Category Archives: Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town Half Term Report – Sky’s The Limit For Maturing Terriers

January 6, 2014 Spoughts 4 Comments

James Thornton (@JThorn26)

Town’s 5-1 thrashing of Yeovil last Sunday marked the halfway stage of the current season and with 24 games played Town find themselves sitting pretty in mid-table. As 2013 fades into 2014 there is an abundance of optimism around the club and there has even been talk of a push for the play-offs in the second half of the season. With this in mind we take the opportunity to look at where it has all gone right for Town so far this season.

After avoiding relegation by the skin of their teeth last time around, it was evident that Mark Robins had a huge pre-season ahead of him to ensure that Town would not once again find themselves embroiled in a relegation dogfight. Despite a series of underwhelming results in pre-season, some excellent business over the summer has helped ensure that the chances of this happening again in 2014 are remote at best. The signings of James Vaughan, Jonathan Hogg and Adam Hammill, for a combined total of just over 1 million pounds, – the same fee that Town allegedly received for full-back Jack Hunt – have added real quality and have each played their part in helping Town to progress to the next level.

vaughan hogg hammill — (Left to right) James Vaughan, Adam Hammill and Jonathan Hogg have added real quality to the team

With regards to the signings themselves, leading scorer James Vaughan has rightly taken the plaudits for his terrific form in the early part of the season. With 9 goals in the opening 11 league games it is fair to say that Vaughan’s form at the beginning of the season has been a major reason for Town’s current comfortable league position and at 600k has been arguably the signing of the season by any team in the division. With Vaughan in the side Town have picked up 24 points from 17 games (1.41 points per game) whereas in the games Vaughan has missed Town have picked up just 7 points from 7 matches (1 point per game) and this is a real indicator of how much better Town are with Vaughan in the team.

If Vaughan has almost single handedly carried the burden of scoring Town’s goals at times this season, the same can be said of fellow summer recruit Adam Hammill with regards to the team’s chance creation and assists. A disappointing spell on loan last season meant that many Town fans were skeptical when his permanent signing was announced in June. However, Hammill has answered his doubters in emphatic style, racking up 8 assists already this season and adding much needed flair and creativity to the team. To put Hammill’s impact into context it is worth pointing out that no Town player provided more than 7 assists throughout the entirety of the last campaign. Though Hammill can still be a highly frustrating player to watch, for instance he will often try do to one trick too many and is occasionally let down by his final ball, he has been one of Town’s most consistent players since making his move permanent and is almost certainly Town’s most exciting player to watch.

If Vaughan and Hammill have provided the bulk of Town’s attacking threat, Jonathan Hogg has been equally important in tighteneing up a defence that shipped goals for fun last season. Hogg has added much needed steel to the Town midfield and his incredible workrate and stamina has added protection to a defence that was overrun and exposed far too often last season. Despite the fact Town’s defence this season has been pretty much the same as in the 2012-13 season, Town’s defensive record this time around has vastly improved and this is indicative of the impact Hogg has had. To emphasize how important Hogg’s contribution to the team has been, it is worth pointing out that Town have only conceded more than two goals on two occasions so far this season, one of which was in a game where Hogg was out injured. This is a far cry from last season when Town had the third worst goals against record in the entire league and suffered drubbings at the hands of Leicester, Nottingham Forest and Watford.

As well as bringing in quality new additions, Mark Robins deserves immense credit for the way he has improved the talent already available to him at the club. At the end of the day, only three of the players who started in Town’s final game of 2013 against Yeovil – Martin Paterson, Adam Hammill and Jonathan Hogg – were actually signed by Robins. The other eight starters, and six of the seven substitutes, were either already on the books or part of the club’s youth setup when Robins took over. The improvement in players like Paul Dixon, Oliver Norwood, Danny Ward and Adam Clayton this season has been clear for all to see and is testament to Robins’ excellent man-management skills. Despite the fact the squad he is working with is largely made up of signings from the previous two regimes, Robins has been able to mould the team into his own image as the team has gradually adapted to his footballing principles and philosophies.

