Huddersfield Town’s season ends with a whimper ahead of a summer of change

Huddersfield Town’s end-of-season collapse was brought to its conclusion on Saturday with a 4-1 defeat to Leyton Orient on Saturday. While Leyton Orient weren’t exactly world beaters, they were organised, fit and effective. They played like a team and actually cared about the outcome of the game. Town were the opposite. Despite having the better players on paper, there was only ever going to be one winner of this game.

It’s a shame that Jonathan Hogg ended his Town career at this point, with this squad of players, after 12 years of loyal and dedicated service. The team on the pitch had very few of the attributes that Jonathan Hogg has displayed over his Town career, the passsion, work rate, aggression and discipline were absent from a team of players that either didn’t want to play well or couldn’t. 

The only consolation that this defeat brought was the fact we now get a few months off watching this bunch of losers. And, by the time we next see Huddersfield Town, it will be with a new manager, director fo football and a half a squad of new players. So hopefully the new version of Huddersfield Town we see in the 25/26 season will be vastly different to the 24/25 one, because few fans will want to experience a season like we’ve just had again.

I suppose I should talk about the game

Anyone that was surprised at the disjointed and lacklustre football that Town served up in this game hasn’t been paying attention to Huddersfield Town’s descent in recent months. We’ve gone from top two hopefuls at Christmas, to settling for the playoffs, then striving for the playoffs and ultimately looking like relegation fodder.

There was a glimmer of hope that Michael Duff had been holding back this (supposedly) talented team and his dismissal was going to be the turning point. Sadly, Duffs exit was a turning point in the other direction and rather than holding the team back it now seems obvious he was holding it together. 

So the things we saw on Saturday against Leyton Orient were the behaviours more typically seen in a classroom under the care of a particularly weak supply teacher. The “team of individuals” that Town revert to in difficult moments led to the eleven players on the pitch performing significantly under the sum of their individual parts. In fact, parts in too nice a term to describe them.  

The opening goal that Josh Koroma gifted to Orient with his underhit backpass may seem like a momentary lapse but I’ve seen him do this exact same thing repeatedly this season when collecting the ball in deep areas. The only difference being he’s usually on the left side of the pitch when he gives away possession with sloppy, thoughtless passes. And we often scramble to recover from his errors but didn’t manage it for this one. Neil Warnock tells an entertaining anecdote about how, when at QPR, he said he’d fine anyone that passed to Adel Tarrabt in his own half. A similar system of not letting Koroma touch the ball in our half might have spared us this embarrassing goal. 

The second goal may actually be beneficial in the long run, as Chapman throwing the ball into his own net shows that he may not be good enough to be our first choice if Nicholls leaves. I like his kicking but his command of his box can be poor at times and it’s rare he pulls off saves that are trickier than routine.

Herbie Kane tried and failed to commit a pretty nasty assault in the build up to the third. He mistimed his kung-fu kick/tackle so badly that he couldn’t get close enough to kick the player, nevermind the ball. It’s coming to something when our players are so bad they can’t even get themselves sent off properly. But bizarrely, the obvious intention to hurt another player went unpunished because it was carried out so incompetently. 

There’s more to dig into in this game but, honestly, what’s the point? This team will (hopefully) hold little resemblance to the one that starts the first game in August. I’d rather just draw a line under this season and move on. Despite being the mid-table finish we’ve often longed for after relentless relegation battles, we obviously wanted to be mid-table of a different league. And the expectation and investment we’ve seen makes this year, if anything, more disappointing than last season’s relegation because the expectations were so much higher (for me at least).

Goodbye Jonathan Hogg

What a servant for the club Jonathan Hogg has been. He’s seen a great many highs and lows in his twelve years at the club and his commitment has never been in question at any point during that spell. It was nice that he got to have a proper farewell, when most players leave clubs with little fanfare – like the long list of other players that were announced on yesterday’s retained list. 

The thing I’ve found striking about Hogg is how he’s been a favourite of every single manager he’s played under. Every one in recent memory has held up Jonathan Hogg as an example of professionalism and leadership. It’s possible that the strength of Hogg’s personality may have even restricted our ability to bring forward other leaders in the squad but it would be bizarre to blame Hogg for the lack of other leaders in this team. 

I won’t try to pretend the Hogg we’ve had this season has been anywhere close to the Jonathan Hogg of the Premier League days. But the problem we’ve had is our other options in his position remain poor in comparison to him regardless of how much he’s tailed off. With him now going off to do other things, I hope this provides a space for new players to step forward and fill his boots, both in terms of his contribution on the pitch as a player and as an all-round leader. 

Hogg has made it clear that he was pushed rather than jumping ship, and he’s open to continuing if the next manager wants to keep him on. However, it feels like the right time for him to move on and I wish him well in whatever he does next. I just hope it’s not a move to another League One team, as it would feel wrong to see Hogg competing against Town.

