Mark Fotheringham: Huddersfield Town sack head coach after four months in charge
- Published
Mark Fotheringham was in charge at Huddersfield for 134 days
Championship strugglers Huddersfield Town have sacked head coach Mark Fotheringham after just four months in charge.
The ex-Hertha Berlin assistant boss won only five of his 21 games in charge.
Fotheringham's assistant Kenny Miller has also left the club, with Narcis Pelach put in interim charge.
"Huddersfield Town can confirm that it has terminated the contract of head coach Mark Fotheringham with immediate effect," read a club statement., external
"His assistant, Kenny Miller, has also left the club. Narcis Pelach will take control of the team as interim head coach."
Fotheringham was appointed in September and lasted only 134 days in the job after replacing Danny Schofield, whose own tenure had lasted just 69 days after he took over when Carlos Corberan left in the summer.
Pelach was brought to the club as part of Corberan's backroom team and also worked under both the Spaniard's successors.
Huddersfield was the first managerial role for Fotheringham, 39, who replaced Schofield after he lost seven of his nine games in charge.
His replacement will be the club's fifth permanent head coach in less than three years.
Huddersfield, who were beaten by Nottingham Forest in last season's Championship play-off final, have lost seven points from winning positions in their five games in 2023.
They are without a win in their past six games in all competitions and are 22nd in the table, a point from safety but with a game in hand on fourth-from-bottom Cardiff.
Fotheringham's sacking comes after he was critical of his players following a late collapse against Blackpool on Tuesday in what turned out to be his last game in charge.
After the Terriers twice let the lead slip to draw 2-2 against a Seasiders team who played the entire second half with 10 men, Fotheringham accused his players of "unacceptable lapses in concentration defensively".
'Fotheringham was not improving team' - analysis
BBC Radio Leeds' Huddersfield Town reporter Paul Ogden
Huddersfield couldn't leave things any longer without making a change. I don't think they really wanted to remove Mark Fotheringham from office, they wanted to give him more of a chance because it wasn't meant to be like this.
Leigh Bromby, the head of football, told us some time ago that he knew that when he removed Danny Schofield earlier this season that he had to get this appointment right.
I'm afraid it's not worked. The team isn't getting better, they're becoming more confused and on Tuesday night they twice blew a lead and ended up coming back from Blackpool with just a point instead of three against a fellow struggler.
You can sense the chaos in the team and for all Mark Fotheringham's personal qualities, whatever he is doing with the team on the training ground and on a match day is not improving the team.
And there is such a risk now of the team staying in a relegation fight and not getting out of it that it could have a catastrophic effect on the club's existence because there is a takeover in the offing.