Huddersfield Town v Sheffield Wednesday - Tommy Elphick is not surprised at Danny Cowley’s rapid rise to Huddersfield Town

Elphick’s older brother Gary has been a non-league regular for several clubs in the south of England for the past 15 years and also managed Worthing for a spell.

With Town’s new managerial duo earning their stripes down the pyramid at Concord Rangers, the respect on the non-league circuit for their achievements is considerable and extends to the Elphick brothers..

Elphick said: “I have actually been aware of them for a long time as my brother has been playing at that level.

“We would speak most days and every time he played against the manager and his teams, he would always tell me about them.

“I have friends who play in the non-league as well and I was always aware of what they were doing and I naturally followed that when they went to Lincoln.”

The job that the Cowleys have inherited is a major one, with Elphick seeing plenty of parallels to the situation at previous club Aston Villa back at the start of the 2016-17 season.

The 32-year-old, Villa’s first signing after relegation, added: “It is unnatural to see how similar I find this situation to the one I walked into at Villa when you strip it all back.

“This club has not won a lot of games in the past two years, not just in the last year and we have got into the habit of losing and Villa was very similar. It does take a little bit longer and you have to give it a little bit more respect and there are a lot of hurt people, not just on the playing side.

“Everywhere you look, everyone has been affected.

“The quicker we can get to winning and those winning habits, the more chance we have got of having a good season,” added Elphick.