Graeme Rayner, Feature Writer
Twitter: @b1g_daddy_g

Yesterday saw the unexpected sacking of Danny Cowley as manager of Huddersfield Town, alongside the sacking of his brother Nicky as assistant.

Danny Cowley often cut a frustrated figure at Town

I say unexpected because it comes less than 48 hours after Town effectively guaranteed safety from relegation by beating automatic promotion chasing West Brom 2-1 at home, a result few saw coming.

The elation at the result spread like wildfire across social media and it seemed like, at that stage at least, Danny and Nicky had earned the right to their first full pre-season at the club. Instead, they won’t even finish this one, and today we learned that Mark Hudson and John Iga have also been “relieved of their duties” (a horrible expression, in my opinion) leaving an odd combination of Danny Schofield, Jon Worthington and Paul Clements, Tommy Elphick in charge of Town’s final game away to Millwall.

So what the hell is going on?

When the Cowleys arrived it was with a solid reputation – these Essex boys were going places, and Huddersfield was the latest stop on their journey north, both geographically and figuratively. They were Phil Hodgkinson’s choice, he had got his men. When they arrived, Town had just 1 point from the first 6 games and were bottom of the league table, having just lost away to newly promoted Luton. The brothers had masterminded Lincoln City’s win at the JSS in the league cup, and were seen as a progressive and ambitious signing. For most Town fans, their measure of success was simple – avoid relegation.

Fast forward 10 months, and they have achieved that goal, but are out of a job, although one suspects not for long, as rumours have been around that Bristol City may come a knocking.

Where did it all go wrong? I have a few theories that I think add up to Phil Hodgkinson thinking it would be best to pull the trigger now rather than later on.

1. The Siewert Experiment – part 1

Many people, myself included, felt that Jan Siewert deserved the chance to have a full pre-season and transfer window to make his mark, as he has joined a club in free-fall late into the January window – the relegation was hardly on him, was it? However, many felt he should have been given the boot last May, and a more experienced man given the job. I believe Phil may look back and think he got this call wrong, and he knows how dearly this may have cost us.

2. The Siewert Experiment – part 2

Aside from the timing issue, some aspects of the Jan Siewert reign are still having an impact now – the club have several players out on loan who, one might argue, could have contributed this season if a new man had been brought into the fold and rehabilitated them, and many of these arrived with a hefty transfer fee and a wage to match.

Rightly or wrongly, Danny and Nicky Cowley are (in this respect at least) old school – they’d sooner send perceived bad apples packing than see the rest of the harvest rot with them.

In reality, part of this change may be about clearing the way for some players to come back.

Florent Hadergjonaj, Terence Kongolo, Isaac Mbenza, Adama Diakhaby, Ramadan Sobhi, Ben Hamer, Josh Koroma, Reece Brown - in the current climate we're surely unlikely to find homes for them all so we need to rehabilitate some/all of them into the fold, PH may feel Danny & Nicky wouldn't have been able or willing to do that.

3. Football quality

The Cowleys main attribute, when viewed through the lens of their 10 months in West Yorkshire, is pragmatism. Results mattered far more than style or substance. And, in the credit column on their ledger, it worked. We squeaked over the line, and many a time lately people have posted the hypothetical league table, adjusted to disregard all matches played in August last season. Town would be sitting comfortably mid-table, suggesting a run at the play-offs next year would be a realistic prospect with a fair wind, a decent window and a solid preseason.

But it’s been a bloody tough watch at times. I tweeted after the painful defeat at home to Luton that our plan was a series of square balls, advance a few yards, reverse the direction and repeat until we lost the ball. It was hard to see much past that. We were a side that seemed to lack a plan, a sense of impetus, an identity. And, crucially, we lacked goals.

Since the restart, post COVID lockdown, our record reads: P8 W2 D3 L3 F6 A8 – we amassed 3 goalless draw and in 5 games we failed to score, including a painful 2 nil home defeat to Luton, who were bottom of the table at the time.

The team selections were erratic – we persisted with Karlan Grant, who seemed to have lost all interest in football, many assuming because of a move, and chopped and changed everywhere else – players would have an impressive game and be dropped/rested whereas others would look poor and be rewarded with another start.

Karlan Grant has 18 goals this season, but has received criticism for his displays and demeanour since the post lockdown resumption

Substitutions were painfully predictable – the refusal to play anything other than a 4231 formation meant square pegs playing in round holes were replaced with other square pegs – we never once changed shape with a substitution, as far as I can recall. After the Luton game, Town fans were getting restless, and many had seen enough of the Cowleys, but then a battling 0-0 draw at Hillsborough meant we went into the final two games with our destiny in our hands.

Then came WBA – where we scored early, conceded a goal that should never have stood, and then scored late when most Town fans were expecting Charlie Austin to nick a late winner, cos he’s that kind of an arsehole.

