Opinion – Page 6 – Terrier Spirit – Huddersfield Town FC blog

May42021 by Terrier Spirit15 Comments

Baffling formations, repeating mistakes, dissecting their goal, limping over the line and thinking about summer – Notes on Town’s 1-1 draw with Coventry

Matches, Opinion

It's a couple of days since Town's 1-1 draw with Coventry and it's already a struggle to remember anything of great consequence from the game. Despite this season being exceptional for off the pitch reasons, we had to sit through another unexceptional Town performance where a point was a little bit fortunate. All the usual problems reared their head during the game and it was only results elsewhere that guaranteed Town's safety. In previous seasons beating the drop had been something to celebrate but this time it's slightly embarrassing as it doesn't feel like we deserve to survive after a woeful 2021. Playing three or four different formations at once Could you confidently say what the formation was for Town on Saturday? I was preoccupied by this question for long spe...

Apr172021 by Terrier Spirit4 Comments

Phil Hodgkinson strikes the right tone in his update but needs to now follow through on his promises

News, Opinion

Because of how our brains work, this article would get more clicks if the title was highly critical of Phil Hodgkinson. But his latest update it was actually a well-judged and informative statement which avoided some of his past mistakes of over promising but still offered some hope to fans. This is an improvement over Mark Devlin's thoroughly depressing recent statements about it taking three to five years for Town to feel capable of competing at the top end of the Championship. Here's a quick summary of what the statement said and some of my thoughts on it… What was actually said in the statement? Of course your best bet is to read the full statement on the club's website but here's a bullet point summary of what was said: Effusive praise for people who bought season ticket...

Apr132021 by Terrier Spirit5 Comments

The big change to Huddersfield Town season cards that was tucked away in the FAQs

News, Opinion

Yesterday, Huddersfield Town released the details of their season cards for next season. There were few surprises and very little to criticise as existing season card holders had their price frozen as promised and people that didn't have a 20/21 season ticket only have to pay an extra £50 (working off adult prices). The age bands were adjusted in a sensible way to smooth the transition from child to adult with a new Under 23 bracket. I love to grumble about the way the club is run but it all seemed fair enough to me and we must surely continue to be among the cheapest Championship clubs to watch. The most interesting news released yesterday, to me at least, was a fairly major change to how the practicalities of season cards will work for most fans next season. Unless you arrange o...

Apr92021 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

5 lessons Carlos Corberán needs to learn from the 7-0 drubbing

Matches, Opinion

It’s been a couple of days since Town were rigorously and repeatedly violated by Norwich and it’s still a painful memory. While some fans have been left numb to Town’s struggles this season due to not being physically in the stadia, this result hurt as much as any whipping I’ve witnessed from the stands. It’s popular to try and frame horrible experiences as opportunities for learning and growth. I’m thinking of that time Noriwch got hammered 7-1 by Colchester on the opening day of the season before going on to romp their way to League One promotion. While such a turnaround isn’t possible for Town after their humbling defeat, there are some lessons that Carlos can (and should) learn from Tuesday night. Lewis O'Brien is not a leftback On paper, O'Brien should be a decent makeshift l...

Apr22021 by Terrier Spirit2 Comments

Four things Huddersfield Town need to do between now and the end of the season

Opinion

Huddersfield Town’s season will be defined by the collective outcome of their next nine games. If we go on another winless run like the one we had after Christmas then relegation beckons. But if our form is more like it was in the build up to Christmas then a respectable midtable finish is possible even if it wouldn’t fully paper over the cracks that were exposed during that bad run in the early part of the new year. I’ve quite enjoyed not thinking about Town for this last couple of weeks during the international break but now things are gearing back up for another intensive period of games I thought I’d look at what these nine matches could potentially mean for Huddersfield Town and what they need to do between now and the end of the season. Achieve safety as soon as possible Th...

Mar122021 by Terrier Spirit7 Comments

8 revelations from Dean Hoyle’s podcast interview and what to make of them

Opinion

Ex-Huddersfield Town Chairman, Dean Hoyle, gave an interview to the little-known Looks Good On Paper podcast on Thursday this week. During his time as Chairman at Town Hoyle was known for his frank and open approach to communication and in this interview he showed his skill at putting forward his point of view and revealing just enough information to win over Town fans. Hoyle’s legacy has been somewhat tarnished by the events of recent seasons, with many of the millions of pounds Town have received through parachute payments and player sales being funneled into debt repayments to him while the quality of the playing squad has steadily deteriorated. However, in my eyes he’s still the person that can take the most credit for Town’s rise to the Premier League, even more so than David Wagne...

Feb192021 by Terrier Spirit11 Comments

Carlos Corberán shares a bad habit with an ex-Town manager that could be affecting results

Opinion

Could the bad habit of an ex-Town manage point to one if the problems Carlos Corberán could bev causing? Lee Clark had a bad habit when he was the manager of Huddersfield Town and I believe it directly affected his team's ability to play with confidence. I fear that Carlos Corberán is making the same mistake and he may be inadvertently contributing to Town's terrible run of form since the start of 2021. The bad habit I'm referring to is getting angry on the touchline during matches and screaming at your players while the game is going on. Lee Clark was terrible for flapping his arms about and bellowing at the nearest player that would listen during his tenure. Carlos Corberán has similar qualities, often looking like he could murder a player after they fluff a chance of make a...

Feb152021 by Terrier Spirit26 Comments

My opinion on Phil Hodgkinson’s statement about Huddersfield Town’s finances, transfers and the running of the club

Opinion, Transfers

Last Friday, Huddersfield Town released an article on their website that was written by Phil Hodgkinson, providing details about how the club is currently being run. Here are a few of my thoughts on the things contained within the statement. Click here to read the statement if you haven't seen it yet. Monthly updates Committing to monthly updates is a good idea as it will help with the communication between the club and the fans. Clearly it would have been better to have done this a long time ago but better late than never. I think live Q&As with fans or interviews with the press would be better than releasing prepared statements every month but otherwise it’s a step in the right direction. Talking with fans or the press allows more opportunity for uncomfo...

Jan182021 by Terrier Spirit9 Comments

The mistake, the assault, tedious tactics, murderball, commentary and transfer rumours – Notes on Watford away

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town were beaten 2-0 by Watford on Saturday in a game that turned on a silly mistake by Ryan Schofield. The opener came at an unfortunate moment in the game and gave Town a mountain to climb against a Watford team full of quality players. It’s one of those games that you can find negatives or positives, depending on your disposition. Some fans will despair at Town’s lack of attacking threat and inability to put pressure on the Watford goal. Other fans, the dangerously optimistic ones, would point to how Town mostly held their own against one of the league's strongest teams despite having to field a team full of untested backup players. The mistake This was a game that was light on incident or drama, so the first thing to talk about is Schofield’s nightmare moment wh...

Jan162021 by Terrier Spirit6 Comments

Immediate thoughts on Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 defeat to Watford

Matches, Opinion

Huddersfield Town were beaten 2-0 by Watford in a game that will be remembered for a Ryan Schofield lapse of concentration, a red card incident that wasn’t for Troy Deeney and little else. Town fielded an inexperienced and young side and made a good job of containing Watford in the first half and were following a similar path in the second half until Schofield’s moment to forget. After that it was a fairly straight forward victory for Watford who were obviously the better team on the day. Here are a few of my immediate thoughts on the game in bullet point form, a more in depth look at the game will follow tomorrow. Schofield’s mistake turned the game away from Town but he deserves some slack after his saves have already won us points this season (most notably in the game we won aga...