re-evaluating their recent managerial stance after suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of Charlton Athletic and Lincoln City.

That is according to Mike Keegan of MailSport, who claims that the two defeats which followed a resounding 5-1 victory against relegation-threatened Crawley Town prior to the international break - Jon Worthington's first game of yet another interim spell - have been the trigger, with Keegan's update involving Paul Warne, Brian-Barry Murphy and former Terriers boss, David Wagner.

After being involved in the promotion and play-off picture for most of the League One season after suffering relegation last term, Town's chances of an immediate return to the Championship are starting to wane, as the West Yorkshire side have dropped to eighth place as a result of the aforementioned successive defeats, two points behind Bolton Wanderers in sixth.

And it now looks like a chaotic season at the John Smith's Stadium is set to take another twist.

After a relegation season which included three permanent managers last term, Kevin Nagle appointed former Swansea City boss, Michael Duff, at the beginning of the summer, before his reign came to a disastrous end at the beginning of last month following a 1-0 defeat to Bristol Rovers and a run of just three wins in 11 games.

Following Worthington's success against Crawley, the American owner expressed his delight that the former club captain was going to be in the dugout for the remainder of the season, before losing successive away trips on an aggregate scoreline of 5-0, with the first of those being against a potential play-off opponent in Charlton.

This is said to have triggered a rethink among the hierarchy, who are said to be admirers of both Warne and Barry-Murphy.

Warne has been out of work since February 7th after being dismissed by Derby County, just nine months after guiding the Rams back into the second tier in his first full season at Pride Park.

Meanwhile, Barry-Murphy also has experience of the third tier having taken charge of Rochdale between 2019 and 2021 and is now the first-team coach at Leicester City under Ruud van Nistelrooy.

However, the man who guided the Terriers to a dream promotion season in 2016/17, before maintaining the club's Premier League status the following season, Wagner, isn't in the running to take the job for a second time.

Keegan's report states that the German, who possessed a 34% win percentage during his first spell in charge, doesn't believe this is the right time for him to make a return, although Wagner hasn't stood on the touchline since Norwich City were defeated by Town's local rivals, Leeds United, in last season's play-off semi-finals.

Paul Warne and Brian Barry-Murphy would both be intriguing appointments for Huddersfield Town

In recent years, there hasn't been another manager who comes close to Warne's record of four promotions from the third tier, having also guided Rotherham United to success on three counts prior to his automatic promotion with Derby last term.

In the short-term, this makes a potential appointment of the 51-year-old seem rather smart, as Huddersfield's initial ambitions are to achieve promotion.

But, there have so often been questions about Warne's ability to progress a club forward once Championship status is secured, as he failed to win any of his final seven outings in the East Midlands.

On the flipside, Barry-Murphy has had an intriguing career path since leaving Spotland four years ago, with the Cork-born man spending three years in charge of Manchester City's Elite Development Squad.

The former midfielder would then move to the King Power Stadium in a role as number two to the aforementioned Van Nistelrooy, although the Foxes' struggles have continued since his appointment as they sit 12 points from safety with eight Premier League matches remaining.

After leaving the Etihad Stadium last summer, Barry-Murphy told the Athletic: “It might sound unusual, as I would sum up my period at Manchester City as the most insightful of my life in football, because of who I was working with.

“But also, I have this real want to go and test myself on my terms. You tell yourself: ‘Go on, then,’ rather than stay there and be in awe of Pep, watch what he does and never use it for anything."

Therefore, the quality within the ranks at the John Smith's could prove enticing, and the Irishman may view it as a good opportunity to progress his managerial career along with the club, who will also hope to end a recent revolving door of appointments.