So, after two magic tricks, a vanishing act –but no grand finale.
David Wagner left Huddersfield Town on Monday night, long before the end of the season, and before he can have any relegation on his CV.
The latter was undeniably on its way given the club are adrift at the bottom of the Premier League, but that is not a surprise, nor is it that the reason he is leaving. This, at least, is no drastically misguided attempt at a Hail Mary from Huddersfield. It was actually Wagner who told the club he wanted to leave, albeit in the summer. Because of that, and the fact presently being a Premier League club makes such a difference to any prospective appointment, Huddersfield have decided to try to bring in a replacement now.
The word “reluctantly”, however, is one repeatedly being used around the situation. Wagner himself genuinely wants what’s best for the club, and thereby agreed it might be best to go now.
It says much that the club statement on his departure was quickly followed by a social-media post saying “thank you for the memories”.
This only adds credence to chairman Dean Hoyle’s comment that he knows “the term mutual consent is often a byword for the manager being sacked in professional football, but this is a truly joint decision.”
There was also the way he put Wagner “up there in Town history alongside great names like Herbert Chapman and Mick Buxton”.
The former won two English league titles and an FA Cup with the club but it is genuinely no exaggeration to put Wagner alongside such feats. Both performed wonders relative to their situations. Because that is what this is about, and why there is such praise.
Relative to the Premier League they came into, Wagner’s Huddersfield were the financially weakest club to ever play in the competition. That is why they are two magic tricks, and maybe two football miracles.
Going by the resources available, and the squad available, Huddersfield should probably never have been capable of promotion. They should really have been relegated.
So to follow that with survival was absurd. It was downright brilliant management.
Many around the club even said it was “too early” to go up in the summer of 2017, and expected to go back down. Wagner defied expectations. He defied economic realities. He got them and a hugely limited group of players to believe.
He has thereby been responsible for two feats that should go down among the modern English game’s finest feats. They together added up to one special spell in the club’s history.
As for the future, Wagner is ultimately leaving because he wants to see how far he can go - after what is a badly needed break from the pressures of management - and he will not be found wanting for job offers.
Huddersfield are looking elsewhere, and the man they get will say so much.
It seems highly unlikely they will go for an old-fashioned firefighter, given what they had in Wagner, and what he represented.
He represented, and brought, something greater for one of English football’s great old clubs.
