Chairmen beware: Timing of Darren Moore's sacking has seen Huddersfield Town fall between two stools - Stuart Rayner

Football clubs should not be dismissing managers in late January or early February – at least not for footballing reasons.

Now the Terriers going into a huge game against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday the way the Owls went into the reverse fixture – with a caretaker manager in charge. By the time they have chosen a permanent appointment, he will be just too late to influence the transfer window.

There will be takers, of course, but it hardly makes a tough gig more attractive.

It is those 32 days mid-season of trading which make the timing of Moore's dismissal so bad. Clubs have until 11pm on Thursday to reshape their squads for the rest of the campaign.

By their own frugal post-Premier League standards, Huddersfield have invested heavily in January to bring in Rhys Healey, Radinio Balker and Bojan Radulovic, as well as loaning Alex Matos from Chelsea. One would hope that as manager, Moore was heavily consulted on all of them, as well as the decisions to move on Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Loick Ayina and Josh Austerfield.

But having given Moore the players he felt he needed to liven things up – and things did need livening up – Moore got 19 minutes (plus stoppage time) out of Balker, 150 from Radulovic and 180 from Healey. It was not enough to see what he could do with them.

There is an argument to say 22 league games are not enough to judge a manager either.

Many made their minds up long ago about Moore. The doubts about an overly-passive style of football were evident in October's crushing defeats to Cardiff City and Leeds United. Chairman Kevin Nagle spoke often and openly about not being happy with the style of play.

They were valid concerns – shared here – but put up or shut up time had passed, at least for now.

Given those doubts, why sanction such a big outlay on players Moore wanted but his successor might not? If Nagle really was unsure at the end of December – and Moore could point to plenty of injuries muddying the water – keep the coffers closed for a couple of weeks, make an assessment and a quick replacement then so the new man could bring in players he wanted.

Now they need someone to bring a more attacking style to fit around the same players.

Town had this a year ago, when Neil Warnock returned in mid-February and immediately made it clear he wished his predecessor had not loaned out Sorba Thomas.

When a manager behaves as Troy Deeney did at Forest Green Rovers in mid-January, clubs might feel they have no choice but to step in and admit their mistake.

But choosing to change manager without having a replacement lined up on the 29th day of the window is daft, just as sacking one in the week or two after it closes would be.

Decisive action came too late, patience did not last enough.

Huddersfield – like Shrewsbury Town and Charlton Athletic – have made a difficult job harder by falling between two stools.