No doubt Lee Grant is Huddersfield Town's No 1 as new manager stamps authority

Normally when a new manager is "unveiled" there is a chairman or chief executive on hand but Kevin Nagle and Jake Edwards stayed away on Thursday.

Chief operating officer David Threlfall-Sykes alongside him, said just 50 words, then got off the stage. It was all about one man.

The former Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United goalkeeper's job title is manager, unlike nine of the 10 appointments immediately before him.

What's in a name? Quite a lot to judge by his words but more the news Town are having second thoughts on replacing Mark Cartwright as sporting director.

With a white T-shirt under a suit jacket with a Terriers pin badge, the shaven-headed, stubble-faced 42-year-old looked and sounded like a modern coach. He had all the buzzwords – "project", "culture", "process", "alignment" – but thankfully no babble of empty phrases.

Grant's reputation within the game meant he could be choosy about where he started in management, and when he left Ipswich Town’s backroom. Ending his playing career at Manchester United, he was never No 1 – just one Europa League start and a League Cup substitute's appearance. He is now.

"Probably by the time I was into my 30s it became evident quite quickly that I'd want to lead and want to manage," he says.

"I spent long hours with Martyn Pert, assistant manager at Ipswich Town, talking about making the right decisions for the right reasons.

"One of the key things he said to me was he'd seen lots of people who wanted to be a manager just for being a manager's sake.

"The core of what I'm here for is to help players achieve their dreams, hit heights they perhaps never expected to, help them develop in ways they maybe never thought possible.

"That's the goal, that's the driving force, that's the mission."

After an apprenticeship which began in earnest coaching youngsters and senior goalkeepers and Manchester United, then more formally with two years at Portman Road where his main job was poacher-turned-gamekeeper with the first-team strikers, he will do it his way.

With 10 first-teamers released after a desperately disappointing season which saw Huddersfield 10th in League One rather than boomerang back to the Championship as Nagle hoped, he is working with a blank canvas. A new coaching staff is partly constructed, but will not be announced until it is complete.

"The level of responsibility I've been given is huge," stresses Grant.

"From this point forward, the players you see coming through the door are players I want, players I'm excited to have and work with.

"We want players that can work really hard, first and foremost; we want players that have a desire to be here, but for the right reasons, and are hungry, enthusiastic and motivated, have bright eyes, ready to work every day, the same as I am."

It is no more than that, but there is symbolism in his title and even the length of his contract. Only those who believe in the tooth fairy will think a three-year contract guarantees Grant stays until 2028, but it is another sign of Nagle’s faith.

"It means the work that's ongoing now is my work and I'm really happy with that,” he says of being manager.

"I'm happy to be the front and the face of what we put forward.

"That means I've got to be really sure about everybody who comes in the door, whether that's staff or player. I've got to be really sure about all of the processes.

"I'm happy to spearhead that, to be the front of house, and I feel as though I'm in a really good position to make strong decisions on the part of the football club."

No sporting director will strengthen him. It seems odd he starts not knowing if there will be one, but promising for him Town have not defaulted to replacing Cartwright.

"These are things that the football club over the short/medium-term need to really dive into, assess and understand," he says.

"It's for me, for Jake, for Kevin to put our heads together and assess how these needs to look structurally.

"We need to make those decisions, we need to be clear on it."

He has worked under and learnt from Jose Mourinho, Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche and Kieran McKenna, but is adamant he is not going to cut and paste their methods.

"I'm my own man," he says for the umpteenth time, "I want to play in my own way, this is not going to be a style of football I don't think the fans will like. I certainly believe the players are going to enjoy training it.

"I am my own man, a result of all the things, places and experiences I've had but we're certainly going to look to drive and create a new template, create a new product we can all get behind.

"For me it really is a case of a real readiness, the timing being right, the club being correct, the moment, the squad, everything fitting really well."

With words like that, the reality will be exciting to watch.