The main points from Kevin Nagle’s end-of-season video diary & 3 things that weren’t covered

Kevin Nagle has released his bumper end-of-season video diary, where he has taken questions that his friend Carmichael Dave has collected from Town fans and various other sources in order to get some clarity from Huddersfield Town’s owner about key issues following the team’s disappointing 23/24 campaign. Kevin Nagle has made these video diary chats with his pal a regular feature of this last season and they have been useful insights into his current thinking and the latest news from behind the scenes. 

The latest video diary, naturally, focussed on the impact of Huddersfield Town’s relegation to League One and plans for the future. I’ll save you skimming all the details below and let you know he didn’t confirm either way whether Andrew Breitenreiter was staying on but he did his best with a range of tricky questions, though not every question received a straight answer – which is understandable given his position. 

In this article, I’ll cover the main points in the 40+ minute conversation and give a few of my thoughts about it all too.  (It was a long interview, so apologies in advance that this article is a bit of a whopper!)

Season card prices being frozen

The first main talking point was the decision to not raise season card prices or introduce any complexity into the system by creating differently priced zones – both plans that were expected after the club announced them at a recent At The Town meeting. Nagle explained the decision to keep the prices low was because the club had not earned the right to put them up yet. We should not expect this to be the norm though as it’s likely next season’s prices will see an increase. 

There are hopes that there will be a huge uptake on season cards, which will offset some of the lost revenue that would have come from increasing the prices. So far the signs are promising, with sales being double the same point last year (though they’ve gone on sale much later this season, so it’s not really a fair comparison). 

I think that this is an excellent decision by the club. After so much bad blood has been sloshing around since relegation, this announcement feels like the first bit of good news in a while. Not just because it’s going to be cheaper for me on a personal level but because it means the stadium should hopefully have good attendances next season and as a result we should hopefully have a brilliant atmosphere too. I remember the days of attendances being between five and ten thousand in League Two and the opposition fans chanting, quite rightly, “Your ground’s too big for you” at us. 

The key point Kevin made was about the club not earning the right to put the prices up. Attending football matches is, when you look at it brutally, paying for entertainment. How much entertainment have they realistically provided in the past season? How much can we expect in the next season? At this point we’re being asked to sign up for another season in good faith, it would be pushing that faith too far to expect a price hike on the back of a drop in division. If we have a great season, achieve our goal of promotion and are returning to the Championship next summer then few will complain about having to pay a few quid extra a match for their next season card. 

Andre is still mulling over his future

This video diary was supposed to occur over the weekend, but I suspect the reason it was pushed back and back was because there was hope that Andre Breitenreiter would confirm his intention for next season and it could be discussed in some depth. Kevin Nagle confirmed the German coach is still mulling his future over and news is hoped for tomorrow. 

As suspected, Breitenreiter is the club’s preferred option for the season ahead and they want him to commit his future to the team. However, if he doesn’t feel willing to drop to the third tier of English football there are apparently contingencies in place – which I took to mean a shortlist of preferred options if we have to, yet again, start shopping around for a new manager. 

Breitenreiter’s reluctance to commit worries me. Even if he renews his vows, or whatever it is they’re waiting on, given he’s only a few months into a multi-year contract, I have no faith he will stick around if things get tough given how clearly he doesn’t fancy the task of getting Town out of League One. 

Investing for the future

One of the themes that Kevin Nagle returned to several times was the idea of long-term investments that might not bear immediate fruit. In news that won’t exactly set pulses racing, he talked about a number of executive roles that have either had their vacancies filled or job roles that have been created from scratch. I’ll not list them all off but one that stood out was a Chief Revenue Officer, which sounds like a plumped up commercial strategy person but is a role that I’d not heard of before. While not particularly thrilling stuff, getting executives in may make the club a bit more professional and potentially improve how things are run. 

One bit of news that will disappoint many Town fans, will be that Jake Edwards and Mark Cartwright are both due to stay on in their roles. This has not been a clear cut decision however, as Nagle said that both had had to reinterview for their jobs. So it seems that both their positions have been closely considered and for now they have been given a reprieve. Perhaps because he receives the most flak, Mark Cartwright received a spirited defence from Kevin Nagle, explaining the summer transfer window was hampered by external factors and that Cartwright delivered against his brief in the winter transfer window in difficult conditions by bringing in five players. (Fact checking this bit about the winter window – Nagle made a rod for Cartwright’s back a bit by publicly stating he wanted 6 signings and one of those “signings” was the recall of Brodie Spencer’s loan, who was already our player, so he missed his target and the number was artificially inflated too). 

