Huddersfield Town: Michael Duff may have last laugh concerning Swansea City spell come May | OneFootball

Swansea fans couldn't wait to see the back of Michael Duff, but as he spearheads Huddersfield's promotion charge, the pair could be swapping leagues

When Swansea City announced the departure of Michael Duff in December 2023, it was greeted with absolute delight from the Swans faithful.

The tables have turned somewhat now though, with Swansea still languishing in the lower echelons of the Championship, while Duff has settled in his new job at Huddersfield, with the Terriers firmly in the promotion picture.

There's still a very long way to go for Duff to swap places with his former employers, but with Swansea dropping closer to the bottom three with each passing week, it's certainly a plausible scenario.

Duff certainly wasn't given too long in the South Wales hot seat, managing just 21 matches before the Swans called time on his incredibly short reign, with a disconnect between his preferred playing style and the club's DNA a big part of why things didn't work out for him.

A mere six wins from those 21 games would explain his sacking, but with managerial pedigree from his time at Cheltenham Town and Barnsley, he was still a sure-fire bet for Huddersfield as they look to get back into the Championship.

Swansea find themselves in freefall

Winless in six league games, things are looking fairly bleak for Swansea at the moment, and, in fact, the winless run Luke Williams has overseen right now is actually longer than the run without victory which ultimately led to the sacking of Duff.

There's nothing to suggest that Williams is under any immediate pressure as of yet, but if results don't turn around then he just might be.

Swansea haven't as much as scored a goal across their last five league outings - though despite having a whopping 17 shots in a 1-0 defeat to Millwall last weekend, Williams claimed his side "had enough chances to win the games three times over."

Chances mean nothing though if you can't turn them into goals, and subsequently turn goals into wins.

Struggling to score has been a running theme all season for Swansea, who have scored a league-low eight goals this season, though the fact the eight they've conceded is also among the league's best means they're not in murkier waters than they already are.

Indeed, no side in the Championship has averaged fewer than Swansea's three shots on target per game, which perhaps isn't a great surprise considering they've created just 18 big chances all season.

If Williams cannot solve that issue then League One could beckon.

Duff will be watching on with a wry smile

While it would be completely unfair and unjust to suggest Duff will be enjoying Swansea's recent demise, he will almost certainly be watching his former employers with an interest, wondering whether he could've done a better job than Williams is currently doing.

Duff will feel that 21 games isn't a fair crack of the whip as he wasn't given much chance to turn things around while the relationship between him and the fans certainly soured, and his last job represents the main blotch on what is otherwise a respectable managerial CV.

Duff has plenty experience of battling at the top end of tables, firing Cheltenham to promotion in 2021 before guiding Barnsley to a play-off final in 2023, only to be agonisingly beaten by Sheffield Wednesday in extra-time.

He'll be looking to draw on all that experience this season as he leads Huddersfield into promotion battle in an attempt to rebuild his managerial reputation after his sub-par Swansea spell.

It's hard to think of many better ways to laugh in the face of your former employer's decision to sack you either than by guiding your new side to a promotion into a league your old team have just been relegated out of.

Come May, Duff may well be experiencing just that as Huddersfield are well set in the promotion race and the Swans are struggling in the Championship.