I was going to do a write up about the 3-0 capitulation to Burton Albion on Saturday but the performance was so bad that it defies analysis. Burton is famous for brewing huge quantities of beer and the only plausible explanation for Town’s performance would be them spending the morning getting sloshed in the nearby brewery. Only that doesn’t seem plausible, as someone at the club have had to organise a booze up at a brewery – which based on recent evidence we are incapable of doing even this.
Town were disgusting to watch, literally. I felt sickened by the half-hearted slop that the team collectively served up. If you have any doubts about how bad Town are right now, watch the second goal on the highlights below.
Instead of trying to explain the inexplicable, I’m going to take a step back and look at all the things that are currently going wrong at Town.
The players
Time and time again we’ve been fed excuses about the players. They play really well in training, they’re an honest bunch of lads, they get nervous in front of the home crowd, they’re damaged from previous seasons’ failures, the running stats are good, they’ve not trained enough or have trained too much. None of it rings true because it’s all waffle that managers say because they want to defend their players in the hope that loyalty will be repaid on the pitch. But it rarely is.
Michael Duff repeatedly said that he thought we had a decent squad. On paper we do. Our wage bill suggests they should be. But on the pitch it hasn’t come together at all.
I don’t want to single any individual players out for criticism here. Not because I don’t want to throw one or two under the bus but instead because they all deserve to be thrown under the bus. Maybe Callum Marshall, a loanee, deserves credit for always giving his best (though not always to much effect). Other than that, I can’t think of a single player that has lived up to expectations this season, never mind exceeding expectations. Mickel Miller would be another one that’s been good but sadly missed too much of the season due to injury.
There are other factors that have led to so many players failing to produce but ultimately, the players need to look at themselves before pointing fingers elsewhere. The number of managers that have failed to get a tune out of these players means it’s impossible to not blame them first and foremost.
The footballing philosophy
What kind of football do Huddersfield Town play? I could have answered that question quite clearly with Wagner, Corberan or Warnock in charge but lately we seem a mess. Duff talked about playing mixed football but that is more an absence of a style rather than anything unique about how we play.
We play a lot of long balls to strikers too small to do anything with it. We sometimes try to play out from the back without having enough defenders capable of this way of playing. We’ve still not replaced Aaron Mooy since he left nearly six years ago, so the midfield never has anyone capable of dictating the play. We built a squad with no wingers and then struggled for creativity. Hogg continues to get picked despite being a shadow of his former self, because the other options are all worse. The most consistent trait from the last four or five years has been a regular inability to connect simple passes over short distances. And giving strikers almost nothing to feed off.
This stuff could be laid at the door of the various managers we’ve had in but it goes deeper than that. The “head coach” instead of manager thing should improve continuity. There should be a club style that starts in the academy and carries through to the first team. Then when a head coach gets sacked it’s less disruptive because you recruit someone with broadly the same approach and recruit players for that style.
Instead we have the current mish-mash approach, where we lurch from one style to another like a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel. And we need a squad overhaul everytime we bring in a new head coach, to suit their approach. If you look at the names being linked with Town for the vacant head coach role, there’s no coherence to the names being bandied around. It’s not just pragmatists or just footballing purists. Because nobody knows what kind of guy we want next because we veer from one approach to another with each appointment.
Team spirit and character
Do you remember the talk of a leadership group being brought in and a fresh start ahead of this season? That doesn’t get spoken about much any more because the team spirit is on the floor and there seems to be a vacuum where the leadership of this group should be.
The way we’ve let our heads drop at the slightest set back this season has suggested the weak mentality that saw us relegated from the Championship has continued into this season regardless of the talk we’ve heard. I think Michael Duff was doing what he could to try and improve the individuals he had playing for him but the lack of player turnover last summer meant we were saddled with too many players with negative and weak mindsets.