I’ve not got a lot to say about the Chief Whatever Officers that have been brought in, as the internal structures of the club aren’t a massive concern to me. It may be that these new roles and employees are hugely beneficial or perhaps we’re giving grander job titles to roles that already existed. Either way, it’s better to judge these things on results down the line.

The same can be said for Edwards and Cartwright’s continued employment as CEO and Sporting Director. Relegation should not have happened this season for Town from the position we were in but it did and it seems that decisions made by these two and Nagle himself are contributing factors. It sounds like both have done enough to convince Kevin Nagle that they can rectify the mess we made of this season and we have to trust this decision. 

Sacking people in these sort of high-level roles as we enter into one of the most turbulent periods of our recent history would probably be a bad idea anyway as replacements would not be up to speed in time for the coming transfer window and new season. However, my impression from Nagle’s remarks is that there are doubts about the job performance of these key figures and a change might come, however, it seems that the decision is to give them this season to try and turn things around. 

Creating a winning culture

Alongside long-term investment, another key message of Kevin Nagle’s video was his ambition to create a “winning culture” at Huddersfield Town. He spoke about how he has that at Sacramento Republic and there isn’t one currently at Huddersfield Town. 

I don’t really know what the problem he is bringing up here or what the proposed solution is. Winning games will create a winning culture but I don’t think that was what he was talking about, I think he was talking along the lines of people having a “growth mindset” and thinking they’re going to win all that time, so then they go on to get the win. So, I guess, it’s about trying to create a positive mentality in the club – which seems natural for a Californian to want to do but he’s probably bumping up against the natural, dour Yorkshire personality that can be a little bit pessimistic by nature. This is made all the worse for Huddersfield Town fans, who are a sub-section of Yorkshire folk who have followed a football team that has essentially marinated itself in failure for decades. So, while we could all benefit from a sun-shiny attitude, bitter experience has led to a level of self-preservation when it comes to setting expectations about Town.

Also, and I appreciate this is going to come across as a bit rude if anyone who follows the Sacramento Republic reads it, I’m not sure how much we can learn from their team. I watched Keiran Philips’s goals he scored on his debut and was quite shocked by the standard of football. He’s our eighth-best striker but has gone over there and scored a 6-minute brace against defenders who fell over instead of making simple tackles. It’s easier to have a winning mentality when you’re playing against teams that aren’t much better than a decent pub side. (I think I’ve let my dour Yorkshire mentality slip out a bit in this last paragraph!)

The cost of relegation

No specific figures were bandied around when the cost of going down to League One was discussed but the cost is obviously in the millions of pounds. Some of this cost can be offset by savings made on wages due to relegation clauses in contracts that trigger automatic reductions (which may also prompt some players on higher wages to try and get paid better elsewhere). The rest of the cost is likely to be absorbed by Nagle himself.

There was also confirmation that job losses for non-playing staff aren’t on the cards in the short term. There was a little bit of wiggle room in the way this was worded, as it sounds like there’s a lot of change behind the scenes at Town which may involve job roles change, etc, but the general message was that there aren’t plans for wholesale job losses to balance the books or anything like that.

This all sounds quite encouraging, as it suggests we should hopefully be in for some stability in terms of the club’s finances and Kevin Nagle seems to be willing to finance the team in the short term in our immediate attempt to get back into the Championship. I know the last time we were down in League One it took Dean Hoyle bankrolling the club for quite a while before we could get back up to the Championship. While it’s not great to rely on a wealthy benefactor to keep a club running smoothly (because they always leave eventually) in the short term, I think this is a good plan. I remember last time we were in League One, Dean Hoyle said that the club’s finances only really make sense when we’re in the second tier, so it’s better to plough money in until we reach that goal, or words to that effect.

