Former U.S. Men’s National Team player David Wagner is reportedly turning down interest from one of England’s most prestigious clubs to take a managerial position in the Championship.
The Telegraph is reporting that Wagner is set to become manager at Huddersfield Town after spurning interest to join former colleague Jurgen Klopp’s staff at Liverpool. Wagner, who previously worked with Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, announced his departure from the German club on Monday. He was reportedly the target of several Bundesliga clubs.
At Borussia Dortmund, Wagner spent four years working with the club’s Under-23 team.
The 44-year-old German-American made eight appearances for the U.S. between 1996-98, four of which came in World Cup qualifiers. On the club level, the former striker plied his trade for Schalke, Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz, and five other German clubs before ending his career in 2005.
Huddersfield Town, who fired manager Chris Powell on Wednesday, finished 16th in the Championship last season and currently sits 18th in the league. In moving to Huddersfield, Wagner would coach American midfielder Duane Holmes, who has generally featured for the club’s youth and reserve teams.
What do you think of this reported move? Should Wagner have gone to Liverpool instead of Huddersfield? How will he fare in the Championship if he does take the Huddersfield job?
Share your thoughts below.
No SBI coverage of Bob Bradley qualifying Stabaek for Europa League?
Good luck to him – it only helps our game for American managers to have success abroad.
Is he really regarded as an ‘American Manager’? From what i can tell his entire career, both playing and coaching, aside from 8 USMNT caps is in Germany.
This isn’t about debate of being American or not. He clearly has an American passport, father etc. If nearly his entire body of work is from outside of the US, I dont see how it would help other American managers.
How is David Wagner (American father, German mother, born and raised in Germany, played in Germany, capped 8 times by the US) different from Jones, Johnson, Williams, Chandler, Morales, Green, Diskerud, Johansson? I understand he’s a manager and they’re players. But by your often repeated metric, he’s not an “American.”
If Wagner having success abroad “only helps our game,” doesn’t the same hold true for the previously mentioned players?
Yeah fair enough. I didn’t really remember this guy with the USMNT and didn’t realize he’s a passport American.
He is a duel national same as the players you mentioned as well as Steward, Doole, and all the other duel nationals who have been a cornerstone of the US Program. Slow doesn’t like to admit that the USMNT has always been made up of duel nationals…even if they didn’t begin their education in AYSO.
It that the kind that slap each other with a glove and then walk ten paces?
Slowleftarm, can we put a moratorium on the phrase “passport American”? Everybody with even passing familiarity with this website knows exactly what you think. You don’t need to broadcast it every time an American with mixed nationality comes up. It’s past the point of caricature and the phenomenon is not going away.
Maybe this will mean Duane will finally get consistent playing time. I got gassed up seeing his highlights a couple of years ago, but its like the club was holding him back so he wouldn’t develop too fast or get a big head. I say let the kid run!!
Duane wasn’t held back by the club, his performances dropped so was loaned out to a lower league team who sent him back due to poor performance. He has gone back into our youth setup and is starting to show the talent he has. By all accounts (rumours) his attitude was poor, Billy big head.
In terms of Wagner it is a gamble to take due to lack of experience but if he is half as good as Klopp he will be a success and hopefully expand Huddersfield’s image across the pond. UTT