Jon Worthington's latest Huddersfield Town caretaker stint requires a different approach – here's why he is looking forward to that

Worthington was in charge of four matches after the sacking of Darren Moore in January 2024. It was only ever a game-to-game arrangement, and in the fourth of those matches, his replacement Andre Breitenreiter was in the stands, ready to take the next training session.

Now, after the sacking of Michael Duff, academy manager Worthington is back in the dugout but this time the circumstances are different.

The 41-year-old from Dewsbury was told he would be in charge of the final 10 games of the regular season and if the team achieves its objective for the season and reaches the League One play-offs, he will almost certainly remain in situ for them too.

It gives the former Huddersfield player an excellent opportunity to show what he is capable of and to mould a team into a way of thinking different to that of the more pragmatic Duff.

Worthington – a popular figure at the club and on the terraces – began his last temporary stint insisting he did not want the job full-time but after two big wins and two defeats, he seemed to be warming to the idea.

Now, he is wisely not nailing his colours to any particular mast while he waits to see how this spell pans out – and if there is any decision for him to make at the end of it.

Crucially, though, he has now set in motion the early stages of the club's return to Category 3 academy status having previously eschewed a traditional youth set-up in favour of a "B-team" model, potentially making it easier to hand the academy reins over to someone else.

The longer tenure brings different demands of Worthington.

Whereas before his main job was putting some morale back into a team fighting Championship relegation but leaving the big decisions to the next man, this time he has to treat it as if he was in the job "permanently". After all, 10 games would be one more than Danny Schofield got at the start of the 2022-23, 13 only one less than Breitenreiter lasted.

Worthington's timing in taking the job when he has is excellent. Having overseen his first game – a morale-boosting 5-1 win over relegation-threatened Crawley Town – a difficult visit from promotion-chasing Wycombe Wanderers has been pushed back by the Chairboys' international call-ups.

It gives him a fortnight to drill his team properly in the front-footed football and 4-2-3-1 shape he wants them to play.

"I think it's come at a really good time, the break, if I'm being honest – especially after we won," he commented.

"The win was massively important because it allows us to build on something now and gives us a period of time to consolidate. The squad will strengthen as well in this period (with players recovering from injury), I feel.

"It just gives you a little bit more breathing space to get your ideas across even more. I'm really looking forward to working with the players in these two weeks."

Worthington says his approach needs a bit of time, and appointing him until the end of the season should make his players – many of whom only worked with him for the first time last week – more receptive, even if he has been impressed by the speed with which they took his ideas up in week one.

"The players are aware of the situation, they're not wondering if someone else is coming in so it gives us that consistency," he argued. "It gives us more time to work them.

"With me it's about enthusiasm, positivity and all these things but also I'm quite methodical about how I work. Attention to detail is really important to me so it's about planning over a period of time, over these nine games, and getting that right.

"If you get that right, you're then not just reacting to the next game."

The Terriers, who moved back into the play-off places on Saturday after dipping out in Duff's last game, will need to be well-drilled for the fixtures they come back to.

Town have trips to in-form Charlton Athletic, and Lincoln City three days apart, whilst Wycombe's visit will now take place on April 8.

Other April opponents include Stockport County and Leyton Orient, both of whom are also chasing the play-offs.

But having recorded their first home win of 2025 on Saturday, as well as having scored their first goals at home and recorded their biggest win anywhere this season, the Terriers go into the run-in in good heart.

"I was really pleased with what I saw on the pitch on Saturday in terms of the work we've done," said Worthington. "That's quite exciting, that the guys have absorbed that information in a short period of time.

"It's definitely given us that platform to build on and now there'll be more details and more scenarios of what I like and how we want to get those messages across."