HUDDERSFIELD Town sporting director Chris Markham says that Liam Manning is being given all the support he needs after recently being granted compassionate leave for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.

It was announced late last month that the Terriers head coach, who joined the League One outfit in January on a long-term contract, would be taking time away from the club for 'ongoing personal matters' relating to the tragic loss of his newborn son Theo in October 2024.

Jon Stead and Martin Drury have stepped into the breach on an interim basis for the final games of the season.

Markham said: "It's been a very difficult situation for everyone involved in the club, but most importantly and first and foremost, it's (about) Liam Manning as a person.

Huddersfield Town head coach Liam Manning. Photo: Tony Johnson.

placeholder image — Huddersfield Town head coach Liam Manning. Photo: Tony Johnson.

"He's at the forefront of our decisions and treating him in the right way was - from the outset of the conversations that we had - the priority.

"Obviously that was after the Plymouth game. We normally would agree to speak; we'd leave it from the match day, let the emotions die down and then have a catch-up on the day after the game.

"We did that and we had a very honest – and, to be honest, tough and heart-wrenching - conversation and it very much became clear that Liam Manning, the person, needed some support and we were very, very quick in offering that support.

"It's a very difficult situation to try and address and to try and comprehend but the upshot of it was that Liam Manning, the person, is first and foremost (the priority).

Huddersfield Town sporting director Chris Markham. Picture courtesy of HTAFC.

"Look, Liam's the sort of person who doesn't want to let anyone down and a big part of our conversation with him was to give him the understanding that we don't believe that's what he's done at all and we will continue to support him in the upcoming weeks.

"But whatever that takes, he knows that he's got that support from us and we're confident he's getting the right support. He's exactly where he needs to be at the moment and we're also looking forward.

"It puts it into perspective but also we know that we are here, we're a professional football club and unfortunately the game never stops and very quickly we were aware that we've still got a big seven games to go and to come and we had to turn our attention to that pretty quickly as well, which is obviously the dichotomy of football and why it's so fast-paced."