The retained list

In case you missed it, here’s the list of players that the club have confirmed are leaving or retiring now the season has ended:

• Jonathan Hogg (maybe retiring, maybe not)
• Danny Ward
• Tom Lees
• Matty Pearson
• Ollie Turton
• Josh Ruffels
• Josh Koroma
• Chris Maxwell (retiring)
• Scott High

Then, obviously, all our loanees will return to their parent clubs:

• Tawanda Chirewa
• Joe Hodge
• Nigel Lonwijk
• Callum Marshall

Neo Eccleston is the only player in negotiations over a new deal. And while he seems fairly promising, few people will lose sleep if we fail to agree terms with him. 

It’s pretty unusual for none of the senior players with expiring contracts to be offered a new deal but I can’t argue too strongly against any of these decisions. Matty Pearson has been good for us but he’s had some bad moments this season and struggles when asked to play the ball to feet. Josh Koroma has scored quite a few goals and on his day he can be unplayable but sadly he’s never found consistency at Town, with his best spell being punctuated with long stretches of below-par performances.Turton, Ruffels and Lees have all been loyal servants too (for the most part). 

Many of the players being released were regular starters in the season we finished third in the Championship and lost in the playoff final. It’s sad that these players never pushed on from that moment and have since been core members of increasingly poor Huddersfield Town squads. The need for change and to freshen up outstrips any argument to keep any of these players on for another season. 

The sad thing is that a large chunk of these released players will most likely go on to do well at another club but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t let go of them. While I wouldn’t blame any of these players individually for the bad culture in the Huddersfield Town dressing room, they’ve been sat in it and failed to resolve it. Time for a new-look Huddersfield Town.

Who’s left in the Huddersfield Town squad?

The official club website lists the following players as remaining on the books for next season: 

• Lee Nicholls
• Sorba Thomas
• David Kasumu
• Ben Wiles
• Brodie Spencer
• Jacob Chapman
• Lasse Sorensen
• Herbie Kane
• Antony Evans
• Bojan Radulovic
• Mickel Miller
• Radinio Balker
• Dion Charles
• Ruben Roosken
• Rhys Healey
• Joe Taylor
• Freddie Ladapo
• Tom Iorpenda

Interestingly, Kyle Hudlin isn’t on this list, so must be seen as part of the B Team even though he’s far too old to be considered one for the future. More likely, he’s just considered surplus to requirements and will either be sold or loaned out again.

I expect a few of the above players may not still be at the club when the transfer window shuts in September. Ladapo, Radulovic, Healey and Balker are all recent-ish signings but their struggles with injury and form have meant none have made a significant impact and may be moved on if we can negotiate deals to offload them. 

I’d also be unsurprised if Lee Nicholls and Brodie Spencer were sold. But on the other hand, I would be surprised if Sorba Thomas actually plays for Town again, given he left under a cloud last summer for his season long loan. Even if his character is questionable, his regular selection for Wales and set piece deliveries make it likely he can get a club at a higher level to take a chance on him. 

So if you remove the players that aren’t likely to be involved in our first team squad next season, there are between 12 and 14 players that we’ll be able to call upon. Of which, there is a distinct lack of height, muscle, speed, creativity and leadership. So the new director of football and manager are going to have a real job in filling all the empty gaps with the squad with players that have the qualities the remaining bunch lack. 

A big summer beckons

This summer is likely to have more changes at Town that we’ve had in recent memory. We signed a lot of players the year we went up to the Premier League but that was with the continuity of David Wagner and building upon an already successful team and system. 

The new director of football and manager will need to decide pretty quickly what sort of a team they want to build and then get busy in bringing in players that fit their vision.  And move on the deadwood that we still have under contract. 

It will hopefully lead to positive improvements in most areas but it’s unlikely every decision this summer will be the right one. While season cards are still on sale, the messaging is very positive from the club, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start hearing talk about budget constraints and balancing the books once the deadline passes and realism sets in. Though with so many of our higher earners leaving, I would hope that we can replace them with decent quality alternatives. 

Thank you for reading

It’s not been an easy season to blog about Town or for fans to read about it either, so thank you to all of you that have been clicking on my articles. I’m also grateful to all of you that contribute in the comments and give such a lot of thoughtful and intelligent insight. 

Over the summer I will post whenever there’s something worth writing about. I don’t love the endless speculation and transfer sagas, so won’t do loads of rumour-mongering stuff but hopefully there will be enough actual news to keep a regular schedule of articles coming. And if there is a quiet spell, I’ll finally get around to my long-promised article about Mick Wadsworth’s mis-adventures after he managed Town.