Stadium and Canalside ownership and investment

There was no new news about the stadium ownership, apart from positive talks taking place and optimism about a future deal being possible but not certain. The good news is that Kevin Nagle is fighting for the right thing by the sounds of it, as he reiterated his desire for the stadium to be a community asset and it should be for the benefit of the people of Huddersfield. Getting the deal over the line doesn’t seem all that close, unfortunately, but I suspect that’s not through any lack of effort on the Huddersfield Town side of things.

Even with the control of the stadium being unresolved for now, it seems the club are going to invest in the stadium. Some of these investments will be of benefit to the fans apparently and we’ll see some positive changes. I wouldn’t expect heated seats in the Kilner Bank or a monorail to take you back up to town after the game though. I’d expect these investments are more keeping our slightly down-at-heel stadium (I know it’s good for League One but it’s also in a state of neglect after years of scrimping on maintenance) on the right side of respectable rather than anything too elaborate.

Kevin Nagle echoed something Dean Hoyle has mentioned in his past interviews, that the former owner still owns the land that Canalside sits on, with an agreed sale price being in place for the club to buy it off him when they see fit. Clearly the club not owning the land of the training complex isn’t bothering them too much though, as they are extending the facility to help accommodate the expanded academy programme.

Andre’s comments about the culture

Andre Breitenreiter’s recent comments about the bad attitudes he has experienced from many of the players came as a surprise to Kevin Nagle but he thinks the manager was within his rights to make these statements. He thinks that the reason behind them may relate to a cultural difference which means Germans are more straight-talking. He then tried to align the ideas Breitenreiter was getting across with his remarks as linking back to Nagle’s own feeling that the team lacks a winning mentality. Though, that wasn’t really what was being said, it was that the players are selfish and don’t care about the club at all, which is something altogether different.

Regardless, there were some promising comments along the lines of how if you have a cancer, you have to rip it out. So that seems like a pretty clear indication that any players that were deemed to be part of this group that weren’t pulling their weight are likely to be out on their ear. Nagle also seemed optimistic about being able to move on players that have been labelled as poor characters as he thinks most of the issue is down to the specific chemistry at Huddersfield Town and these bad eggs could well become good eggs somewhere else. Personally, my experience is that people with a bad attitude tend to take it with them everywhere they go but I suppose there’s probably a  Championship team manager who’s read Moneyball too many times who will think buying a player with good skills and a stinking attitude is good business. 

I wonder if some of these comments were more aimed at Andre Breitenreiter than the fans, with Kevin Nagle trying to woo the manager back to the job he already has. I think the German head coach will need his tummy tickling to be tempted back to Huddersfield to complete the task he has started. I find this quite galling but I suppose he is typically a manager that takes on teams in the Bundesliga, so this is a significant step down (though we wouldn’t have been so far down the leagues if he had won a couple more games, so maybe he should put his finger on his own nose – to borrow his own phrase). 

The timing of Darren Moore’s sacking

It’s easy to be critical in hindsight, but Kevin Nagle acknowledged that he took too long to pull the trigger on Darren Moore’s time in charge of Town. It seems the reason he was given so long was because it was hoped all those many (many, many) draws would eventually turn to wins, particularly once the injury crisis cleared and new signings arrived in January. When the results did not improve when Moore had better options available, he got the chop. 

Picking managers and sacking them are the biggest choices that club owners make. In the case of Darren Moore, it was a mistake in the first place to give him the job and he was kept in his position for far too long even after it was clear he couldn’t get a tune out the squad he had available. While Moore seemed like a decent appointment on the surface when he was first announced, there were alarm bells when Sheffield Wednesday fans talked about the drab nature of his football, Mark Cartright bragged about the attacking football he would bring and the squad he was inheriting had no ability to deliver that style. It was a recipe for disaster from the start looking back. 

