Jon Stead takes assistant role as Huddersfield confirm Martin Drury as head coach | OneFootball

Former Sunderland striker Jon Stead has taken an assistant coaching role at Huddersfield Town after Martin Drury’s permanent appointment as head coach.

According to Sunderland Echo, Drury was confirmed as boss after the League One season ended, and Stead will be part of his staff having joined the Terriers’ first-team set-up earlier this year. He had been working at the club following Liam Manning’s arrival in January 2026 and will now remain involved.

The 43-year-old had a brief spell at Sunderland after arriving from Blackburn Rovers in 2005. He made 40 appearances, scoring twice, his first at Everton at Goodison Park in April 2006, his second in defeat at Southend United in August 2006.

He left for Sheffield United in January 2007 after a loan at Derby County, then featured for Ipswich Town, Bristol City, Notts County and Harrogate Town, alongside two separate spells with Huddersfield.

An academy graduate, he made his debut for the Terriers in 2002 and broke through in 2003-04 with 18 goals before earning a move to Premier League Blackburn Rovers.

Stead retired in 2021 after more than 700 senior appearances and 165 goals, then took assistant posts with Hartford Athletic, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Barnsley and Bristol Rovers before returning to Huddersfield. The appointment keeps him at his boyhood club and is considered a popular appointment at the John Smith’s Stadium. Former Sunderland man Lynden Gooch is still on the books and will work under Stead next season should he remain at the club this summer.

Source: Sunderland Echo