There isn’t a friendly for a few days and the transfer rumour mill isn’t churning out much about Huddersfield Town. So with nothing better to do with my time, I’ve gone through Huddersfield Town’s latest training video and noted down who was there and who wasn’t.
You may ask why on Earth I would do this. But if you’re reading this then it means you’ve clicked this article and must be vaguely curious. Though, in reality, I think almost nobody reads these intro paragraphs and most skip to the main content. However, articles look weird without this intro section so I’ll keep adding a paragraph or two at the start for those that like to be eased in gently.
Some unexpected faces were training in the video
Before I get to the people that didn’t feature in the video, it’s worth covering some faces that might be a bit unexpected.
Murray Wallace – He missed the end of last season with a foot injury and wasn’t involved in the Emley friendly but it seemed like he was taking full part in the session. Good news, as I was concerned about us signing a player that’s already injured.
Radinio Balker – I only spotted him in the background of a few shots but he was involved in this session. It might be he’s only joining in with the more relaxed drills and avoiding too much contact at this stage of his recovery. The fact he’s training in any capacity is encouraging though as the details about his injury were vague and it sounded like it would mean he missed preseason.
Cameron Ashia – Probably shouldn’t be a surprise after he did well against Emley last weekend but the B Team player has clearly done enough to join the first team in training. Preseason can present unexpected chances for youngsters, maybe he’s done enough to work his way into Lee Grant’s plans. (Though realistically, he’s more likely bulking up a still threadbare squad.)
Another Iorpenda – My first thoughts were, “What’s Tom Iorpenda doing with us, he’s on loan at Notts County”. Then I remembered we’d signed his brother George Iorpenda to the academy late last season. He looks a lot like his brother but is apparently a central defender. He didn’t feature against Emley, so I’ve never seen him play. It would be nice to have brothers playing for Town again. Were Tom and Nathan Clarke the last brothers to play for Town? Are there other siblings we’ve had in the past? Jamie and John McCombe both played for Town but I don’t think they were ever on the pitch together.
Who was missing?
There were quite a few absentees from the first team, so here’s a run down of who wasn’t visible on the training video.
Owen Goodman – Despite being announced for his season long loan, he’s still training with Crystal Palace. I thought this was a bit odd, but he has been out on loan for the last two full seasons so his parent club want a good look at him in preseason. He’s due to join up with our squad before the Austria trip, so he’ll have time to bond with the team then.
Josh Feeney – He looked good in the 30 minutes he played against Emley on Saturday and didn’t have any obvious injury. His absence may also relate to him training with his parent club or he may have picked up a minor niggle.
Joe Low – The imposing centre back wasn’t anywhere to be seen in this training session and he missed the Emley game due to a knock. It sounded minor the way it was described at the weekend but perhaps it’s keeping him out of training for longer than expected.
Bojan Radulovic – It’s not yet clear if Bojan will get another chance at Huddersfield Town but I don’t think I’ve seen him on any of the club’s social media or YouTube videos since the testing at the start of preseason. He could have picked up an injury but may also have been kept away from the first team because he’s not part of the plans. Though given that the B Team also played against Emley at the weekend, I’d guess he’s injured. If true, that could hamper our ability to move him on this transfer window.
Rhys Healey – Sadly, seemingly injured again. A signing that sums up Mark Catrwright’s transfer dealings, trying to be clever by gambling on a player coming off a bad injury and it completely backfiring. If he gets fit and stays fit then it’s easy to imagine him getting 20 goals. But the staying fit part is very unlikely based on his time at Town so far.
There hasn’t been an in depth interview with Lee Grant since preseason began, so it may be we’ll get an update soon about injuries and how involved some of these fringe players are going to be. That’s going to be a more reliable source of information than scrutinising YouTube videos and doing a register to reverse engineer a list of players that might be injured. But until then, this is all we’ve got to go on.
What does Lee Grant’s training look like?
It’s worth watching the club’s Inside Training videos to get a sense of how Lee Grant’s training camp feels. The bits that are shown on camera are usually light on tactical details or trade secrets because other clubs will be watching but the vibe seems positive. Grant and his team seem energised and upbeat which made the session look focussed but fun at the same time.
With new signings coming in and many old faces leaving, this looks like a new version of Huddersfield Town. The squad feels younger and the number of B Team players involved adds to that, but I think that’s a good thing. After repeatedly slipping into a losing mentality in the last few seasons, I think fresh blood and new ideas are badly needed.