Fans are willing to forgive players that aren’t the best in terms of ability if they put everything in when they’re wearing a Town shirt. Andre Breitenreiter said at the end of last season that he believed a significant number of Town players didn’t care about the club at all. Based on Burton Albion away, I think this problem is still there.
The mentality aspect of the game matters a great deal at this level too. Teams that succeed tend to have a collective spirit that propels them on through tricky moments. Our team create their own tricky moments and then implode at the first sign of adversity. While this observation is based mostly on gut feeling from what I’ve watched this season, it’s backed up by the lack of last-minute winners we’ve scored and the times we’ve crumbled when a minor setback occurs in a game.
Connection with fans
Winning teams tend to have a great connection with their fans regardless of any other factors but while Town aren’t succeeding on the pitch, everything else needs to be good to maintain a positive relationship. It currently is not.
While the criticism aimed at Mark Cartwright from some fans often crosses the line, there are plenty more criticisms that are reasonable, measured and justified. Beyond requesting blind faith in someone that has consistently failed, there hasn’t been much said by anyone at the club on this front. While it’s possible that decisions have already been made but not publicised, the PR side of things from Town is dismal at the moment. The strategy seems to be to fingers in ears and hope it all blows over soon. (Since writing this, Kevin Nagle has released a video diary that hints at Cartwright’s departure but doesn’t confirm anything, possibly due to contracts and legal agreements.)
The injuries
I don’t have any insight into the internal goings on at the club, so don’t know if the injuries we’ve sustained this season have been a result of bad luck, managers ignoring advice from the medical department or the medical department not giving the right advice. Regardless, the number of injuries we’ve had this season has been crazy.
There apparently was a change in this area a few months ago, with some of the medical team let go. But how did we get to the stage where so many players had muscle injuries? Were we overplaying them? Under training them? Bringing them back from injury too soon? Signing players that are injury prone? Maybe a mix of all these things.
It’s also possible that character has a part to play in this area too. Are some players happy to sit out games injured and are others willing to keep minor knocks to themselves to keep their place and they develop into something worse?
It’s hard for me to get to the bottom of from the outside looking in. But I also don’t have a lot of faith that the club have a handle on what has gone on with the injuries.
Off-the-pitch matters
While the football the first team play is the most important thing, the management of all the other stuff does have an impact on the feeling around the club too. The improvements to the stadium have been welcome and H Town seems like a decent addition to match day but a lot of other things off the pitch are not great.
For all the talk about the stadium being brought under the club’s ownership, it’s still not been done. While I appreciate that these complicated sorts of deals take time, there has been years and years of tantalising promises that have yet to come to fruition. The club owning 100% of the stadium will be a positive step forward but we’ve been promised this for so long now and it still hasn’t happened.
The season card pricing debacle this last few weeks has been pretty dismal too. Regardless of whether you agree with the pricing or not, the fact the club had to announce several concessions and amendments to the original offer suggests they know it was bungled. Just a year after the previous season card announcement was scrapped and the cheaper tickets carried on for a further season.
Then there are the gossipy things that leak out, like an executive inviting a fan to the car park to continue their exchange of views, gesticulating at Town fans and a Town fans’ comedy event being cancelled because of a cheeky discount code. Silly stuff really but the kind of thing that makes the club look amateurish.
B Team not producing
In the Championship we were told the academy was producing players only capable of League One or Two football. Now we’re down at that level the academy production line has ground to a halt. Tom Iorpenda is the only player close to getting in our first team. And Michael Duff was often quite scathing of his defensive abilities even when praising his attacking play.
Struggling to integrate B Team players into the first team isn’t the reason Towns season seems certain to end in failure. But it is another area the club isn’t getting right. A good example would be the recent central defender injury crisis. Loick Ayina, a central defender, was sat on the bench or not even making the squad when we had four full backs across the back line and not a single central defender. How little faith must we have in our youngsters to cobble together such a makeshift backline? Had we decent youngsters coming through, at least a couple of this season’s injuries could have been chances for youngsters to impress rather than picking from the same stale group of wizened pros on the fringe of the squad.