As Mark Robins himself has often said, the talent of the current squad has never been in question, it has simply been lacking the belief and confidence necessary to achieve its potential. Unlike the Simon Grayson and Lee Clark regimes, the players are playing to a clearly defined system – whether it be 3-5-2, 4-2-3-1 or whatever – and there is a much greater logic to team selection than the seemingly random selections that characterised the Grayson and Clark eras. This has led to a much more settled and consistent team and Town are now reaping the benefits as the squad grows in belief and ability. Though most of the players in Town’s starting eleven were not signed by Robins, make no mistake that he is largely responsible for their progress and development.

Town have come a long way already this season and at the minute seem to be getting better with each passing week. At the beginning of the season Town were often solid rather than spectacular and made hard work of games they should really have been winning, for instance: Doncaster, Barnsley, Blackpool, and Birmingham. In many ways the debacle against Birmingham marked something of a watershed moment in the season so far. Following the 3-1 defeat Town headed into the international break with just one win in eight matches and there were growing worries that Town might be slipping into a relegation fight after all.

Victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the next match, however, sparked a run of three straight victories and Town haven’t looked back since. Since the Birmingham game Town have played 9, won 4, drawn 2 and lost 3 – a stark contrast to the 1 win in 8 in the preceding set of games. What is more, in the four home games following the Birmingham match, Town have registered no fewer than 99 shots on goal – more than they managed in their previous eight home league games combined. In the process they have outperformed, or at least matched, some of the best teams in the division, most notably in the home matches against Burnley and Derby.

Furthermore, as the season has progressed, Town have gone some way towards dispelling the myth that they are overly reliant on one or two key players such as James Vaughan and Adam Hammill. Of Town’s first 18 goals this season, Vaughan or Hammill played a significant part, either by scoring or providing an assist, in 14 of them. In other words, 77 percent of the goals Town scored between the season’s start and the Watford match in October relied on the contributions of just two players.

In recent weeks, however, other players within the squad have increasingly come to the fore. Adam Clayton, for instance, has been superb since his return to the side and it is little coincidence that Town’s performances have improved dramatically since his return to the side. Comfortable on the ball and capable of picking a pass, Clayton is finally consistently performing to the standard he showed in glimpses last season. Equally, Clayton’s midfield partner, Oliver Norwood, has been impressive recently and has chipped in with some superb goals against Burnley, Bolton and Grimsby. With the aforementioned Jonathan Hogg working tirelessly behind them, Clayton and Norwood have been able to flourish as part of a central midfield three and for the first time in years Town have a midfield capable of dictating play in the centre of the park. Furthermore, Mark Robins finally seems to be getting the best out of the often infuriatingly inconsistent Danny Ward. Two goals and two assists in the match against Yeovil mean many fans are praying that they are finally starting to see ‘the real Danny Ward’.

Adam Clayton - Shocking beard, talented footballer — Adam Clayton – Shocking beard, talented footballer

What is particularly exciting, as we begin 2014, is that many Town fans feel that the current team can only get better, a point that has been constantly reiterated by Mark Robins himself. The average age of Town’s starting eleven for the game against Yeovil was just 23.8 and at 27 Paul Dixon was the side’s most senior player. The likes of Murray Wallace, Tommy Smith and Duane Holmes have all responded magnificently to the pressures of first-team football whilst the likes of Adam Clayton, Oliver Norwood and Alex Smithies are all still a few years away from reaching their peak. The progress being made with regards to youth recruitment and development also means that Town should be able to call on an increasingly talented pool of players emerging from the club’s academy. Players like Jake Charles and Philip Billing, for example, continue to earn rave reviews as part of an under 18’s side that has taken all before it so far this season. With the spectre of Financial Fair Play lurking increasingly large on the horizon, it is a massive boost that the club has such exciting players within its own academy.

Admittedly Town are not quite the finished article. They still lack a killer instinct in front of goal, which has cost them dear on a number of occasions already this season, and despite the emergence of other players they are still a bit over-reliant on James Vaughan. Additionally, perhaps due to inexperience or naivety, Town are still being hampered by costly individual errors, without which Town may already be sitting in the play-off places. What is more, despite the fact Town have significantly closed the gap on the top sides in this division, they have still only recorded 2 wins against teams in the top half of the division and are yet to beat any top-half side away from home. The result and performance against Burnley on New Year’s Day was a stark reminder that there is still work to be done if Town wish to challenge for anything other than a mid-table finish in the coming seasons. A push for the play-offs will almost certainly be a step too far for Town this year, especially as injuries and suspension will invariably take their toll on what is not a particularly large squad, and a finishing position somewhere in mid-table is by far the most likely outcome for this season.

