Prematch press conferences can be quite dull affairs, where the manager will go out of his way to evade questions and give the least interesting answer possible. Darren Moore was a master of giving the longest possible response to every question without revealing anything meaningful and I can imagine journalists would end his forty or fifty-minute sessions wondering how they could scratch together an article or two out of his wittering. Andre Breitenreiter did the absolute opposition in his pre-Ipswich press conference and used it as an opportunity to vent all his pent-up feelings about the no-good players he’s had to make excuses for these past few months. It had a similar feeling to Father Ted accepting the Golden Cleric award, if anyone remembers that scene from the 90s sitcom.
Because not everyone has time to watch through the full press conference, I’ve pulled out the eight more controversial statements he made and added a few of my thoughts on them underneath. There were also a few subtle hints that Breitenreiter and one of the journalists interviewing him don’t expect him to be around for much longer. I’ll put the video of the press conference at the bottom too, it’s worth watching if you have the time.
Some players have already left the club in their head
When talking about the squad Breitenreiter will be taking to Ipswich, he said that some players have mentally already checked out of the club and are thinking about other things. So he intends to only take along players who are committed to the cause. For those amateur sleuths who are keen to work out who these bad apples are (myself included), the team sheet on Saturday will make very interesting reading.
While there are rules in place that teams have to play full-strength teams and there will be scrutiny from the league and Leeds fans to make sure we abide by this, I think it’s vital that we only play those players who have a future at Huddersfield Town. I can imagine those players who feel Breitenreiter has thrown them under the bus will be close to mutinous at the moment after his scathing comments, so it may not even be possible to get them to travel to Ipswich if he wanted them to play.
Injuries forced Breitenreiter to pick players showing poor behaviours
Andrew Breitenreiter mentioned Balker, Nakayama, and Ward’s injuries over the past few months as being particularly problematic as it left him being forced into playing players that he knew were bad characters. I find this a fascinating admission, as few managers would be willing to allow players who are not pulling their weight to get anywhere near the first-team squad, never mind regularly start games.
Thinking back to the options we had on the bench back in February and March though, we often had to name fewer than nine subs because there weren’t enough options or throw in players from the academy who weren’t ready for Championship football who were just there for the experience of a matchday.
It all just feels reminiscent of those times in my school days when we had a supply teacher who couldn’t keep control. The badly behaved kids would sense their opportunity and run riot. It sounds like Huddersfield Town has been like an out-of-control secondary school class, where the delinquent pupils have taken over. The fact that Breitenreiter is only now talking about it and didn’t manage to sort out these issues directly doesn’t speak volumes about him and his coaching abilities, despite his comments now at least helping to diagnose the issue.
He wouldn’t have come if he had known about all the problems at Huddersfield Town
Like a disgruntled customer trying to return a second-hand car with a gearbox full of sawdust, Breitenreiter feels like he’s been sold a pup. Apparently, the higher-ups told him about some of the issues behind the scenes but not the extent of the culture problems in the dressing room. He believes that no manager would have been willing to take on the job if they had known the extent of the issues that had sunk in.
This feels about as close as Breitenreiter has come to saying he wants to leave the club. He did explicitly say it. In fact, he made a mild reference to not regretting his decision to come, but my impression was that he very much thought he gambled his reputation on taking on a team at the bottom of the English second tier and it’s backfired on him because too many of the players are rotten. The suggestion here was he didn’t have much appetite to drop down into the third tier and risk his reputation even more.
The club needs a culture and identity change from the bottom to the top
I found it most interesting that Breitenreiter talked about a top-to-bottom culture change, not just getting rid of the players that have poisoned the dressing room. So, if we’re looking from the top, that has to include roles such as the Chief Executive and Director of Football (or whatever it’s currently called). Then it filters down to his role as manager because he failed to fix these issues, then the coaches, players, youth team, all the way down to Brooky the kitman (though he’s surely safe, as he must the be the longest serving employee at the club).
I think relegation is a good reason to have a look at everything at the club, see what’s working and what isn’t and make changes where required. Brutal ones if they have to be. I honestly don’t know if Jake Edwards and Mark Cartwright are good at their jobs because it’s hard to see their impact directly, they have more of a gradual effect. But given the current state of things, it’s hard to see how one or both of them haven’t made some fairly large-scale errors to get to the current position.
