I’ve always thought that if you’re scrambling around on transfer deadline day to get your business done then you’ve done something wrong. So maybe we shouldn’t be quite so delighted with the flurry of activity that Town saw at Canalside on Thursday as the deadline approached. Three new players came through the door as even more were ushered out on loan.
In this article I’ll work my through the various deals that took place and then summarise a few of my thoughts on the defeat to Bristol City. I think the transfer news is probably more important than the defeat now, as the game has passed now and is probably not one Town fans want to spend a lot of time thinking about and at least the signings offer a little bit of hope!
Michal Helik on a permanent deal from Barnsley
I think this deal is the single best piece of business of Huddersfield Town this transfer window. While the likes of Rudoni or Anjorin may seem more exciting, Helik is an experienced Championship campaigner and can come into an area of the pitch where we’re weak and make us immediately stronger. He’s in his absolute prime and can still get better too. The majority of our signings are either free transfers at the end of their playing careers or young players with potential to increase in value as their experience grows, so I’m delighted to see us willing to invest in someone that is the finished article.
The only thing I would say about this signing is that we probably wouldn’t have splashed out on Helik if we had started the season well and were comfortably midtable. Spending on this kind of player feels like an admission by the board that they got their strategy wrong earlier in the summer and cheaped out on freebies that weren’t up to Championship standard. Helik is a statement of intent and will hopefully help drag the team up to a standard that makes Championship survival an absolute minimum.
Luke Mbete on a season-long loan from Manchester City
If Helik is the finished article, Mbete is likely to be raw materials that need some sculpting but should possess excellent fundamental qualities given he’s coming from Manchester City’s academy. He’s already an England youth international and has featured on the fringes on City’s first team. He recently suffered a concussion in a game against Barcelona so won’t be able to feature at the weekend but when he’s cleared to play he may be surprised to come to and find himself in Huddersfield! Hopefully he’ll be another Levi Colwill, able to bring a bit of class and ball playing ability to our back line.
Tyreece Simpson on a permanent transfer from Ipswich Town
After his interview was leaked last Friday I was getting nervous when the official announcement took so long to come but thankfully he is now confirmed. I suspect the complication may have come from the fact he is injured until at least the World Cup in November so we most likely won’t get to see him until the New Year. Even still, he’s a big, strong and deadly striker that could be the striker we’ve been crying out for ever since Jordan Rhodes’ left after his first spell. But we’ll all still probably demand we sign another striker next transfer window anyway because it’s what we do.
I watched a YouTube video of his best bits while he was on loan at Swindon last season and he looked very good even if it was at a lower level. He’s able to hold off defenders very well, likes to run in behind and chase through balls when they’re threaded through and has a left foot like a traction engine.
Danny Grant loaned out to our feeder club
Grant becomes the fourth Huddersfield Town player to join Harrogate Town this season, after they took three of our youngsters last season too, making them a regular receptacle for our B Team prospects. Part of me is sad that Grant won’t be given a chance in our first team but another is pleased that he’ll get some game time at the other HTAFC where he can show what he can do.
I really hope that we have a recall option in this loan deal as I’d like to see him pulled back in January if he does a good job in League Two. If he’s as good as we all hope he is then he should tear up that league and bang in goals for fun. If I was Danny Schofield I’d set him a target of ten goals or so before Christmas and promise to bring him back if he hits it. While there’s a difference between League Two and the Championship, it’s a much smaller gap than the gulf between non-competitive B Team football and Championship games.
Josh Koroma to Portsmouth
Danny Cowley managed to get Koroma playing some of his best football during his time at Huddersfield Town, so it does make sense that he wanted to take him at Portsmouth. Dropping down to League One will also give him a bit more time and space to operate in too, which will be good for him to build confidence. Unfortunately, this season-long loan will run to the end of Koroma’s contract which has already been extended by a year so we may have seen the last of him in a Town shirt. I suspect he could become a top player in the future but he’s not likely to achieve that for us.
Rarmani Edmonds-Green goes on loan to Wigan
This loan struck me as a funny one. There was a rumour that we were trying to offload Boyle because we’d decided he wasn’t good enough after bringing him in for free, which I can understand after taking a punt on him. But loaning out a youth prospect to a potential relegation rival seems a bit risky.
It’s very similar to the Scott High to Rotherham loan that we sanctioned earlier in the transfer window. Maybe we’re so confident that we won’t be scrapping at the bottom end that we don’t mind strengthening the division’s weaker teams. Or we’ve so little faith in our youngsters that we don’t think they’ll improve other Championship teams. Either way, I feel like this loan has potential to bite us on the bum even if it does make sense to get Edmonds-Green Championship experience when we’ve decided he’ll not get many chances in our team.