The club is in the process of switching back to a full academy system, so building up the younger age groups may have diverted attention and resources from the B Team. Regardless, it’s disappointing that we don’t have more players on the cusp or breaking into the first team. The fact Jon Worthington has included so few youngsters during his spell as caretaker suggests that the quality isn’t there in the youth ranks, as surely the head of the academy would give them a go if they were good enough.
How do you fix these problems at Huddersfield Town?
It’s much easier to point out the issues than it is to fix them but the obvious solution is to have a massive clear out and bring in new people with the qualities that the club is currently lacking. Nobody has faith in Mark Cartwright to do this job, so he should be the first person to be “relieved of his duties”. Judging by Kevin Nagle’s comments, that might have happened already barring the official announcement.
Then the new sporting director needs to come in and hit the ground running. Given the summer transfer window is fast approaching and the new man will want to do things his way rather than continue the last guy’s plans, I think Mark Cartwright’s replacement should be someone already doing that job at this level. The Cartwright equivalents at the top end of League One or bottom end of the Championship will already have similar plans as Town for the summer and would have the best chance of being ready to jump straight into the job without too much of a bedding in period. Finding a standout candidate at that level who wants to leave might not be easy but it’s a vital appointment to get right.
The player recruitment is the other thing that could have a huge impact on nearly all the issues I’ve mentioned above. Nagle spoke in his video diary of needing big, strong, athletic types in the coming transfer window. I’m not sure that will fix it, as it’s often more of a mental weakness rather than physical that costs us in games. Regardless the gaping holes in our squad suggest we need to either to fantastic business or pay big money to bring this squad up to scratch.
I think the player exits will be another important area to manage. Getting rid of all of the players with expiring contracts seems likely at this stage. Even Hogg’s traditional 1-year contract extension has to be in doubt given the need for fresh leaders to emerge.
Then there’s the job of appointing a new manager. Picking one that will play the club-approved style would be sensible (once we’ve worked that out). I’d also like us to stick with the next guy for a reasonable period of time too, as we’ve now got a reputation of getting through managers far too frequently.
If we can have a clear out and bring in new people that are a genuine improvement then there’s hope for the future. Which is desperately needed as the club feels to be rudderless and drifting at the moment. Desptie the fact we’re technically not out of the playoff race yet.
I think the phrase is “p¡$$ up at a brewery” but I agree, we’re not even capable of organising that.
Complete clear out from top to bottom for me.
A lot of our problems have arisen from buying incredibly overpriced average players from the Championship who can’t even get into their original teams and who are clearly not motivated to play for a club in a lower division. We should have found players from lower leagues or non-league, who are at least motivated and would certainly have been cheaper.
Going back further, the recruiting methods of this club have been appalling since the day we got promoted to the PL.
NewsNow won’t share my posts if there’s rude words, so I went with booze up. For the same reason, I’ve clumsily edited your more accurate version of this phrase.
I agree that we’ve been poor in the transfer market for a long time. I’m still optimistic about Taylor but if the rumoured transfer fee is true, he’ll need to be very good to justify the price tag.
Luckily, lots of contracts are up at the end of this season so many high earners who have underperformed will leave. I can’t say I’m fully confident we’ll replace them with better but it’ll be good to have some fresh faces.
An excellent write up.
Quite a few fans lay the blame at Kevin Nagle, but these are probably people who have no idea of business. He only had a few days to save the club from probable extinction and did it. He had to put together a management team immediately to run the club both on and off the field. Where Nagle got it wrong was at the end of the first season. To re-interview the top two people was worrying, because obviously they were not on top of the job. Certainly one of those positions should have been changed, and I’m not exactly sure what the other person does. In the latest diary Nagle seems genuinely shocked at the difference Town paid in agents fees compared to the other clubs. Until the figures were released nobody would have been able to compare them. The fact that he used the word litigation several times in the diary points to dishonesty in the running of the club.
