Some thoughts on Michael Duff’s appointment

Michael Duff has been announced as Huddersfield Town’s new head coach, arriving on a three-year contract as Andre Breitenreiter’s replacement. Duff has been linked with the Town job in the past, so his arrival is not a huge shock and his experience at League One level makes him feel like a safe pair of hands for a club going through a turbulent time following relegation and a period chopping and changing managers every few months.

In this article, I’ll give my opinion on this appointment, which is quite tricky to do before a ball has been kicked in his tenure but, on paper, this seems like a sensible and potentially successful appointment for the club. 

Who is Michael Duff?

Michael Duff’s playing career only involved two clubs, starting at Cheltenham Town, where he made 300 appearances between 1997 and 2004 then moving to Burnley where he played until 2016, making 342 appearances. He also made 24 appearances for his country, as a Northern Ireland international. Looking at this timeline, I must have seen him play in person and on TV dozens, if not hundreds of times during his career and I have almost no knowledge of him other than vague memories of a no-nonsense and fairly average central defender. My memory isn’t particularly great but I think this also points towards his performances tending to retreat into the background of most of the games he features in too. 

At Burnley, he stepped up to become a coach in Sean Dyche’s backroom team when he became that sort of age where his playing opportunities became limited. Then took the opportunity to move into his first managerial role when his first club Cheltenham Town needed a manager. 

He did a decent job with Cheltenham too. Steadying the ship in League Two in his first season there, then the second season was curtailed by Covid but they were fifth when the season stopped, so were given a playoff spot where they lost in the semis. Then the first season back after Covid he went up as League Two Champions. 

The next season Duff established Cheltenham Town in League One with a fifteenth place finish and the following summer moved to Barnsley, feeling he had taken Cheltenham as far as they could go.

The job he did at Barnsley was quite relevant to the situation he is inheriting at Town, as Barnsley were reeling from relegation, had to sell most of their better players and few expected them to do very well. He managed to galvanise the dressing room and made them a solid League One outfit that finished in the playoff positions, narrowly losing in the playoff final to Sheffield Wednesday. 

That achievement earned him a move to Swansea, where he was involved in their ill-fated restructure following Russell Martin’s exit. It was a mis-match from the start, with Duff not suiting Swansea’s historic love of tippy-tappy football. He only won six of his 21 games and was sacked (Though it’s worth pointing out that even this failure saw him achieve a better win percentage than Darren Moore, Mark Fotheringham and Andre Breitenreiter – so even at his worst, he was better than three out of our four past managers.)

What kind of football does Michael Duff play?

I haven’t watched much of Duff’s teams play, so all my information is second-hand, but from what I can gather, he prefers a 3-5-2 formation with the wingbacks playing relatively far forward and the wide central defenders filling in the gaps left behind. There are usually two defensive-minded midfielders and one with a more attacking remit and the two strikers are expected to hustle the defenders and score goals. 

The system he likes to play, according to the reports I’ve heard, involves keeping a disciplined shape and working hard off the ball to force the opposition into mistakes. So improving fitness levels within the squad is likely to be a key priority in preseason after the criticisms Andre Breitenreiter made before he departed. 

In possession, apparently, he’s not a long-ball merchant but he’s equally not too fussed about playing it out from the back either and is more of a pragmatist – picking the approach most suited for the opposition on the day. The fact he played under Sean Dyche for a long time will no doubt become apparent quickly, as he has a similar high-octane expectation from his teams. This means he wants his players to get the ball forward quickly and get in the face of the opposition. This may not always be fancy or pretty but if it gets results it’s fun to watch but if it doesn’t it can seem a bit basic. 

Why didn’t Michael Duff join Town back in January? 

One interesting question about Duff’s appointment that we most likely won’t get an answer to, is why now and not in January, when he was widely linked with the job? The story at the time was that he was close to landing the job but the fact he wasn’t willing to relocate was a sticking point. However, this rumour was dismissed as being rubbish in one of Kevin Nagle’s video diaries (“that one came from nowhere” according to Nagle – about 7 minutes into the video in the tweet below) in February of this year. 

When Nagle discussed the rumour of Duff arriving in February with his friend Carmichael Dave he described it as a “non-starter” and talked about how he wanted to dismiss it personally online but chose not to. I mentioned this in my article about the potential candidates for the job yesterday, and a commenter called Roger suggested that Duff was closer to the job than Nagle’s February remarks made it sound, so there may have been something in these stories. Who knows? Duff’s here now, so I suppose it’s all water under the bridge.