Jacob Chapman goes on loan to Salford City
This loan is only until January but I was still a bit surprised we allowed it as Chapman had been our number two for most of our games this season. With Ryan Schofield now out on loan too, it leaves Bilokapic as our backup keeper and the distinct possibility that we’re lining up a free agent to add a bit of experience in case anything should happen to Lee Nicholls (although we have to accept that it would be a disaster if anything did as he’s pretty much the only thing keeping our scorelines respectable at the moment).
Some thoughts on the defeat to Bristol
Are you still reading? Well done! After all the transfers in and out it seems like talking about a game of football is a pointless sideshow as surely we only really follow our football team to obsess about transfers? Being honest, I quite like the closing of the transfer window as it means all the speculation and waffle can be put to bed and we actually can focus on the games more. But less so when it’s a game like the one we saw on Wednesday night.
Town weren’t actually all that bad, they were just not good enough. Bristol City were there for the taking in many ways but Town struggled to protect their backline and allowed Bristol City far too many crosses into the box and then didn’t defend those crosses when they came in. When we put similar quality balls into the box, usually from the boot of Sorba Thomas, Rhodes found it much harder to get the space he needed to convert those chances. Whereas Nahki Well’s goal was far too easy.
There were some encouraging signs from Pat Jones when he came on though, he looks direct and dangerous on the ball. I just don’t want to pin all my hopes on a youngster from the academy when we’ve got a team full of seasoned professionals that should be doing better.
I don’t think this was an awful performance but I am worried about how easily we’ve slipped into the habit of losing games. We saw how hard that habit was to get out of in the aftermath of Jan Siewert’s time as head coach. Hopefully the defensive reinforcements brought in on deadline day will make is harder to beat.
Looking ahead to Blackpool
Sunday’s game is a huge one. There was a lot of negativity towards Schofield after the game on Wednesday and I think another defeat and it could see the some moderate Town fans’ patience start to run thin.
There some fans that will call for the manager to be sacked after almost every defeat, they follow football because they take perverse pleasure in the misery it brings them and revel in demanding the head of whichever poor sap has most recently been put in charge of their club. But then there is a section of more calm and considered fans that want to see their team do well but are willing to give a new manager a chance. That group seem to be now getting a bit sick of losing so many games. Expect widespread booing if Town don’t win, particularly if the performance isn’t great.
Having said that, any kind of win, even one that comes via outrageous good luck or negative, anti-football would lift Town up the table and take a lot of pressure of Schofield. It’s a results business and while style of football matters a bit, when you’re winning nobody asks too many questions about the way you’re playing. It’s only when you’re losing football matches that people ask the awkward questions. For Schofield’s sake, I hope he gets a win on Sunday, both him and his team desperately need it.
It is so obvious what the problem at Town is.Not only did we lose the main engine of the side in Lewis O’Brien but also the main spearhead in Harry Toffoloe.But the biggest loss was losing Coberan..How on earth was he allowed to leave?Probably because the board would not sanction the players he wanted to keep the momentum going from last season.Someone mentioned it’s a circus of decision making from Dean Hoyle and it needs fresh ownership to come in and give the club a good shakeup.Instead we are lumbered with a chairman who is intent on having his investment back at all costs to the detriment of the Town fans and the club.I hope I am wrong but bit seems to come across that way.FEEDBCK PLEASE!!!
I don’t feel nearly so negatively towards Dean Hoyle but I think more cynical fans would accuse me of swallowing the club’s propaganda. For example, Hoyle seems to be putting money in rather than taking it out at the moment, so the talk of him draining the club isn’t true if his recent interviews aren’t bare faced lies. And the footballing decisions are mostly delegated to Bromby, such as managerial appointments.
I’m not sure I like the Director of Football / Head Coach model the club has. I’d prefer a proper manager in charge who is the figure head for everything but that seems to be very old fashioned these days. That would be the big change I’d advocate for if I had any influence but I can’t see it changing soon.
As for Corberan leaving. I think he wanted the club to spend money they weren’t prepared to spend so he decided to walk. I think that’s more of a reflection of Corberan than the board. We’ve not broken the bank this transfer window but we have spent a fair bit on players and invested in the squad, so I don’t think we’ve shown no ambition just not enough to match what Corberan was after.
