Chris Powell becomes only the fourth England international to manage Huddersfield Town, following Clem Stephenson, George Stephenson and Malcolm Macdonald.

The five caps the left-back won between February 2001 and February 2002 represent the pinnacle of a lengthy playing career which brought four promotions to the Premier League - with Derby County in 1996, Charlton Athletic in 2000, West Ham United in 2005 and Leicester City in 2009.

Picked up from non-league Epsom & Ewell by Crystal Palace in 1987, Powell, who made 763 club appearances, had a loan stint at Aldershot before joining Southend United in 1990.

The Londoner quickly became a fans’ favourite at Roots Hall, and had six years at the Essex club before a £750,000 switch to Derby in 1996.

The first of three playing spells at Charlton began two years later, when the Addicks paid £825,000 for his services, and it was during this stint at The Valley that he made his England debut aged 31 in a 3-0 win over Spain at Villa Park.

Powell, who also played for Watford, made his final club appearance as a Leicester player in March 2010, by which time he had been chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association for five years.

Having already started coaching under manager Nigel Pearson while at Leicester, Powell was retained when Paulo Sousa took the helm, and after the Portuguese’s sacking, had one game as caretaker manager in October 2010, a 3-0 win over Scunthorpe United.

Sousa’s successor Sven-Goran Eriksson, the manager who had handed Powell his England debut, retained his services at the East Midlands club and tipped him as a bright managerial prospect.

Powell’s first hot-seat appointment came at Charlton in January 2011, when he succeeded Phil Parkinson.

In his first full season, 2011-12, Powell guided the Addicks to promotion as League I champions (Town went up via the play-offs), and the season after they finished 9th in the Championship.

He parted company with Charlton in March of this year in the wake of Belgian businessman Roland Duchatelet’s takeover of the club.

While struggling in the league, Powell’s side had games in hand and had reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.