My impression is that Neil Warnock’s personality was holding an awful lot together and since then all these issues have festered behind the scenes. Forgive the graphic imagery, but we’ve now got to pull off the bandage and treat the gaping wound that’s infected the club. It’ll be interesting to see what changes are made between now and the start of next season to address these deep and wide issues that Breitenreiter suggests exist.
Neil Warnock’s preseason focussed on golf and going to the pub – and they were fit enough to play 90 minutes
It turns out that playing pub teams, having barbecues in Neil Warnock’s back garden and getting drunk aren’t at the cutting edge of sports science when it comes to preparing for a fresh football season. While it was hardly a revelation when Breitenreiter said his team weren’t fit enough, fans have seen the evidence so often this season when we’ve capitulated in the late stages of games, but it was quite shocking for a manager to be so openly critical of another’s methods.
Warnock’s preseason approach comes from another era and, in fairness, values team spirit and togetherness over getting to peak fitness. Warnock always argues that his teams tend to be fit enough anyway, but that’s usually because his man-management can get that “running through brick walls” desire out of players that can draw upon hidden reserves. When Warnock left, so did that ability to get more from the players but they had not done enough of the more traditional preseason training to prepare their bodies the usual way.
While it seems strange to blame the preseason that happened in July 2023 for results in the spring of 2024, there’s no real chance once the season has started to improve upon that base level of fitness because of the intensity of the fixture list in the Championship.
Some players think they are more intelligent than the manager
When Breitenreiter was asked about whether he had tried to reason with the players that have bad attitudes in the squad, he explained that he had tried and failed many times but the problem he has had is that they think they are more intelligent than the manager. This was scathing stuff and almost unbelievable.
Then I thought back to a video the club put out with Darren Moore wearing a microphone during his training session. It was meant to show how great Moore was at working with his squad and how good a coach he was. But I went back at looked at the footage again, and the players are almost all completely ignoring him as he shouts instructions at them. It’s like he’s just background noise and they’re doing something completely different. So ignoring coaches is probably something they’ve become accustomed to by now.
Including caretakers, some of the players at Town will now be on to their eighth, ninth, or for Jonathan Hogg fifteen (!) managers, so I suppose they may now be completely fed up of getting a new manager in every few months who has a different philosophy and style of play. So maybe that’s part of this bad attitude and tendency to ignore instructions. It’s a sad state of affairs though and can’t be allowed to continue. If the players were doing their own thing and we were flying up the league, that would be one thing, but we’re awful and will only get worse if this is allowed to continue.
The atmosphere in the training ground at the start of this week was all wrong
Andre Breitenreiter said that the atmosphere among some of the players at the start of this week was like we had won a promotion. He suggested some players had taken the impact of relegation seriously but others seemingly were not bothered. I just can’t imagine how that could happen, to be quite honest, it’s mind-boggling.
While the full impact of relegation won’t yet be known for a while, it’s pretty usual for the non-footballing members of staff’s jobs to be on the line whenever relegation occurs. So it’s pretty distasteful to think about the people most responsible for the team’s relegation, the players themselves, who are laughing and joking on the first day back at work after relegation was confirmed. I can see why Breitenreiter is so angry.
Many players don’t care about the club
When asked if some players don’t care about the club, rather than sidestepping the question, “For sure,” was the answer that came back from Town’s head coach. He also said that there were “many” who felt this way. He thinks that most teams can cope with two or three players who aren’t good characters but the group of bad influences was too big and the good professionals (Hogg, Lees, Helik) all became injured at key moments and their influence was lost.
Given these comments, it hints that there must be a pretty large contingent of the current squad that is in this group that he’s talking about. So not just the couple of obvious ones that were dropped from the team last weekend, but a significant number of the squad. I’m not going to start listing them off, but given that quite a few names were listed as the positive influences who suffered injuries (Hogg, Ward, Nakayama, Lees, Balker, Helik) then it starts to narrow the field of who he might be talking about.