If Duff was in the running in January then it’s likely that he was edged out by Breitenreiter because of the German’s pedigree in top-level continental leagues. I think after seeing our recent struggles, we’ve made a sensible choice to go for someone who knows this level of football a bit more as I think Andre Breitenreiter was a bit shocked by the levels of (un)professionalism in the English game compared to what he’s been used to in other countries. I expect Duff will do a better job of keeping the dressing room disciplined, particularly if he’s learned his management techniques from Sean Dyche, who’s not known for being a softie.

What are the positives about Michael Duff?

Here are the reasons I think this is a good decision for Huddersfield Town:

• Duff has a good level of experience of League One and has been successful with Barnsley and Cheltenham – based on what they expected to achieve.
• He took over Barnsley in similar circumstances to Town – just relegated, morale low, key players leaving and got them into the playoffs at the first time of asking.
• His philosophy should fit well with Town’s – hard-working, disciplined, nothing too fancy, results-driven.
• While he’s not hugely exciting, he should hopefully bring a bit of stability after years of chopping and changing managers every few months.
• He can grow with the club – he’s relatively young for a manager, so if he does well there’s no reason that he can’t be in charge for a long time and improve alongside the team. 
• The fact he’s been out of work means he should hopefully be ready to hit the ground running and get straight into plotting our promotion bid.
• Unlike our previous head coach, he doesn’t think this level of football is beneath him, so will relish the challenge of League One.

What are the negatives about this appointment?

There are a few obvious concerns and question marks that hang over Michael Duff, just like there are with every manager, so I’ll point them out here, not to be negative but just for completeness.

• Duff had a bad time in his last job at Swansea, struggling to connect with the fans, not implementing a style of play that could get results and getting sacked before he could settle in properly. As this was Duff’s first step up to the Championship, questions may remain about his ability to coach at that level. In all honesty, I think Swansea are a unique team with unusual expectations 
• The issue about Duff’s living arrangements was probably unfairly publicised in January, as Neil Warnock’s family stayed on the south coast while he was managing up here and nobody batted an eyelid. However, I seem to remember Dean Hoyle saying Chris Powell lived in London while he was managing Town and his frequent early trains home impacted on training. So I suppose the practicalities of his living circumstances may, or may not be an issue. Honestly, if he’s said he wants the job and he’s going to be fully committed then he can commute in from wherever he wants to and that’s his business in my eyes but it’s worth raising this as a concern because it’s going to be an ongoing talking point if Town lose a few games under Duff.
• There’s no nice way of saying this but Michael Duff is not a “wow” appointment. He doesn’t have the bums off seats factor that some managers might have. I actually think this might be as much of a positive as a negative for him, as we need stability and a workhorse rather than a showman is the right approach right now. However, it’s currently a decision that has me nodding my head in approval rather than punching the air in celebration. If we win our first three games that will quickly change.

TerrierSpirit.com opinion on Michael Duff’s appointment

I think this is a sensible decision from Huddersfield Town. After relegation, we need someone at the helm who can give us the best possible chance of a quick return to the Championship, so someone with experience in League One is essential. I think going for experience over potential makes sense at this point, even if chasing the next new shiny thing can be a temptation sometimes in football. But if we keep trying to find the next David Wagner or Carlos Corberan, we risk instead, saddling ourselves with more Fotheringhams and Siewerts. So someone who knows what he’s doing and has been around the block is smart. 

Looking at Duff’s record, in terms of win percentages and the number of goals his teams score, we should expect some good times under him if he can deliver similar results while he’s at Huddersfield Town. There’s every reason to think he should be able to replicate those achievements, given the players he will have available and the likely resources at his disposal in the transfer market to bring new players in. (Though obviously we’re still a bit uncertain of exactly what shape the squad will be in next season.)

My only slight cautious feeling is that we’ve been here before with managers. There’s usually an optimistic feeling when they first start but that honeymoon period can be very short-lived if things don’t start well. Darren Moore was much loved by the fans of his former clubs when he arrived at Town – albeit with some warnings about the style of play – and even Mark Fotheringham had some glowing references from respected coaches in Germany. So we’ll have to see how things pan out. I think that things are likely to go a bit differently for Michael Duff because he has the right experience and, hopefully, the club are going to give him the resources he needs to succeed.