On the playing side, at the end of last season I posted on here that Town should try and prise Dave Challinor away from Stockport. Instead we employed another serial failure. Challinor has had another brilliant season but he will be overlooked again. It got me thinking about the best managers I have seen at Town and their previous records.
Ian Greaves, first manager role at Town.
Mick Buxton, first manager role at Town
Eoin Hand, first manager role at an English club. He was absolutely shafted by his number 2 when he was hospitalised.
David Wagner, first manager role at Town
Carlos Corberan, first manager role at Town
Maybe it’s just coincidence, but more likely you are employing people who know where and what to look for.
I also posted a while ago to bring back Stuart Webber. Unfortunately, from what I have heard, he has no intention of getting back in to football in the foreseeable future.
I’ve renewed my season ticket, my dad bought my first one in 1969, I’ve never lived near Huddersfield, but through thick and thin I’ve kept turning up. Top of the Premier League, bottom of the 4th Division, International players and complete donkeys. I’ve seen it all and I love it.
Thanks Paul. Glad you’re still enjoying Town through all the ups and downs.
I remember Challinor’s long throws back in his playing days but don’t know much about him as a manager. But when I’ve seen Stockport play, I’ve liked the way they do things. From his perspective, I’m not sure swapping stability and steady growth at Stockport for the circus at Huddersfield Town.
I was curious about Nagle’s litigation talk too. Might be as innocuous as NDAs in executive’s contracts or as serious as legal action for suspected “brown envelope” activity. Hopefully we’ll find out in time.
You raise a good point about first-time managers often being successful. At a push you could even include Lee Clark in that list. The counter point would be to list off Schofield, Fotheringham, Sirwert and maybe even Worthington as examples when inexperienced managers have failed. I think giving a new manager this first job is a risky step but can pay off when you pick the right man. I couldn’t tell you if the club currently wants to throw the dice on their next appointment or go for a safe bet.
Stuart Webber would be a decent option if he’d drop to our level but if he’s ruled himself out of these sorts of roles we’ll need to look elsewhere. I don’t know who the next one will be but I just hope they are good at their job rather than good at shifting blame and making excuses.
I’m a bit puzzled by the vitriol aimed at Kevin Nagle. While it’s been a tough time at Town since he took over, I’d argue it’s in spite of his best efforts rather than because of anything he’s done. The main mistake he’s made has been to appoint the wrong people to run the footballing side of the club and then stick with them. But he has put in substantial amounts of money and my impression is that he’s well intentioned towards the club.
As you hopefully know by now, I’m a big fan of your writing, TS. This time you’ve surpassed your own high standards. An excellent piece that somehow manages not to utter obscenities which, quite frankly, is all that the current Town set-up deserves.
It would be interesting to go back through the season and just see how many times the reviews have described a woeful Town performance. Even during that unbeaten spell (seems a long time ago now), I said it more than once that Town were dreadful and fortunate not to get beaten. What might be quicker would be to identify matches where Town have played for, say, 60+ minutes the sort of football that we’d be happy to watch. It really has been a truly dreadful season in a division where I’ve been quite shocked how poor the standard is even compared to the Championship – and we all know there’s another chasm between the Championship and the Premier League. For Town to play like they have done over a season and finish in the top ten, that tells the story of the standard of football.
Clearing out players always sounds good but in practice it’s not quite so easy. Certainly every player who is out of contract must be released. I don’t know how many players that incorporates but probably not that many. All lone signings to be returned – there’s only about 3 of them I think. After that, what’s the strategy? Maybe anyone with only 1 year left on their contract is told you won’t be offered an extension, go and find yourselves a new club, we won’t stand in your way. Then what? Do you simply announce we’ll consider offers for any player? That guy from Lincoln can then come and get Sorenson and Taylor!!