Preseason will be tougher and more disciplined this season

There was some thinly veiled criticism for Neil Warnock when Nagle described how this coming preseason is going to involve some more testing matches (more testing than Bodmin Town) and be more physically rigorous than last season. This echoes Andre Breitenreiter’s scathing remarks last week about the lack of fitness in the squad that had carried over from a poor preseason. He also implied that the 12 injuries Town had at their worst spell last season may have been linked to a lack of fitness. He may have a point but I think it’s overly simplistic to make Neil Warnock the bogeyman here. Obviously it was a bit slack in preseason but if players are picking up impact injuries in games, that’s just bad luck, which was a chunk of those injuries. The soft tissue type of injuries that players pick up from either being overworked or out of shape are often down to poor management, but that’s more to do with the sports science people managing players and avoiding putting them at risk. So Darren Moore and the coaches underneath him at the time have to take some responsibility for all the injuries during that time too, as they were the ones overloading the players. If it was so widely known that the players weren’t in good shape then they should have taken a more gentle approach to avoid injury (e.g. Danny Ward barely trained in last season’s run in, but scored the goal that effectively sealed our survival against Sheffield United).

There were no details disclosed but it sounds like there might have been some friendlies lined up for Town already. It’s pretty common to play whatever teams are also having training camps in Austria on those trips but there will most likely be a few games back in England too. While friendlies are typically dreadful to watch, by the time they come around I’ll have been starved of watching Town for so long that I’ll no doubt go crawling back to watch them despite the many dull afternoons I’ve wasted on previous friendlies.

Why is Kevin Nagle involved in Huddersfield Town?

Wealthy people are widely known to have all sorts of depraved and perverse habits that they will throw money at, but buying a football team in a run-down town in northern England so you can regularly have abuse hurled at you by grumpy Yorkshire people seems pretty odd. It is reasonable to wonder what makes someone leave a beautiful California setting to come visit us in West Yorkshire regularly and get up in our business. 

Kevin Nagle’s answer about why is he here seemed genuine. While it’s been tough at times, he’s enjoying the challenge and having fun along the way too. My sense was that Kevin is a passionate person that loves to get his teeth into a project and Huddersfield Town is his current obsession. While there are loftier ambitions for the future, to try and guide the club to the Premier League, in the short term he seems to be having fun owning our club, getting absorbed in the history, being a fan and trying to fix the problems. 

I’ve seen a mix of opinions about Kevin Nagle from Town fans this past season but my impression has been broadly positive. He’s put his money into the club and is trying his best to make a positive impact. Not every decision has gone right for Town but I like how he owns up to his mistakes and communicates openly with fans. 

What was not covered?

This was a long and wide-ranging discussion, so it feels a bit churlish to complain about things that were missing. But there did seem to be a few bits and pieces missing. Nothing major, but here are the things I noticed:

• Neil Warnock and his departure were barely referenced at all. There were a great deal of questions from fans about the decision to remove him and if I had to give the single biggest reasons we went down, this would be it. The decision to sack Warnock so early in the season cost us dearly, rather than keep him til Christmas (as I seem to remember Neil Warnock saying he planned to do) which I suspect would have seen us in a much more stable position in the league. Warnock himself has spoken little about his departure from Town too (despite the fact he tells stories about almost everything he ever does), so I suspect both sides have agreements with each other to keep quiet, maybe secured with NDAs. This would be an understandable reason, I suppose, to have to swerve questions on this subject.

• There were some snarky references to the BBC but no direct reference to a Tweet from West Yorkshire Sport that says the club turned down a request for an interview with Kevin Nagle, and instead said a different official will speak to them later in the summer. Bypassing traditional media to publish interviews on your own social media is a very modern approach but it might get the noses of local media out of joint. The tweet from West Yorkshire Sport seemed pretty grumpy. On a vaguely related note, this might be uninteresting to other people, but I find it a bit strange that these video chats go up on Kevin Nagle’s personal twitter page (X if you want to be pedantic) but at the time of writing it has not been shared on the club’s official Twitter account. Such a lot of important information is communicated in this video, it really should be pasted over to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and everywhere else they post to make sure as many fans as possible can see it. Yet it’s almost like the club’s own media aren’t interested in this video. Odd.

• Another slightly nerdy thing that wasn’t covered in the interview itself was to do with the financial side of things and how Kevin is putting money into the club. On the And He Takes That Chance podcast they raised the point this week that League One rules allow owners to donate money to clubs to support them, and this is included as revenue in the calculations to work out what we are allowed to spend. Loans from the owner are not. John Mc on Twitter followed up on this and, following a slightly tetchy exchange, received confirmation that the millions Kevin has put in so far haven’t been loans, which bodes well for the future.