Exclusive: Huddersfield Town closing in on ex-Bolton Wanderers figure to replace Mark Cartwright | OneFootball

Some seven months after director of football Mark Cartwright departed the Terriers, they're closing in on his successor

Huddersfield Town are in advanced talks to appoint Chris Markham as their new sporting director, Football League World has been exclusively informed.

The Terriers have had an indifferent first part of the 2025-26 season under novice head coach Lee Grant, whose first job in management has not been without its difficulties at the Accu Stadium.

And whilst the West Yorkshire outfit sit eighth in the League One standings and just two points outside the play-off spots, Grant has worked all season without a director of football - that could soon be about to change though.

Huddersfield Town closing in on Chris Markham appointment

Huddersfield have been looking for a new sporting director for a number of months now, having parted company with Mark Cartwright in April 2025.

Cartwright was appointed under the Kevin Nagle administration in the summer of 2023 following the American's arrival at the club, having worked alongside chief executive Jake Edwards at the United Soccer League in the USA, as well as holding a previous role as technical director at Stoke City.

However, after less than two years in his role at Huddersfield, Cartwright left the club close to the end of last season, and after seven long months, they are honing in on his successor.

FLW understands that talks are ongoing with former Bolton Wanderers figure Chris Markham to fill the void left by Cartwright's dismissal earlier this year, and if they are successful, then he will be tasked with spearheading Town's return to the Championship alongside head coach Grant.

Chris Markham appointment would be a Huddersfield Town reunion

39-year-old Markham actually started off his career at Huddersfield as a data analyst, holding that role from 2009 until 2017 and worked under five different permanent managers, including being a part of the coaching staff that secured promotion from League One in 2012 (pictured below with Scott Arfield and Jordan Rhodes at Wembley) before moving on to a job with the Football Association as Game Insights Lead.

He was headhunted by Bolton though in 2021 to become their technical performance director, and in 2023 he was promoted to sporting director, where he was tasked with helping to curate a team capable of being promoted to the Championship under Ian Evatt's coaching.

It did not happen for the Trotters though, and in February 2025 they parted company with Markham, but he looks likely to now step back into a sporting director role with their League One rivals in the form of Huddersfield - and it will be familiar terrority for him given his previous eight-year stint.