As for the Head Coach, nobody is now calling for Worthington. Poor guy! This brief spell hasn’t done a lot for his CV. So who is it to be? I live not far from Norwich. David Wagner wasn’t popular with the Norwich fans and I’d say we’d have him back in a brace of shakes! And I still would. He’s a man we remember as bringing a ‘feel good’ atmosphere to the club and if ever we needed that, we need it now. I don’t get the line that you need someone with League One experience; why descend to the depths? It’s a horrible standard of football; if we could play mid-Championship football in League One, we’d win this useless league by 10 points.
There’s been a lot of constructive comments to your article. A number of old-timers (like me – 62yrs a fan) have commented which is good to see. We have truly seen it all from top to bottom. This feels like a very low time indeed. Another season like this one, and we could be in another relegation battle. Quite shocking when you think where we were not many years ago…..under David Wagner.
First of all, we should thank Mr Nagle for sticking with the club through difficult times. It was always going to be a long-term project and I sincerely hope that our management team are learning from any mistakes that have been made. The question is, is there really a toxic atmosphere at the club or are the seasons poor performances simply due to mental frailty and a lack of physically fit players? Looking at the players individually, it is hard to identify any potential troublemakers and it is hard to see why the team is playing so badly, with such a passionate and inspirational man as Jon Worthington in charge. Having said this, I would like to know what is happening with Balker and Taylor, two players who seem to be performing well below their potential. The lack of centre backs is obviously a serious problem and Sorenson has been shown up time and again this season as being vulnerable when playing in a traditional full back position. I would suggest playing a back three of Turton, Pearson and Ruffles to allow the likes of Sorenson to get forward and play to their strengths. TERRIERS TOGETHER is certainly what we need now.
Apart from a horrendous number of injuries, the turning point of our season was selling Helik without replacing him. Also, as you say, where is the back up in the B team. In the 16 match unbeaten run we were difficult to beat, and grinding out results without playing well.
Helik has been a big miss. Both as a player and a personality. He wasn’t a huge character but he led by example. Not to mention he was out biggest goal threat a lot of the time. Failing to replace him was an oversight. With Pearson, Lees, Turton, Lonwijk and Ruffels all likely to leave in the summer there are a lot of new defenders needed to come in.
You stole our manager and then sacked him even though he kept you in the Championship at the time. You cheated us out of a playoff place years ago! We took 4 points off you this season and should have had 6 after being 2 0 up at half time. You are a badly run club living beyond your means. Justice will see you relegated next season.
Calm down Chris! I’m guessing you’re a Lincoln fan and have an imagined rivalry with us. I don’t think Huddersfield Town fans have any strong feelings either way about your clubs, so your anger towards our club might be misplaced. I liked the Cowleys when they were at Town but I think you need to let it go. We’ve had seven permanent managers since them and another one to be appointed soon.
P.s. I’m hoping we buy Erhahon off you in the summer. Do you think there’s a chance it could happen?
We don’t meet very often as you are much bigger than us but when we do we always seem to get a bad deal so taking 4 points off you( should have been 6) was a pleasure. You even took our best player Sorensen last year and Toffolo before that and buying Joe Taylor stopped any further loan to us from Luton. Erhahon came to us from St Mirren even though he could have gone to a bigger club because he knew he would get game time here. When not injured ( generally good injury record) is first name on team sheet. We have to sell him and anyone else who performs well for a season as only way to survive financially. Several clubs apparently interested including Burnley and West Brom but if you meet our valuation ( you will no doubt try to rip us off) he might fancy you as big club in league 1 when unlikely to be regular in Premier league with Burnley who look like they are going up or West Brom who could still make championship play offs. Hopefully if he goes to you you will get yourselves sorted and not stunt his growth like you have done to Sorensen and Taylor.
I’ve always thought Erhahon looks a class above League One when I’ve seen him, so no surprise clubs higher up are looking at him. We’ve had to sell our best players to balance the books in the past too, which is always a shame but I suppose it’s a way to punch above your weight, if you can keep finding good players and selling them for profit.
