Huddersfield Town head coach Liam Manning takes period of compassionate leave

Martin Drury and Jon Stead will take charge of the first team for the rest of the season

Huddersfield Town head coach Liam Manning will take compassionate leave until the end of the season, the club have confirmed.

Assistant coach Martin Drury and first-team coach Jon Stead will take charge of the first team for the remainder of the 2025/26 campaign, starting with Town’s home game against Reading on Friday 3rd April.

Club statement in full

Huddersfield Town men’s first team head coach Liam Manning has been granted compassionate leave for the remainder of the 2025/26 Sky Bet League One season.

Liam has made the club aware of ongoing personal matters relating to the tragic passing of his newborn son Theo in October 2024, and he will now be given time away from his professional duties.

Liam, his wife Fran, their eldest son Isaac, and the entire Manning family have the full support of everyone at Huddersfield Town, and we will keep in regular contact with Liam and those close to him.

We ask that the privacy of Liam and his family is respected during this time.

Our men’s First Team will be led jointly by Martin Drury and Jon Stead for the remainder of the 2025/26 season, with ongoing support from our wider existing Men’s First Team staff.

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by child bereavement, the following organisations may be able to help:

• Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice

• The Compassionate Friends

• Bernado’s Child Bereavement Service

• Child Bereavement UK

• Winston’s Wish

• To view and save the Club’s Health and Wellbeing Directory complete with the details of resources both locally and nationally, please CLICK HERE.

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We Are Terriers reaction

First and foremost, of course, our best wishes are with Liam Manning. Stepping away to take some time off at this stage of the season was no doubt a very difficult decision to make, but clearly necessary.

Personal and family well-being should always come first, even in a highly-visible role like head coach of a football club, and Manning should be applauded for having the courage to tell his employer what he needed and take the time he to attend to the situation. Any criticism directed his way for this would be misguided and deeply discompassionate, and Manning has the right to handle the matter privately.

That means that as far as we are concerned, the question is all about what this means for Huddersfield Town with just seven games left in the League One season.