Two hints that Andre Breitenreiter will be on his way after this game
Finally, while Breitenreiter wouldn’t be drawn on whether he would stay or go, he did drop a little hint that he will be on his way. Towards the end he confirmed that Chris Maxwell will start in goal against Ipswich by saying: “Chris Maxwell deserves to start one game when I’m in charge.” Suggesting this will be his last game in charge and his final opportunity to play the backup keeper in a match. It’s not exactly a smoking gun, but perhaps gives a little hint that Breitenreiter isn’t expecting to hang around for long.
Yorkshire Post writer, Leon Wobschall, gave a similar little nod towards the German’s imminent exit, by signing off from his questions by saying, “Very best of luck Andre and it’s been nice dealing with you”, which suggests that he doesn’t expect to be encountering him in a future press conference for Huddersfield Town. Not that The Yorkshire Post’s resident Town scribbler is likely to have any additional insight than anyone else in the press pack, but clearly he saw this as his last chance to say goodbye to Town’s coach.
While these scathing comments in the press conference might be Breitenreiter’s attempt to clear the decks because he plans on overseeing Town’s reset over the summer, it feels more like someone trying to get their excuses in before leaving a job in which they’ve quite obviously underperformed. I completely believe all these revelations, because it matches up with the evidence we’ve seen on the pitch this season but I think the timing on these comments is more to do with Breitenreiter managing his reputation and venting his frustration rather than showing actual care for the future direction of Huddersfield Town. If he cared about the club (and his job security), keeping his gob shut would probably have been better. But it’s been far more interesting that he’s been willing to spill the beans.
Skip to 35 minutes in to get to the good bit
Excellent piece as usual, if we all put names anonymously into a hat of the bad apples I think they would concur.
Getting in his excuses to save his reputation as he seeks another appointment stands out like a sore thumb but personally I would like to see him stay.
Yep, it probably wouldn’t take a lot of guessing but I think there are probably a few unexpected names in that mix too by the sounds of it.
Well for the first time I feel shocked over the majority of your article which feels like a knock at AB . Slack pre season and player power are serious indicators of what has gone wrong this season. The blame is not AB and I applaud his candid truthful opinion and statements of the failure of the club to rectify the faults before his appointment . AB thought he was to be involved in the football tactics and team selection and not to be involved in deep rooted cliques and apathy towards the club.
Normally I would agree with the majority of your sentiments but you cannot make excuses for the well paid players for underperforming and lack of cohesion in the squad. Time to get rid of the dissenters and I hope AB stays .
Thanks for your comment Millie. Maybe I’ve come across as a bit harsh on Breitenreiter towards the end, the players deserve every bit of his criticism. My point was more that his motivation for these remarks, in my opinion, is more trying to reduce the blame he receives.
I agree that these players need to go. I suspect most are due to leave anyway and that’s part of their mercenary attitude, they know they’ll be elsewhere next season anyway so our fate doesn’t impact them. But any remaining ones should be shipped out to avoid poisoning the culture in the club further.
As for Breitenreiter, his record is good before Town, at Town I think he’s been underwhelming but it sounds like it’s been almost impossible circumstances. If he really wants it, maybe there’s a way back for him. But I’ve never heard a manager make such bitter remarks about his players and come back from it. Even the ones he doesn’t include as the bad apples might not fancy playing for a manager that’s willing to publicly slate their colleagues like he has. As a fan, I love Breitenreiter’s openness but I suspect even well-behaved footballers might think he’s broken unwritten rules by being so openly critical.
Great article keep up the good work. For me AB is simply Pontius Pilate, how on earth can he accept no responsibility over his inability to manage some of these players – disgraceful. Warnock, Coberan and for a limited period Worthington got a tune out of many of the same players. If he stays I seriously question Nagle’s acumen. I feel he’s off and as many think this is a damage limitation exercise.
In fairness to him, he tends to acknowledge his own faults in his press comments, but then quickly puts the boot into the dreadful plays he’s had to work with. He says he should have got tougher sooner, which seems pretty obvious now but I think there might have been reasons tying his hands which we don’t yet know about. Maybe there’s more to come out or perhaps we’ll never know.