You’ve summed the situation up TS, good to see Lincoln fans taking interest in our club. Strange one the B team , it had been said before that they trained and followed the first team programme so they could step up when required. Maybe we gave up signing players who had had just fallen short of making the first team at higher league clubs?
Do agree we need a striker who will give the opposition centre half something to thick about physically, quite a lot of our lot are like paper bags, Sorensen is a big ish lad but gets muscled out. No great loss Chris !
In his last season with us Sorensen was our best player by a mile and loved by fans. We would have him back in a flash but couldn’t afford him now. Surprised he is not doing it for you. Joe Taylor was fantastic for us in his short loan spell but is another not performing for you.Clearly serious problems at a club too big for league 1. Took Sunderland a while to escape upwards and we regularly beat them when in league 1. We are a small club with no sugar daddy so league 1 or 2 is our natural home but we can dream about doing a Bournemouth. We put another spanner in your play off works recently like Burton. We should have beat Charlton at the Valley but like against you earlier in the season, let a 2 goal lead slip. Our next 4 games are Reading Bolton Stockport and Wrexham. Hoping for more spanners
I don’t think Sorensen’s issues are completely his fault. A lot of the early problem were down to him pushing up as a wingback and the defence and midfield not covering the gap. We were repeatedly exposed by balls in behind him but improved when we played a quicker defensive midfielder to cover (Kasumu). He’s missed a lot of games through injury, then we’ve tinkered too much with the system for him to get into a rhythm. Hopefully he’ll have a better time next season.
I’m not sure we are too big for League One. We’re relatively big in terms of wage budget and attendances but we certainly don’t deserve to go up this season based on the football we’ve played. Maybe a new coach and a glut of new signings will turn it around. But there are a lot for “if”s that have to fall into place.
Glad to hear Lincoln have had some good moments this season.
A lot of our best academy products have been players that have dropped out of Premier League academies first. They hoover up so much young talent that there’s a lot of gems amongst their cast offs. I’d guess we’re doing less of this in order to focus the budget on building up the younger age groups. But we need to balance the long-term benefits for the club with the here and now.
A big awkward striker would be a handy. As even if we intend to play tippy tappy stuff, it’s always useful to throw on a big lump and go direct if you’re chasing the game in the final minutes.
Really enjoyed reading your review. A really good analysis apart from “And we need a squad overhaul every time we bring in a new head coach, to 💩 their approach.”😁 No sure that would work!
Don’t think Mr Nagle gets anywhere near enough credit (and neither did Dean Hoyle) for what he has done for our club. Yes he’s made mistakes but some of the vitriol he’s received is ridiculous.
,
Ha! In an earlier comment if talked about how I try to avoid swearing and then made this blunder! Might be more accurate but I’ve now changed it back to “suit their approach”.
I do think that Kevin Nagle must think he’s got terrible value for his money. Spending £40-50m to be abused by angry people half the world away from him. I’m sure there are professionals local to him that will mistreat him for much less money.
An excellent report of where we are TS, in a mess ,however things can change quickly should we appoint the right manager in the near future , just remember what Wagner and Corberan did in a short space of time .I cannot understand the fans being against Nagle , he is in my eyes a saviour putting in all the money ,and yes it was time to put up season card prices ,we have had it good for a long time .The club needs our support at this time not our constant griping .
Thank you! I think that potential for things to turn around quickly is what keeps me coming back to Town no matter how bad things are. I think the price of the season cards isn’t outrageous but the increase in one jump is too much (probably made necessary by freezing them last season).
I think Nagle has good intentions and has put his money where his mouth is. Hopefully this will pay off for us over time, even if it’s not working at the moment.
As for the griping, that’s part of the fun of following Town for me! Though I try to sprinkle in some optimism here and there too.
Wonderful typo TS. “ And we need a squad overhaul everytime we bring in a new head coach, to $h1t their approach.”
Although on reflection you may have a point !