Am Imthe only one who thinks Hoyle’s current investment and recruitment is a pale shadow of that which rescued us from the depths of tier three? The current strategy seems to me to revolve around players with little or no record of success at Championship level.
But Corberan new the score when he joined. He wasn’t the decision maker for signing players (personally think the “manager” should be). Let’s be honest Marinakis is involved here some where along the line but will never come a cropper now Notts Forest are in the premiership and no rules apply.
Seems still very strange that Pipa went to Greece when there are other clubs in Europe that could have had him. Then a month later his 39 year old coach with a 3 year contract decided to head that way as well. Wouldn’t have thought a coach with a young family would have suddenly thrown himself out of work. But even stranger is why we shipped REG out to Wigan ?
i also find it very strange that our two first coaches and three starting players were bought by the guy who just made at least £170 million on them losing a game. a guy with a reputation for match fixing at that. i doubt we’ll ever learn the full story here but i’m at least not so sure it’s lack of ambition at Town, the board or Hoyle who dragged Corberan away.
I think you are off your rocker, biggest loss Corberan? We fluked results from so many games last season it was untrue. Rarely were we the stand out winner e.g. Preston at home. Toffs was uninterested and useless for the first half of the season. I think we all need to stop moaning and name calling and support the Town and Dean, UTT!
I agree with you – Corberan wasn’t a tactical genius and for Town to finish 3rd required a lot of good fortune.
That team without O’Brien and Toffolo, and Town were and are an accident waiting to happen.
I’d love to believe that this team will find a style of play and that the underperforming players will step up. My glass is half empty but tomorrow I’m hoping that by 5.00pm my glass will be overflowing.
Yes you have said it which encapsulates the whole philosophy of Huddersfield Town.”I don’t think we’ve shown no ambition just not enough to match what Corberan was after”Your words.So according to your understanding you are willing to put up with a mediocre side and plod on
Honestly, if mediocre is midtable in the Championship then I am happy with that. I think expecting more is setting yourself up for disappointment. More ambition would just be built upon more debt, which is risking the club’s long-term future. I’d rather take a sensible and slightly boring approach (which still got us within one match of the Premier League last season anyway).
Sorry you are missing my point.To lose Coberan is a major blow to Towns ambitions and as for long term future plans how long are we supposed to wait.You sound like this government promises,promises,promises.
I’m doing the opposite of making promises for the future. I’m saying expect very little apart from stability and mediocrity (at best) with the current approach. But at least it’s not throwing money at players to try and keep hold of a manager who would probably still leave when a bigger club batted their eyelashes at him. Carlos did a great job but he clearly didn’t think he could do it again so I’m not sad he’s gone now.
But if we had agreed some sort of compromise we would have been the big club ?
At least we would have been able to attract a more high profile manager if that happened.
Listening to the DS interview I am struck by my conflicting view that yes he is a thoroughly nice guy but appears to have no fire in his belly to make things happen. I agree about not changing managers too soon and giving them the opportunity but he seems to have no ideas just trotting out the usual platitudes.
A wide ranging, well constructed article with so many varied, interesting aspects and comments. I have mixed feelings about Hoyle, he stepped in with money for the club when Hodgkinson had his own business difficulties and as far as I know Hoyle is still not 100% the owner so he is still putting in money under these circumstances, presumably to protect his assets for future buyers which may or may not be in the distant future. It also has to be said that since promotion to the Premier League Town have been involved in relegation battles for many years except for one and that was instigated by Hodgkinson. If he had held on to CC on the one hand we would have received compensation on the other would he have landed the Olympiakos job.
I agree with you about REG and High’s loan s – baffling and may come back to bite us; however I disagree with you about the Bristol game I found it profoundly depressing below is what I thought immediately afterwards.
Well where do you start: shocking passing & shocking control? There is little point in dwelling on the occasional positives as we, understandably, are producing a shadow of last season’s performances.
Give the ageing Hogg a two year contract when he has to be deployed out of position, because he’s ineffective in midfield, producing rare good moments, he never has been a centre back or a playmaker, and none when under pressure. Give the ageing Lees a two year contract when he’s in the midst of his worst set of Town performances, including the concession of the second goal, where was Edmunds-Green? Just because he can pass the ball properly is no reason to omit him. Shockingly, the diminutive Wells scores with a header when surrounded by Town’s defenders. Ruffles unfortunately appears to be incapable of doing anything remotely resembling a professional footballer, his game began with mistake after mistake then barely improved, Tourton being subbed before him beggars belief. Holmes is so weak in one-to-ones. I counted at least three players playing out of position.