Nevertheless, this should not distract from the fact Town are making serious progress under Mark Robins. Make no mistake, this is a truly exciting time to be a Town fan. With a Chairman who loves the club and has worked wonders with the off-field aspects of the club, and a manager who has already proved himself as highly capable, the club really is going places. A young Town team has already matured a lot this season and if the club can maintain the core of their current squad then they are only going to get better. As it stands I feel that with one or two quality additions, similar to this season, and the further development of exciting academy prospects such as Duane Holmes, Jake Charles and Philip Billing, then there is no reason to suggest that Town are not capable of challenging for a top-6 place in the next couple of years. I’m not suggesting for a minute that Town will definitely make the play-offs – Town fans have seen enough false dawns over the years to know better than that – but if the likes of Blackpool and Burnley can then why can’t Huddersfield Town?

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Articles, Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town: Bruce Return Brings Back Painful Memories for Terriers

March 29, 2013 jthornton26 1 Comment

When Steve Bruce brings his Hull City side to the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday, it will be the first time he has managed a side in front of the Huddersfield faithful since he was sacked as manager in October 2000. At the time of Bruce’s sacking Town had recorded just 1 win in their opening 19 league games of the 2000-01 season. This nightmare start ultimately did irreparable damage to Town’s season as they eventually fell through the relegation trapdoor on the last day of the season. Though Town have had plenty of inept managers both before and after Bruce – Mick Wadsworth, Andy Ritchie and Stan Ternent immediately spring to mind – it is Bruce who is still held in the lowest regard by the majority of Town fans.

Perhaps part of the reason for Bruce’s unpopularity is the fact that things were so encouraging at the start of his tenure. Backed by the millions of local electronics tycoon Barry Rubery, Bruce established a team that was challenging for at least a play-off spot for the vast majority of the season. High profile signings included Ken Monkou, Clyde Wjinhard and Dean Gorre and for the first few months of the season Bruce had the team playing quality, attractive football. To a younger generation of Town fans this remains the best football produced by a Town team in their lifetime. A 7-1 home win against Crystal Palace and a 3-1 victory away at Nottingham Forest particularly stick in the memory. A run of 9 wins in 10 games in the run up to Christmas saw Town go top of the table and promotion to the Premier League looked a genuine possibility at the turn of the year. The fact that Town were playing so well and challenging for promotion, however, only served to increase the disappointment when Town missed out on the play-offs and highlight just how spectacular Town’s fall from grace would be over the next 18 months.

A torrid start to 2000 which saw Town win just 2 of the first 12 games of the calendar year, and the now infamous sale of star striker Marcus Stewart to promotion rivals Ipswich, saw Bruce’s popularity plummet. However, it was Bruce’s decision to accept the BBC’s offer to cover Manchester United’s ill-fated World Club Cup campaign that particularly rankled Town fans. The decision to abandon a team struggling for form, just at the time when strong management was most needed, remains a baffling and frankly unacceptable decision on Bruce’s part. Though Town continued to occupy a top-six spot until the final day of the season, the free-flowing, attractive football never really returned after Bruce left for Brazil. In many ways it was this trip to Brazil that marked the beginning of the end of Bruce’s reign.

