Kevin Nagle sent Huddersfield Town warning on Liam Manning sack talk - 'my fear is' | OneFootball

FLW's Huddersfield fan pundit has had his say on whether Liam Manning should be relieved of his duties at the end of the campaign

To many Huddersfield Town fans, their season is going to peter out into another mid-table finish in League One, which is a real cause for concern.

After a more than disappointing first year back in the third tier last season, owner Kevin Nagle backed the club off the field, bringing in numerous high-end League One stars and players who were Championship regulars previously to build a squad capable of finishing inside the top two.

Those lofty expectations weren't being met under rookie manager Lee Grant, and, despite the club being in the top six at the time, he was dismissed in favour of Liam Manning, who, again, was a second-tier regular in the dugout over the past few years and was managing in the play-offs with Bristol City the May prior.

Even with a disastrous spell at Norwich City at the start of this season on his CV, critics didn't feel that his stock had dropped that much to the point where his next job would be back in League One, so it was heralded as a great appointment.

After three straight wins to open his time at the club, Huddersfield has since won two in nine, and with a frightening run-in which started with games against Lincoln City and Plymouth Argyle, and continues with games against Reading, Wycombe Wanderers, Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers in their next five, have Town fans expecting the worst.

Huddersfield Town fan pundit weighs in on Liam Manning sack calls

The main criticism of Lee Grant was that, despite a high-scoring output, Huddersfield under him were too open and conceded too many goals. Now, the opposite rings true, with the Terriers netting twice in just four League One games in the 12 that Liam Manning has managed.

Dropped points against Wigan Athletic, Doncaster Rovers, Blackpool and Port Vale mean that the fanbase isn't exactly sold on the former Bristol City boss, and FLW's Huddersfield fan pundit, Graeme Rayner, has weighed up calls from sections at the Accu Stadium who want him gone, too.

"He's not been at the club that long, and the initial few games were superb under his reign. Those hard-fought wins at home with 10 men against Bradford and Luton were superb, and it looked as if we'd turned a corner," he said.

"But it feels like some of those old issues have come back, and it's led to some Town fans immediately calling for his head after about a dozen games in charge, which is sheer madness.

"It has started to make a few ask whether the managers have been the problem, or whether it is something else, perhaps? I don't know. I'm not convinced by him, but it would be hard to say that after a couple of months in charge, anyway."

Rayner acknowledges that, when Manning came in, there wasn't much time remaining in the January transfer window to really put his stamp on the squad.

A lot of business at the Accu Stadium had already been done, including Joe Taylor's loan switch to Wigan, which has backfired immensely on the club.

Therefore, it's been difficult to judge the 40-year-old with a squad that isn't truly his, and sacking him would just add to the managerial merry-go-round, which is never sustainable at clubs.

"My fear is, we can't just keep sacking managers and bringing in new people," he continued. "He's barely had a transfer window; he came in after the majority of our business was done.

"We'd already signed Cameron Humphreys, largely it seems, due to his links with Lee Grant, having both come through at Ipswich, and we'd already sent Joe Taylor out on loan, who has gone on to score a bucket load of goals for Wigan, and we could have used him, and we then had a flurry of transfer activity late on which hasn't gone brilliantly, so is it fair to judge him on that?

"It's a bit of a cliche, but it's someone else's squad, and there's a lack of viable alternatives as well, so I'd probably stick with him.

"We're not going to finish in the top six this year, and if we're not comfortably in the promotion hunt by Christmas next season, then he will go, and I believe that will be what happens. There's only so much longer that the chairman will keep pumping money in with no return, isn't there?"

Sacking Liam Manning at the end of the season would be nonsensical

Granted, Huddersfield have arguably taken a step backwards under Liam Manning, with the club picking up the 11th-most points since his arrival. The thought behind the switch would have been to further consolidate a play-off place and earn promotion come May, but that seems a stretch now.

So, Manning will have failed his immediate short-term goals this season, but that shouldn't mean that he's not the right man for the job, and with the Terriers improving massively in defence under him, a full pre-season and summer window to bring his own players in and implement his style further could go a long way.

As Rayner said, though, there'll be little room for error next year, having been given that pre-season and transfer window, and if those lofty expectations aren't met, or at least aren't in the process of being met at the midway point of the year, Huddersfield will likely be looking for a new manager once again in the winter.

But for now, Liam Manning should definitely be sticking around past the end of this season, as bringing in yet their seventh new boss in the space of three years wouldn't be sustainable at all.