Huddersfield Town: Martin Drury named new head coach

Huddersfield Town have appointed Martin Drury as their head coach.

The 40-year-old ended the season in caretaker charge of the team after Liam Manning was granted compassionate leave.

The club announced earlier this month that Manning would not be returning to his role.

Drury led the team to two wins from his seven matches in charge as they finished ninth in League One.

He will be assisted by former Town striker Jon Stead.

“We’ve had the benefit of seeing Martin’s work for the last six months,” sporting director Chris Markham told the club website., external

“It was immediately clear why he has a reputation across football as an elite coach, but his leadership over the final seven games in difficult circumstances was impressive too.

“Even with this in mind, we quickly decided that we had to run a full process to identify our next head coach.

“Martin entered that process alongside other potentials with very different experiences and profiles and, having interviewed several – including Martin – over the past three weeks, he was the unanimous choice.”

Huddersfield-born Drury started his coaching career with non-league Bradford Park Avenue and went on to have coaching spells at Bradford City, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion, Valencia and Brentford.

He joined Huddersfield as part of Manning’s staff, along with Stead, in January and the pair took over until the end of the campaign in March.

Drury is the club’s third different head coach in just under a year after Lee Grant and Manning.