Earlier this week, a couple of articulated lorries parked up outside the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield.
“Cartwright clearing out his office?” posted one wag on Down at the Mac, the ever popular online forum devoted to all things Terriers.
It was a message written more in hope than expectation, but there can be little doubt now that the position of Huddersfield Town sporting director Mark Cartwright has become completely untenable.
Even before last Sunday’s dismissal of manager Michael Duff, the 52-year-old couldn’t have been less popular with Huddersfield’s fanbase if he’d decked himself in a Leeds United kit and pinned the red rose of Lancaster to his lapel.
Criticism
Poor signings, inconsistent results, a dreadful record with injuries – all of it has been laid at the door of the former Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper.
Just lately, owner Kevin Nagle felt compelled to leap to Cartwright’s defence. “I think (criticism of Cartwright) is highly overblown,” said the American.
“There’s a very extensive review process that is done before we sign somebody.
“I am part of that process, so people can blame me just as much as they can Mr Cartwright or anyone else.”
Incoherent
He’s got a point, of course.
Even if Dion Charles’ struggles in front of goal could have been anticipated – the 29-year-old striker had scored once in 13 games for Bolton prior to completing a £750,000 switch in January – then it is hard to believe that Cartwright was solely responsible for the deal.
Clubs the size of Huddersfield have a lot of specialized staff, and signing players in the modern game is nearly always a consensus decision.
Yet Nagle’s defence of Cartwright collapses when confronted with his incoherent managerial appointments, each of which has been an unmitigated disaster.
Upon his appointment in July 2023, Cartwright inherited Neil Warnock, who the previous season had kept Huddersfield in the Championship against all odds.
Popular and effective with a track record longer than Kyle Hudlin’s inside leg, the veteran was hustled out of the door a month into the season amidst rumours that his old-school tactics were scaring away potential signings.
Baffling
Younger, sexier, more progressive – that’s what we were told the club needed.
It made the subsequent arrival of self-confessed pragmatist Darren Moore utterly baffling.
Predictably, Moore bombed.
So, too, did his replacement, the perpetually dispirited fish-out-of-water Andre Breitenreiter, whose strategy for avoiding relegation to League One included criticising the “heart, passion and work ethic” of his squad.
Unsurprisingly, Huddersfield went down.
Sense
Duff, in fairness, made sense.
The 47-year-old had a decent record at League One level with Barnsley and his dismissal by Swansea was more about style than results.
He was, in isolation, a solid choice.
As a collective, however, none of Cartwright’s hires add up.
Moore, Breitenreiter, Duff -where is the unifying thread?
Where is the sense of players signed to fit a tactical vision and head coaches employed to provide a seamless transition?
Scapegoats
The answer is that there isn’t one.
It’s a hodgepodge of random names and faces that together give the impression of a club taking hopeful punts – and going backward as a result.
Is that entirely attributable to Cartwright?
Probably not, but it doesn’t matter.
The days when managers made convenient scapegoats are gone.
In the age of the sporting director, supporters know perfectly well who runs the show, and where the buck stops.
Unfortunately for Cartwright, it stops with him, and his departure – sooner or later – is perhaps the only way to heal the schism that has opened between the club and its fanbase.
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