Why persist with the inclusion of Ruffles, Holmes, Russell, Lees and Hogg when they are clearly not up to it or out of form?
Even Nicholls seems out of sorts. The new recruits must be in despair along with the short-changed season card holders and those that aren’t
I don’t understand the often self-satisfied, smug comments from the club about progress when five out of the last six seasons, including this, Town have been in a relegation battle.
Something has to happen and quick.
Well a very good centre back and two punts have come through the door, but no sign of the midfield woes being addressed.
Huddersfield town have only bought rubbish and players who cannot play at the moment , what was the point , Huddersfield town will do nothing with the manager we have , was he the cheapest option , town should have gone all out to get Sean Dyche or Duncan Ferguson either would have inspired the players to perform better , my grand mother could do better than the deadbeat you have got , he may be good as second in charge but not as the main man . Peter James .
Give me strength! Can’t you see any positives at all? Or are you a wind up merchant/Leeds fan. We have to be realistic, we are Huddersfield Town, competing in the Championship is success. Promotion from league 1 is exciting. Keep the faith, UTT!
I agree Peter James is a wind up merchant and his comment “deadbeat you have got” suggests he is not one of us. He certainly has no concept of what HTFC is about.
I suspect you’re right. I just hope Peter James never has to work as a spy as he blew his cover in the space of one paragraph!
No one seems to make any comment on the fact the Town acquire lots of players that are not immediately available for selection because they have a injury the latest not available till the new year.
To name two more Arron a winger from Newcastle whom play about 180 minutes total . Anjorin was not fit last season until the season was almost over and there is more players . Doesn’t seem like good business too me .
So you thought Town weren’t all that bad at Bristol, TS? You are much easier to please than me. I thought it was utterly dreadful. The simple skills of pass, control & move are all distant memories. I couldn’t name you a single player who played to their potential. Defensively it was chaos at times, second best in midfield, no threat up front. Even the usual cool & calm Nicholls looked uncertain and vulnerable. The signings give very little grounds for optimism. Anything less than 3 points against Blackpool and Schofield is toast.
i disagree. somewhat. Town created some decent chances and definitely deserved a goal or two. but a combination of bad luck and lack of skills stopped them from scoring. so there are positives. but yes, also still many negatives. the defence way too passive. both on the goals and in general. the midfield almost non-existent, meaning the ball kept coming back since it was lost too easily. and Hogg as a central defender looking for the long, opening cross isn’t a good sign on any day…
i don’t think it’s game over for DS even with a loss and a bad performance against Blackpool. those of us who don’t ask for heads on plates after every game ought to understand that the new signings must be given some time too. but if we’re still in the relegation zone at the world cup break, i’ll also scream for a new coach. midtable mediocracy might be ok this season. a relegation battle isn’t. and long term, the club should stick by PH’s top-30 plan. that could mean midtable on a bad year but also promotion on a good one. as fans, we shouldn’t accept lower ambitions than that – but not expect to play in Europe either…
I stated on another forum that Bristol City was a must not lose game, so day is absolutely “must win”. We will be in the bottom three whatever the result today, but we are already in danger of being cut adrift.
Dissapointed with How Town are Playing Passing Along The Back Line No Midfield Creator Roudini looks Very Good Players look Confused Schofields Tactics as a Coach are useless i Fear if We Loose Next Few Games Will DH Sack Him No Contract Was Mentioned When he was Appointed Boyle looks a Carthorse if The New Players Dont Play Well and They Do look ok Schofield Should Go and a Proven Championship Manager Appointed
It was CC that got the best out of Koroma. He barely played for DC.
I agree with most of your comments but it
would be better if you knew how to spell some of the players names.
I don’t accept your negative comments about 5 of the last six seasons being relegation battles as we need to have a bit of context here. The first six games of this season is not a season. Last season was play-off. The two seasons before that were awful, so accept your point there. The two seasons before that were in the Premiership – so what did you expect?
“Something has to happen and quick” is spot on though. We need immediate impact from the new signings and we know we are not going to get that with Simpson. I am hoping Helik will start against Blackpool with Nakayama moving to left back.
By the way, my above comment was in response to Beck Lane.
To John Ashley / Yorky terrier and Terrier spirit. I am sorry if my comments upset you but I am not a Leeds fan neither am I a wind up merchant and I have no intention of being a spy to give my details away , but I think some of my comments are justified 0-1 to Blackpool today , I have been a supporter of htfc since the days of Ray Wilson ,Bob McNab , J Coddington , P Dinsdale , L Massie and the rest of the team in the early 60s . Thank you P James