Think we pay to watch our players perform. A lot of them apparently have been pulling the wool over our eyes and short changing us.
It was right that the manager pointed out the deficiency in the squad, and that’s why we are in div 1.
I don’t think Neil helped, but would have thought Nov/Dec would have been a better time to go.
I don’t get it at all. When you’re paid handsomely to play a game many people would play for free, why wouldn’t you give it your all in evey game and trwining session? It just seems weird to deliberately scupper your own and your teammates careers by not trying enough.
Too much money breading an overinflated sense of worth ?
I absolutely agree! Breitenreiter is looking after his own interests! How unprofessional it is of him to point the finger of blame at others. I have never known in all my years any coach or manager try to save his own reputation by scathing his team in this way. Maybe some players had a bad attitude but as manager or coach you have to have the ability to lead and motivate players something which he has failed to do. Too much has been said there is now way he can remain at the club…. Auf wiedersehen !
I’ve enjoyed hearing all this dirty washing being aired in public but it is quite undignified and embarrassing for the club. I can’t imagine the top brass are delighted to have the manager making the club sound like such a basket case for all the world to see. The only way I can see AB surviving would be if a huge number of others left over the summer, and even then, I’m not convinced he’d stick it out in League One if we were top of the league at Christmas.
Shocking indeed – what a revelatory piece! Thank you.
The picture painted almost makes relegation seem an inevitability – right from the start of the season, when apparently the players were only half fit. I had no idea Warnock didnt use some of the latest thinking about how to maximise fitness etc. to help boost his proven motivational skills.
And yet – and yet. Despite the ‘bad apples’ in the team, another two or three goals and they might have survived this disaster. They held on against Leeds with only 10 men, did the double over Sunderland, beat Watford away, thrashed Wednesday and had one or two other good results.
But surely the ethos and strategy – what a football club is about – your ‘culture and identity’ – must start at the top – from the owner downwards – through the CEO, Director of football, recruitment team etc etc?
The mess two years ago – with Carlos’ last minute departure and lack of player recruitment suggested a strategy-vacuum at the management level . One would have hoped a year later lessons would have been learned, and there would have been some decent recruitment after the decision to keep Warnock.
Warnock’s hasty sacking didnt suggest an owner who is prepared to learn and consider carefully – but rather one needing to stamp his immediate authority regardless.
One cant help thinking that the root and branch revolution that you call for will be no easier than if they had managed to survive in the Championship – and maybe even harder, after the loss of the best players.
Whether the owner is the person to instigate this revolution in identitiy and culture seems very doubtful given the experience of the last twelve months.
I am very much a long distance observer having never seen the current team – and indeed only the last two Wembley play off finals , so very much value your considered insightful commentaries.
‘It’s being so cheerful that keeps me going’.
It’s a fair point that the bleak picture suggests we should be more like Rotherham and going down with hardly any points. The truth is, with competent management this squad should have managed lower midtable this season. But bad luck and bad decisions have cost us our place in the division.
If Breitenreiter had set his stall out from the start by blooding younger or at least eager members of the squad then at least he would have had a team rather than these cliques. By the end of the season we may or may not have had a few more points but at least some basis would have been established.
As a manager he seems more suited to higher divisions than we are now in and I doubt has the contacts to scout and recruit for L1.
Everyone says he has a great record but I do remember reading that he had been sacked from one job his team not having won for 9 games in a row.
Hopefully if he does go we are not liable for a payout and that his employment was contingent upon staying up with the option for us to keep him or not.
Not a lot said about the execs either but they must bear some responsibility too.
Basically what a bloody mess.
I do have faith though that Mr Nagle will sort this out and that he is due back in England soon to get cracking !
I think I’d rather have had a lower ability but more committed team playing this last few months even if it meant bombing out half of the senior squad and playing kids. I can forgive most results when it’s obvious the team are trying, when they’re not bothered, it’s hard to get behind them.
I don’t know much about European football but I suspect there’s a more respectful culture towards coaches and managers. So Breitenreiter has possibly had the double whammy of dealing with players with both less ability and worse attitudes. It makes sense that he’s found this very challenging.
