Huddersfield Town handed B Team minutes to Jon Russell this afternoon in a 3-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. 

Russell has played just once under Mark Fotheringham since his appointment as head coach, featuring for 90 minutes in the 3-1 defeat to Reading FC. Since then, he’s been on the bench three times but missed out entirely on the matchday squad seven times.

Yorkshire Live reported that Russell was not part of Fotheringham’s squad taken to Spain for a mid-season training break recently, as his future as a Huddersfield player looks increasingly uncertain.

Over the weekend, Alan Nixon revealed that former Huddersfield head coach, Carlos Corberan, had an eye on taking him to West Brom.

Now, Russell has been forced to turn to the B Team in the search for minutes, playing 71 minutes of this afternoon’s clash with Sheffield Wednesday, a game that Huddersfield lost 3-0 against what was a strong Owls side.

Russell was a regular last season for Huddersfield under Corberan, scoring twice in 20 appearances for the Terriers on their way to the Championship play-off final. The 22-year-old played 33 minutes of the play-off final from the bench as Town lost out 1-0 to Nottingham Forest.

Just a matter of months later, Fotheringham’s current Huddersfield squad sit bottom of the Championship table heading out of the World Cup break. They face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday.

The Verdict 

Russell’s standing within the Huddersfield squad has fallen quite dramatically from where it was under Corberan.

Whilst Fotheringham has been open in that he won’t close the door on any player if they show him the right attitude, it’s quite clear that Russell is down the pecking order and might well be a player deemed surplus to requirements.

Fuelling that further will be a potential reunion with Corberan at West Brom.

Thoughts? Let us know!