If Huddersfield Town hopes to return to the Championship for the first time since the previous campaign, they will need goal scorers.

The Terriers were demoted to League One after finishing 23rd in the second division previous season despite scoring only 48 goals, the fifth fewest in the league.

German Andre Breitenreiter was appointed Town manager in February, however he resigned from his position by mutual consent on May 10 after the season ended. Former Swansea City manager Michael Duff was subsequently appointed on May 13 ahead of an exciting season in the third division.

Terriers supporters will be happy to learn that, in his prior roles as manager of several clubs, the 46-year-old has a history of assisting in the transformation of unsteady, unpredictable strikers into prolific goal scorers.

When Duff was managing Cheltenham Town, Alfie May rose to prominence as one of League One’s top marksmen, and the Northern Irishman also developed Devante Cole while he was in charge of Barnsley.

Town may not be able to make the playoffs in 2024–2025, but they might become one of the top clubs in the third division if Duff can replicate the success he had with Serbian striker Bojan Radulovic.

Duff was a lifeline to May and Cole

Alfie May, then 26 years old, has struggled to make an impact in the EFL during his three years with Doncaster Rovers, netting just 10 goals in 94 league games. Duff signed May to Cheltenham Town in January 2019.

After leading the team to promotion as League Two champions in 2020–21, May scored six goals in 14 games across all competitions in his first half-season. However, under Duff, he stepped it up in League One, scoring 23 goals in 46 games in 2021/22, to finish as the third-highest scorer in the third division.

It’s safe to argue that Duff’s mentorship altered the course of the once-non-league marksman’s career; before making his major transfer to Charlton Athletic last summer, he was a valuable member of the Robins and the club’s highest-ever EFL goalscorer.

Duff left the Robins in 2022, and May said he was “a superb man manager” who “got the most success out of (him) as a professional player” in an interview with GloucestershireLive.

At Barnsley, Duff performed similar miracles for Devante Cole after taking over the Tykes in June 2022.

Before the 2022–23 season, Cole had only scored ten goals in a single English football season once in seven attempts. However, Duff was able to build around the former Fleetwood player, and with James Norwood as his striking partner, he scored fifteen goals in forty-five league games as Barnsley narrowly missed promotion with a 1-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday in the play-off final.

Huddersfield supporters and players alike will be hoping that Duff can work some of that magic on their misfiring attackers, since both players have evidently flourished under his instruction and have continued to impress subsequently.

Duff needs to get the best out of Bojan Radulovic

The strikers at Huddersfield scored eight goals in the league between them in 2023–2024. Radulovic, who joined the team in January on a three-and-a-half-year contract reportedly worth around £1.2 million, didn’t offer much more than his colleagues.

Even though Radulovic came into the Championship with a great reputation—having scored 25 goals in 42 games for the Finnish champions in the 2023 season—he struggled to adjust to life in the Championship and only managed one goal in 11 league games for the Terriers before they were demoted to League One. That goal came in a 1-1 draw away at Stoke City in April.

Since Radulovic’s contract with the team expires in2027, Duff will probably include him in his future plans. The new Town manager will undoubtedly be confident in his ability to develop the Serbian youth international into a reliable goal scorer in the third division.

Before moving to West Yorkshire, he scored six goals in 13 games this season in the Conference League, UEFA Champions League, and Europa League, making him the top scorer in the Veikkausliiga for 2023. His goal-scoring prowess is evident.

It’s obvious that Duff can make strikers who lack confidence into goal machines; if he can accomplish the same with Radulovic, Huddersfield could be able to stay in League One instead of making a quick return to the Championship.

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