😂
I have been to several ‘B’ team games and there are some players there who should be first team regulars namely Ashia, Eccleston and Ayina but the recent management ‘won’t pick kids’! Kids! 2 of them are 21! We lost 2 brilliant kids who left because they weren’t getting picked on a regular basis, Camara and Diarra. Apparently Ayina won’t sign a new contract because of a fall out with Duff but when JW took over I thought he would be used, to pick him in the squad and not play him when we were playing midfielders as central defenders was a disgrace.
The recruitment has been dire and not just down to Cartwright as a lot of the players who have been signed in the last couple of seasons have had their career previous to signing blighted with injuries so our injury situation came as no surprise to anyone with access to Wikipedia. As everyone says on here we need a total cleanse from top to bottom but this will be done by KN who has no idea about English football and has to rely on advisors who have seriously let him down. He says he has spent nearly £50 million but come on Kev we need you and I support you but we don’t need murals and other off field frills we need better players Birmingham did it why can’t we. UTT.
Thanks for commenting Shed. I haven’t watched the B Team this year, so you’ve got a more informed viewpoint than I have. It was disappointing to see Camera and Diarra leave before either had reached their potential. Brodie Spencer could go the same way if he runs down his contract (I believe he’s signed on til summer ’26 so an extensions would be wise to avoid losing him).
The sad thing about all the money Kevin Nagle has put in is that it’s mostly been wasted. Maybe some of the players we’ve bought will come good but I think a lot of the extra investment hasn’t done much to improve us. And it’s put us in a situation where we’re reliant on a wealthy owner rather than balancing the books. I worry that we may need up replacing the departing senior players with cheaper alternatives because the financial rules mean we’ve to cut the wage bill.
Enjoyed the insight. The current players have seen off too many decent Coaches/Managers which is no coincidence. They’ve only performed under strong people, Warnock, Corboran etc. As soon as they don’t like what they hear they sulk. A strong Manager/coach is required with the ability to bring a new identity to the club, again like Warnock, Corboran and Wagner. They should be ashamed. I was at Burton on Saturday and the vitriol was embarrassing at times but the effort and commitment by the players was shameful.
KN receives too much criticism. What he has done for the club to date has been commendable. His problem has been putting his trust in MC and JE. Both seemingly have been allowed to run the show without much scrutiny e.g agents fees. He should be applauded for bringing a tired stadium up to scratch and hopefully the acquisition will go through soon.
The season ticket mistake was not putting them up incrementally over the years. It’s still a decent price compared to others.
Social media has too much influence. Keyboard warriors who have no idea about football, or insight into how the club is run, but sadly the powers that be seem to think that everybody feels the same. The owner shouldn’t be influenced by it but look at how other successful clubs are run.
Finally, I’ll go back to where I started. If the players performed, many of the other complaints would be such an issue. Get it right on the pitch and perceived problems of it don’t get much of a mention.
I am a SC holder and will renew despite moving out of the area in the next few weeks. As a supporter of the Club for over 60 years you get used to ‘troubling times’.
Thanks for your comment Tony.
It’s an interesting point about Kevin Nagle listening too much to keyboard warriors. I share my views online about Town, so I’m probably part of that group but I’d still agree that he seems a bit too plugged in to a vocal minority of fans that often don’t represent the views of the average fan. It’s probably more of a woder societal problem with social media but I think Nagle is a bit too tuned into the most angry and unpleasant fans. Saying that, it’s good that he listens to fans and goes out of his way to connect with them.
I completely agree with you that the football on the pitch is the most important thing. If we start winning then a lot of the issues we have will fall into place.
I agree with your assessment and I think the main point you mention is sticking with a manager even when form dips from time to time or there is a difference of opinion in playing style or player recruitment etc. I feel that if some of our previous managers had been kept and supported and given more time we might be in a very different position than we are now…namely Breitenreiter, Warnock, Moore and Duff…all were thought to be the right man for the job and I could see all of them would have brought success given time.