Why are we going for players who clearly want to play Championship football. ⚽️.
Even if we offer 3 million. Clubs may agree .
The player will not. Player in question, Galbraith. If reports are to be , believed. Squad coming together. Although still 2 or 3 positions remaining vacant. One of my main concerns, the injuries occurred over the previous seasons . Grant could turn out to be a great choice. Think we are challenging Real Madrid o n the number of coaches brought into Huddersfield. lol 😂
U T T -⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
Usually with transfers, clubs will have talked with the agent to make sure the player would be interested in them. It’s close to tapping up but also seems to be the industry standard way of doing things. So if we bid on Galbraith I’d expect we were in with a chance of getting him. It’s a shame he’s gone to Swansea but we’ll have other options on our list.
It’s always going to be tricky to find players that are good enough to play at the level above if we go up but still be willing to drop down to our level.
I agree with you about us having too many coaches/managers over recent years. I hope we give Lee Grant a fair crack and stick with him if he has a bad patch.
Town players who are not good enough or are Sick notes . Get rid .
Some very good signings at the moment.
Although you have to bring perspective into play here, previous Town squad apart from the obvious 3 or 4 players , were genuinely league 1 players . From a personal view we are still a couple of players short , to be genuine top6 contenders. This season will be harder than the previous one. ☝️
U T T- 🙏🙏🙏⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
Depending on how many players leave, I’d hope we bring in another 5 or 6. Though I think the players left to sign might be trickier as it’s likely we’ll need to pay fees for some and wait for the selling club to agree to let their players go. Hopefully we’ve learned from Alfie May and Joe Taylor and don’t get messed around and gazumped.
Because the plan is to be in the Championship next season and should be of a higher quality than league one journeymen ?
It’s a tricky balance between signing players for the future and for the current season. Fraser Horsfall got a four year deal at Blackpool, I don’t think we wanted to match that because he’s never played at Championship level and if we went up he’d have three years left on his deal at a level he might not cope with.
I’m hoping we get a strong physical striker who plays hard and scores a good dozen goals or more.
He hasn’t to be short of sticking his head where others wouldn’t.
Be nice for him to have all the qualities and be over 6ft.
Are we looking to Europe or further afield.
If our scouting team are looking this should be on their radar.
We need a physical finisher.
I agree about the big striker, someone we’ve needed for years. Signing players from Europe is a lot more complicated since Brexit as work permits are hard to get. There’s a complicated points system that roughly equates to foreign players needing to be internationals or to have played in a top European league. We’re not able to attract players that are established in the French, Italian or German top flight but I think the Netherlands top flight is more likely to have players Town are in the market for. Which is probably why we’ve brought quite a few players in from there. I’m no expert on these things though, so there may be other ways to bring in European players. Bojan Radulovic came from a fairly obscure league but he had played in one of the minor European competitions with them, so that might have been enough to help him qualify to work in the UK.
5 or 6 TS ‘ I’d love it if they are of good enough quality but I think we are almost done now apart from maybe an odd loan although I’d be very happy to be proven wrong.
Ideally I’d like to see a big striker, two wingers, a creative midfielder and a utility defender. I can see Spencer going if we get a bid, us offloading two or three strikers and one of Nicholls or Chapman leaving.
As for loans, I’d expect that Lee Grant has decent contacts at Manchester United and might be able to talk then into loaning us one of their top prospects.
Collins brothers? Michael and Simon? Not sure! But rings a bell.
Just Googled it and it says Sam and Simon Collins were brothers who both played for Town. This was the early 90s, just before I started watching Town properly. Michael Collins was early 00s I think and seemingly no relation. (What a player by the way!)
Thanks for easing me gently into the post. 😉
🤣 So at least one person has read the intro!
Interesting to find out , at the present moment in time , how many season tickets have been SOLD . I agree about Spencer and Nicholls , leaving. I get the impression
Spencer feels he’s too good for league 1. Plus if we receive a very good offer , I’d sell him. Nicholls , know great loss.
U T T – ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️👍
I think the positivity around the club since Lee Grant arrived may have helped sell a few more season cards but it must be down a long way from last season. We’ll find out when the season starts but I’d guess it’ll be under ten thousand but more than eight. Pure guesswork though.