Nobody can have expected that , after this result, Danny and Nicky Cowley wouldn’t be picking the team for Millwall away, a match that barring some freak results, Wigan winning their appeal, and a huge goal difference swing will see Town starting next season in the championship.

So what gives? Why now? Well, here I enter speculation, conjecture and rumour. None of this is “fact”, just stuff I’ve heard or my own conclusions.

4. Personality clashes behind the scenes

I believe this is the real issue. Most of the other stuff can be ironed out and worked on, if both sides want to iron it out and work on it. Rumour has it the Danny Simpson issue may have caused things to deteriorate.

As I hear it, Danny/Nicky asked him to stay another month to finish the extended and agreed to his request about being paid for it, but had not been authorised to make the offer on that basis. This left the club with the embarrassment of having to row back on the offer. The timing of this (90 minutes before the first game back v Wigan, which we lost) may have had an impact on the result and ultimately Simpson left the club straight after the match. It seems this brought to a head a clash of personalities. Did the Cowleys overstep? Perhaps.

If the whispers coming out of the club are to be true, then they may have wanted more control of things than they were ever realistically going to be given. Maybe Phil and Danny just didn’t get along. I’ve never met either of them, but I suspect that Phil Hodgkinson has a pretty big ego – he reminds me of Sam Allardyce, but in chairman form - there isn’t room for another big dominating personality. He seems less pragmatic than Dean Hoyle, and perhaps is a little more volatile or prone to gut reactions driving his decision making.

Whatever the reasons, outsiders looking in and many of us fans, are now looking at our club wondering where it all went wrong – 2 years ago we had pulled off back to back miracles. Since then it feels like we’ve lurched from one crisis to the next – we need a breather.

So what does the future hold?

It’s all speculation but the smart money seems to be on Town appointing Carlos Corberan. This isn’t necessarily a name that will resonate with many, but he is a first team coach down the road at Leeds United (anyone know how their season is going?) and is also the head coach of their Under 23s. He has worked under Marcelo Bielsa, who is on record as saying he trusts Corberan’s opinion above his own. He’s also worked with the likes of Manuel Pellegrini and Ernesto Valverde. He was once recommended for a coach’s job by no less than Pep Guardiola. It remains to be seen if he will take the reigns but if so it indicates another project is on our hands.

If he does take the job, how might we sum up the task ahead? Here is my 5 point list of tasks/objectives by which any new head coach/manager will stand or fall:

A good old fashioned clear out

The squad needs an overhaul/rebuild. We need to get rid of some dead wood/fringe players that have either seen better days or need to move on for everyone’s good. I’d group these in to 3 groups:

Players past their best:

In this group I’d include Kachunga, Quaner, Campbell, Hogg

Players who simply don’t fit in:

Mbenza, Diakhaby, Sobhi, Flo are the obvious ones here, but you could argue adding Pritchard to this group.

Players never likely to make any impact:

Bockhorn, Coleman, Hamer, Reece Brown, Koroma

Rehabilitate those we can’t ship on or should aim to keep

In this group I’d firmly place Terence Kongolo. If we could get him focused and engaged, he’s a player to build a back 4 around

Get top dollar for any assets we are unlikely to keep

Specifically Karlan Grant, and perhaps Lewis O’Brien, are the main members of this group. If we must say goodbye to real assets, let’s milk every shilling from the deal.

Focus on youth

We have some real assets that, with the right management, have a very bright future. We should be doing everything we can to keep Lewis O’Brien and building a team around him. Ryan Schofield is a top goalkeeping prospect. Harry Toffolo is a very promising left back. Juninho Bacuna has bags of natural ability and needs the right management – if we don’t get the best from him, someone else will.

Find an identity

This is, for me, the most critical one. Yes, Wagner hated the “Wagner revolution” but for 2 and a half seasons, it carried us to glory we couldn’t have seen. Since then we’ve seen our neighbours from Beeston find their identity and flourish, and we clearly fancy a bit of that. We have lost our way and the new guy (whoever it is) needs to find it. I think if it had been clear that we were finding one, Danny Cowley and his brother would still have jobs. So, it’s no small task for whoever the lucky fella is. But what they will find is a set of fans whoa re not hungry for promotion, particularly. I think we’d probably all settle for a season next year that showed obvious progress towards some kind of plan, alongside some passionate and energetic football.

Conclusion - is this make or break time for Big Phil?

I’m not certain. One thing is for sure, though. If Big Phil gets this next big decision wrong, or promises us big things but fails to put his money where his mouth is, by Christmas things may get ugly – it feels like in just a year of owning the club, we’re already at a crossroads – if he delivers an exciting manager and backs him in the window, his stature will rise. If he delivers another gamble that rapidly fails, or fails to back his man, the pitchforks will be out.

The next few days and weeks will not be dull. But then, when are they as a town fan these days?

What the chuff is going on?