Whether he gets a payout will depend on if he quits, is sacked or if it’s somewhere in between. Resignation would mean he gets nothing, sacking him could in theory means we have to pay out his full contract but I think it’s often the case that a deal is struck for a partial settlement. Paying off managers must have been one of our biggest outgoings in recent season. Mark Fotheringham was on a long contract and hasn’t had a significant job in football since leaving Town, so could still be picking up a monthly wage from us (typically managers get paid out their contracts until their next managerial appointment).
I’d have thought setting the culture within the club would sit squarely within the remit of the director of football’s role, so I’d be swearing if I was Mark Cartwright. But it’s hard to know where the lines are drawn for the responsibilities of these behind the scenes roles.
I think Kevin Nagle will be quite hands on this next few weeks, as this situation is pretty dire and needs some management. Relegation is the biggest test of his ownership so far, so it’ll be interesting to see how he manages it.
I have absolutely no idea why you would have any faith whatsoever in the unmitigated disaster ‘MrNagel’ has proven to be. He has taken a struggling club and ruined it with his naivety and dreadful recruitment. Oh! And his tweets have been counter-productive too.
Great article, TS, and one that ought to shock. And it does except there’s nothing new in football. I remember I think it was the 1973/74 season, Town were about to be relegated for the second successive season, we’d lost 0-1 at home and barely put up a fight; I was aged 20 and out in town on the Saturday night. I was very depressed. One of my pals worked behind the bar in the players’ lounge at Leeds Road. He said, “Cheer up for God’s sake. Do you think the players care as much as you do? Because they don’t. They were all in the bar after the match and you’d think they’d won 6-0 the way they were behaving; laughing & joking; they’re all having a great night out.” I was shocked. But since then I have always been a bit cynical about players’ attitudes and their public persona.
As for AB, I don’t know what to think. I absolutely love how candid he’s been but as a preparation for a final league match, surely to goodness this isn’t going to help? Wouldn’t the right time have been after today’s match?
As for today’s match, I do have more than just a passing interest. The nearest club to where I live is Ipswich. My community and my friends are equally split between supporting Norwich City (David Wagner of course) and Ipswich Town. It’s all smiles around here as you can imagine. My credibility as a Hudds Town hasn’t a lot left but if we should take a thumping of mammoth proportions today, then I might have to put my house on the market! Make no mistake, Ipswich is a really good side; they can score goals for fun; Ipswich itself as a town is already In celebratory mood; if they get a couple of early goals, I even fear Town’s record defeat at the hands of Man City could be under threat. So for some of us, today has a lot riding on it. The season isn’t over until it’s over.
Thanks Simon. Interesting to hear about the behaviour of the 73/74 relegation team. Something’s never change! It’s just a job for some of them.
I’d hope we don’t get hammered today, particularly if Breitenreiter sticks to his plan to only take players that are committed to the club. In the reverse fixture we deserved a point by getting in the faces and unsettling their passing game with a high press. If we have the legs to repeat that again, I’d like to see us play that way again. I doubt we’ll win but I’ll still be hoping for a Town victory, despite the unpleasant implications it might bring for our rivals. Ideally, we we’ll win and Southampton will too and Leeds still end up in the playoffs.
What is it with the club at the moment? The blame culture (Nagle, Breitenreiter) and petulant sulking (Warnock, Breitenreiter) is like something out of the playground. What a mess.
I can’t understand how the players, owners, managers and executives can all be different but somehow there’s a consistent thread of disaster and incompetence throughout the years, with just a few brief glimmers of success and excitement to punctuate years of mismanagement and struggle. Maybe it’s the same at most clubs but you only pay attention to the one you support.
Sorry but i think AB has got to take his share of the blame he was the manager and should have managed just decide who is a ring leader and show him who is the boss and what the consequences are if he does not toe the line then they will all start to come to the party all so name and shame so that everyone knows who to blame and other teams will think twice about them
Feels like the club has decided to rewrite the history of this season to blame everyone apart from the people who decided to replace a 52-point manager with a 42-point manager. Strange how such an unfit team could win away at WBA in the 96th minute then play another 4 minutes of added time without conceding.