News Articles > What was the timeline of events that led to Carlos Corberan's shock exit

What was the timeline of events that led to Carlos Corberan's shock exit

09/07/2022

To go from being a game away from the Premier League to 'changing' their manager 3 weeks before the start of the season is was potentially the worst thing that could have happened to Town. Adding in the interest in Lewis O'Brien and Harry Toffolo, it is understandably a worrying time for their fans. According to the club, it caught them off guard, but is this right?

Let's have a look at the timeline of events.

Timeline of events

Sunday 29th May - Huddersfield Town lose the play off final in cruel fashion as Nottingham Forest won 1-0 at Wembley, while two stonewall penalty shouts were turned down for The Terriers.

Wednesday 1st June - Chief scout, Josh Marsh joins Swansea City.

Monday 6th June - Will Boyle re-signs for Huddersfield from Cheltenham Town and will join the club on the 1st July following the expiration of his contract.

Thursday 23rd June - Pipa, Carlos Corberan's choice at right wing-back for the final joins Greek side Olympiacos.

Wednesday 29th June - Harry Toffolo is linked with a £2.5 million move to Nottingham Forest according to The Athletic. Meanwhile, Lee Nicholls signs a new 4+1 year deal to stay at Town.

Thursday 30th June - Huddersfield released first-team players: Alex Vallejo, Fraizer Campbell, Reece Brown, Jamal Blackman, Naby Sarr and Carel Eiting. This is while Levi Colwill and Tino Anjorin both returned to Chelsea following the end of their loan. Danel Sinani also returned to Norwich following the end of his loan, with Sinani claiming in an interview that Town would have activated the buy option in his contract if they were promoted to the Premier League.

Friday 1st July - Huddersfield Town players return for pre-season tests and Lewis O'Brien is linked with a move to Nottingham Forest. Only 7 of the 11 players in the play-off final starting lineup remain in the squad for pre-season.

Monday 4th July - Huddersfield Town first-team start pre-season training on the grass.

Wednesday 6th July
Morning - Town announced the signings of Connor Mahoney on a free transfer and David Kasumu for a nominal fee.

Evening - Carlos Corberan spoke with Leigh Bromby where he told Town's head of football operations that he doesn't believe he is the person to take Huddersfield Town forward.

Thursday 7th July
Before 09:30 - Carlos Corberan submits his letter of resignation to Leigh Bromby and Dean Hoyle
10:00 - reports start to emerge that Carlos Coberan is no longer Huddersfield Town head coach.
11:15 - Huddersfield released a press release which stated that Carlos Corberan as well as his assistant Jorge Alarcon have left. It also stated that "Danny Schofield to step up and lead the First Team". At this point there was no confirmation whether this was only temporarily or on a permanent basis.
Around 19:00 - Leigh Bromby states that Huddersfield have appointed Danny Schofield as head coach on a permanent basis to BBC WYS, along with Narcis Pelach as his assistant.

The Verdict.

Only one player was officially in for the first day of pre-season, although I would hypothesise that Kasumu and Mahoney were both in for the first day of pre-season. Judging off how Corberan takes a long time to embed his players into the squad, he may have been unhappy with the lack of transfers that were made for pre-season. On the first day of pre-season last year, Town had 6 players through the door, to the 1-3 they had this year. With a shortened pre-season as well this year, time is of the essence, so as difficult and probably impossible as it would have been, Corberan would have wanted all (or as many) of his squad there for day 1 of pre-season.

Obviously Carlos, along with the players and playing staff will have taken a much-needed break after the season they endured. 54 games in all competitions - the most Town has played in a season for 5 seasons. So, it is understandable that people would have been physically and mentally fatigued. Along with the departure of Josh Marsh, Town's chief scout - which I will admit, I didn't think would have much impact at the time, probably caused Town's transfer book to go out the window. This also started to plant a seed in Carlos' mind that things might not be going the way he envisaged. Whether it be because of a lack of funds for transfers, or a lack of moves on the transfer front, it seems clear that the divorce took Town completely unaware.

To me, it seems likely that this decision by Carlos, wasn't one that he did because of one event. He seems a very calculated and thoughtful man. He would have looked back on the timeline of events, spoke to people in the club about the aims and expectations for next season and thought: can I achieve what they want with what I have available currently? And am going to have by the end of the window? The answer was no, he would therefore have thought: 'I am going to leave with my stock high' - Realistically, I think any club in the Championship or bottom half La Liga side would take him, so he wouldn't want to damage his reputation with a mediocre finish next year.

It is a shame that Carlos decided that he can't continue next season, but one as supporters we can only respect. It is a worry how close to the start of next season it's happened, but now it is time to get behind Danny Schofield, Narcis Pelach, and rest of the playing staff!

If you want to head my initial thoughts on Carlos Corberan's shock exit, click here