The 'reason' why some Huddersfield Town fans are turning against Lee Grant raised | OneFootball

Lee Grant is starting to come under fire amid the Terriers' recent run of form

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It has been an alarming run of recent results for Huddersfield Town, with Lee Grant enduring his first-ever sticky spell in a managerial role.

The 42-year-old was handed the Terriers' vacancy in June as American owner, Kevin Nagle, looked to supplement his well-documented financial backing with a highly-rated head coach who possessed an attack-minded philosophy after a disastrous first season back in League One last time out.

Being one of a handful of sides boasting recent Premier League and Championship pedigree, there are great expectations at third tier level within the confines of the Accu Stadium, particularly when looking at Grant's squad, man-for-man, against many others in the division.

It had been an encouraging start for the former Manchester United goalkeeper in the opening weeks of the season. However, in recent encounters, Huddersfield's form has tailed off drastically, already leading to sack calls from sections of supporters in this part of West Yorkshire.

They hit their current peak on Saturday afternoon when Town slumped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Stockport County, in what was a third-straight home game without victory across all competitions.

With Grant seemingly dividing opinion amongst supporters, Football League World asked our resident Huddersfield fan pundit, Graeme Rayner, what he makes of his team's current predicament.

Huddersfield Town urged to give Lee Grant time amid recent poor form

Grant's reputation on the managerial circuit largely stems from his influence as Kieran McKenna's assistant at Ipswich Town, in which the Tractor Boys enjoyed back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League between 2022 and 2024, scoring 193 times across 92 league games.

As such, when appointed as Michael Duff's eventual successor during the off-season, the Hemel Hempstead-born man was handed a three-year contract before moulding a squad full of experience and flair together.

After going unbeaten across his first seven competitive outings, which included EFL Cup scalps against Leicester City and Sunderland, Grant has seen his side emerge victorious in three of the following nine.

Yet, with Town still residing in the play-off places after 11 league games, Rayner has urged supporters and the hierarchy to be patient.

"I went to the game vs Stockport. It was very frustrating," he said. "The fans made their feelings known. We were 2-0 down, playing against 10 men, and when we conceded the second, several fans left around me with about 20 minutes to go. Not great.

"I think the reason fans are turning is, recently, he's said that he believes in his system and suggested he's not very flexible with it.

"I can understand why fans are worried," Raynor added. Because, you look at the top-flight, and you see people like Ruben Amorim or Russell Martin (before he was sacked at Rangers) saying they're going to play how they want to play without getting any better. The fans worry we're going to be like that.

"However. 11 league games in, we're still in the play-off places. A minor injury crisis in a couple of areas. We, as fans, need to calm down a little bit," he claimed. "We need to be a little bit more pragmatic and realistic.

Raynor debated: "What would be gained from changing a manager, yet again, this early? We've done that far too often.

"I can't remember the last time a manager started and finished a season at Huddersfield. It must've been Carlos Corberan, and that would've been the season when we almost got promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs and lost in the final to Forest. That must've been the last time.

"We need to calm down a little bit," our fan pundit continued. "We've only got three more games this month.

"Lee Grant, perhaps, does need to look at being a bit more flexible," he explained.

"We went down to 10 men on Saturday, Stockport made a change to their tactics and we didn't. We carried on with two holding midfielders, carried on playing Castledine out left, who's a 10 not a winger. We had a winger on the bench that could've come on.

"We persisted with Ruben Roosken at left-back who wasn't having a good game, even though we had a left-back on the bench who could've made a change.

"Grant speaks well, and I like him. But, he does need to be a bit more reactive and proactive at the same time. On Saturday, he was neither. He didn't really react to the situation and didn't proactively try to change it. He just made like-for-like substitutions which felt really frustrating.

"I'm a little bit worried, but he needs more time. We can't sack a manager at the beginning of October. That's ridiculous," Rayner stated.

Huddersfield Town need stability amid Lee Grant sack calls

As Rayner alluded to, Town have gone through a plethora of head coaches and managers in recent times, creating an extremely unstable environment, which is the antithesis of what's required to mount a promotion challenge.

Frustrations after Saturday's defeat against a side reduced to 10 men were understandable, particularly with the hosts only creating five shots on target across the 90 minutes.

The squad at Grant's disposal is more than capable of challenging for automatic promotion after last season's dismal end, although the young manager needs to rectify what has been an alarming slide in terms of chance creation and clinicality in front of goal.

Alfie May is currently enduring an eight-game streak without a goal in all competitions, whilst they - and starts - have also dried up for Joe Taylor.

Due to international call-ups, Huddersfield return to action on October 16th in a huge game against Bolton Wanderers, who have also been inconsistent in the opening weeks of the season.