In his playing days, Ternent donned the colours of Burnley and Carlisle United. He finished his career with Sunderland, but did not make a league appearance for the club. Upon retiring, he became a coach at Sunderland, firstly, then Blackpool, assisting Bob Stokoe. Ternent himself became manager of the Tangerines in 1979, his first such role, and Blackpool's sixth manager in a decade. Immediately upon his appointment at Bloomfield Road, Ternent began to reshape the team, spending large sums on new players. Jack Ashurst was purchased from Sunderland for a then-club-record £132,400. Fellow newcomers included Dave Bamber, Colin Morris, Peter Noble and Tom McAlister. Despite the fresh faces, the Seasiders' fortunes didn't improve, and by early 1980 they were in the bottom half of the Third Division. Ternent was sacked on 1 February 1980, at the time becoming the club's shortest-serving manager in their history. He was part of the coaching staff at Bradford City and served as assistant manager to Steve Coppell at Crystal Palace before his next role as manager came nine years later, at Hull City from 1989 to 1991. He lost his job in January 1991, a few months before the club suffered relegation from the Second Division. From 1991 to 1993 he was assistant manager to Ian Porterfield and then David Webb at Chelsea before again being made redundant. Ternent was not out of the game for long. He moved from the Premier League to Division Three in a matter of weeks, becoming Mike Walsh's right-hand man at Bury. When Walsh quit in October 1995, Ternent moved up to the manager's seat, and seven months later he took them to Division Two as third-placed team in Division Three. A year later they won the Division Two championship and survived the first season in Division One; however, Ternent left Gigg Lane at the end of the 1997–98 season to take charge of Burnley in Division Two. In Ternent's second season as Clarets manager, 1999–2000 and after a clear out, the club finished second in Division Two and won automatic promotion. He remained in charge for another four seasons, but the club's board did not renew his contract after the 2003–04 campaign and he left the club after six years, having failed to get them into the Premier League. Ternent made a brief comeback in 2004–05 with Gillingham, taking Ronnie Jepson from Burnley to be his assistant; however, his short-term contract as manager was not renewed, as despite a heroic attempt at survival they were relegated to League One. Ternent quit Gillingham in May 2005. In January 2007, Ternent faced assault charges after being accused of headbutting a man at Burnley Cricket Club in August 2006. He was cleared in September 2007. His defence included a statement by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. In November 2007, he was appointed to the backroom staff of new Derby County manager Paul Jewell. He left this role on 24 April 2008 to take up the reins at Huddersfield Town in place of Andy Ritchie, who had been relieved of his duties at the beginning of the month. Ex-Town player Ronnie Jepson, appointed on the same day, became his assistant. He officially started his new job on 28 April, leaving Gerry Murphy in charge of Town's last home game against Walsall on 26 April and their last away game at Luton Town on 3 May. Backed by a large budget, Ternent signed Keigan Parker, Jim Goodwin, Andy Butler, Chris Lucketti, Michael Flynn, Gary Roberts and David Unsworth during the opening weeks of 2008–09 pre-season. On 4 November, Ternent left the Galpharm Stadium after just over six months in charge of the Terriers. To date, that is the shortest reign of any manager at Huddersfield, with the exception of John Haselden and all the caretaker managers, in the club's 100-year history. In September 2009 he became a scout for Sunderland. In September 2012, Ternent was appointed as Chief Recruitment Officer for Hull. He left the club in January 2017, following the sacking of head coachMike Phelan.