I think sacking the manager is often a way to paper over cracks. They can be used as a shame sponge and then you don’t have to address the deeper lying problems. Now we’ve had the same issues with repeated managers, we’ll hopefully get to the root causes and give the next one a good crack at it. Though, I thought Chris Powell deserved more time when we replaced him with Wagner, do what do I know?
That’s a well-written assessment of the current situation. While I’m not a Town fan myself (the rest of my family is, so I can’t help but keep up with what’s happening), it seems clear to me that Kevin’s primary focus lies in the stadium, surrounding property, and his vision for incorporating various buildings into the Huddersfield Town brand. He appears fixated on bringing concerts and other developments to the area, including hotels. It’s evident that football takes a backseat for Kevin, which has been reflected in the repeated failures of his football management team. Until he prioritizes making the right appointments and shifts the focus to football rather than physical infrastructure, I fear Town won’t progress out of this league. In fact, I doubt he’d be overly concerned if Town were in League 2, as long as he retains ownership of the ground, the Odeon, and the Rope Walk pub, all under the Huddersfield Town umbrella.
Thanks Paul. I believe Kevin Nagle has done a lot of regeneration work in Sacramento and improving infrastructure is one of his areas of expertise. He’s not an expert in English football, so I can’t understand why he delegates management of those areas to people he trusts. Though that trust hasn’t been repaid. I’d hope that the on-the-field and off-the-field sides don’t have to compete for attention and both should be able to thrive at the same time. Both are important but as fans, the success on the pitch will always trump having a nice new bar or a great new brand partnership.
First of all I think we should count our blessings that Nagel bought the club, we could have done a great deal worse. It is clear that his intentions are good but he learns too much from mistakes, the majority of which are as you say, caused by the people he has entrusted with the running of the internal and external affairs. When I listen to his video blogs it’s like 3rd rock from the sun aliens have ascended on the club taken up human form and are acting like they know what they are doing and understand what needs to be done to rectify the issues. However you can’t just say we tried playing football to get out of this league which didn’t work so now we are going to recruit oversize thugs and physically kick our way up to the championship. I really don’t know what the answer is but one thing for sure is that apart from a handful of players we need a mass clear out and a clean slate. I wonder what the odds are on the “Big Giant Head” being appointed as head coach ?
Thank you TS for your usual cogent insights. It is still difficult to understand how or why they have gradually got worse and worse – but you explain much of it.
Along with Paul – I have always thought Nagle’s main interest is in the real estate , and very wary of the community as a whole (ie the council) losing their stake to Nagle.
Ideally, success on the field should go along with building up the value of the stadium and surroundings, but if he separates the football operation from the property operation – who knows what that would mean for the football.
We are so lucky to have TS’s insights I do hope you keep going, whatever happens.
I actually feel sorry for KN. He seems a good, well intentioned guy who has put good money after bad into our club. Sadly, he’s been badly let down by his management team and those he relies on to run the club. Leadership comes from the top and he now needs to bite the bullet and conduct a proper clear out. Fortunately, it appears he’s going to do it.
Our recruitment has been utterly atrocious, matched in part by the managerial revolving door. We can’t afford financially to get it wrong anymore, otherwise we’ll be out of business in next to no time. I agree with Terrier Spirit, time for a proper strategic plan and stability.
We’ve even proved on occasion that a decent manager (Wagner, Corberan, Warnock etc) can get a tune out of a mixed bunch. So let’s identify the right gaffer, and who knows, with someone who can identify and secure a decent footballer, we might see a change in fortune.
It’s criminal that we’re probably going to miss out on the play-offs (but we don’t deserve it tbh). That said, I’ve been following Town for nearly 50 years-it’s a rollercoaster and I can’t change the team I love. I was born into it. It’s who I am. UTT
Kevin Nagle is doing his best for Town and l feel he will get there in the end.people should stop moaning about Kevin Nagle l think he actually cares about getting it right. He can’t change the culture of our club just like that, he has been badly let down. He’s no fool he will find the the answers and fix things