By the start of the 2000-01 season, the optimism and confidence of the previous season had all but evaporated. Despite a 3-2 win away at Sheffield Wednesday it was all too apparent that Bruce was no longer the right man for the job. To make matters worse, the disastrous run of form at the start of the season ultimately led to Town’s relegation and, also, eventual administration and near liquidation. To be fair to Bruce, it cannot be said that he was wholly responsible for Town’s demise. He maintains to this day that Marcus Stewart was sold from underneath him and that various promises made to him by owner Barry Rubery were either broken or unfulfilled. Rubery, for his part, was clearly out of his depth when it came to running a football club. In the first season with Bruce at the helm, Rubery provided serious investment without stopping to think of what the consequences would be if Town failed to achieve promotion. When it finally hit home that Town would miss out on promotion, and Rubery realised his mistake, it was too late. The signings in the 2000-01 pre-season were distinctly underwhelming as Rubery refused to give the same level of backing as the previous year. Following Bruce’s sacking, Rubery hit out at his former manager in the programme notes before a home clash against Norwich. In his notes, Rubery said he had mistakenly believed that “a great footballer would make a great football manager”, and went on to accuse Bruce of “wasting” £3million on players, saying the cash would have been spent better “by a more experienced manager without an ego to feed.”

It is fair to say that Rubery was naïve – dangerously so – to the consequences his financial backing would have on the club. But it is also true that Bruce could have spent the significant funds available to him more wisely. That is to say that it is not Bruce’s fault that he spent the funds – if the owner makes funds available then you are well within your rights to spend them – but Bruce can be blamed for ultimately spending the funds on players who were not good enough. The most notable example of this was the signing of George Donis. Despite only playing 20 games for the club, Donis would eventually cost Town nearly £1 million in various fees and wages before his contract was terminated by mutual consent so he could return to his native Greece. Bruce’s legacy in the transfer market would ultimately be to saddle Town with a series of overpaid and injury prone players. Ken Monkou, Clyde Wjinhard and Chris Hay all made less than 10 starts for Town the year they were relegated and it is for signing expensive flops, like Donis, rather than the likes of Gorre, Lucketti and Irons, that Bruce is most remembered.

Bruce’s reign was undoubtedly one of unfulfilled potential and ‘what ifs.’ What if, for instance, Town had completed the signing of John Terry for £750,000 and what if Marcus Stewart had not been sold to Ipswich? Though I am convinced Town would have reached the play-offs had Stewart remained at the club, football simply does not allow for ‘what ifs’ and the cold fact remains that Town, under Bruce’s stewardship, blew a glorious chance to reach at least the play-offs in the 1999-2000 season. Though the team he assembled remains the best that a number of Town fans have ever seen, and provided Town with their joint highest final league position since the early 1970’s, it could – and probably should – have achieved so much more. Had Bruce been more savvy in the transfer market, and had he not abandoned the club when the team was struggling just after Christmas, then he could have built something special at Huddersfield. As it was, Bruce is remembered for turning his back on the club when the going got tough and the money dried up. It is this unfulfilled potential that pains Town fans to this day. Town could easily have begun the 2000-01 season in the Premier League yet in reality they were to begin a season of heartbreak, disappointment and relegation. By the time he was sacked, Bruce had run out of ideas and you would barely believe the team that appeared at Grimsby, in Bruce’s final game, belonged to the same manager as the one who had led Town to the Division 1 summit the previous season.

Though Bruce has not yet managed a side at the John Smiths Stadium since his departure, the reception his son Alex got whilst on loan at Sheffield Wednesday was proof of just how much anger is still felt towards Bruce among Town fans. Whilst on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in 2005, Bruce junior had his every touch booed and was subject to all sorts of abuse from the crowd before he eventually snapped and retaliated with a two-footed tackle on then Town player Adnan Ahmed, which resulted in a straight red card. Rightly or wrongly, Bruce will forever be associated with the capitulation of the 1999-2000 season and the dark days of relegation, administration, and near liquidation that followed. For these reasons, although Bruce has proved himself a relatively successful manager at other clubs, he will undoubtedly receive a hostile reception from the majority of Town fans when he walks out of the tunnel at the John Smiths Stadium on Saturday.

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Huddersfield Town Must Do Everything Possible to Secure Signature of on-Loan Norwich City Man James Vaughan

March 23, 2013 jthornton26 3 Comments

When James Vaughan signed on a season-long loan deal for Huddersfield Town back in August, few people realised just how important he would become to Town’s season. Question marks over his long-term fitness and his modest goalscoring record (17 goals in 93 league appearances before joining Town) meant some fans were skeptical as to how much of a contribution he could make this season. However, a relative absence of injuries and a goalscoring average of better than 1 in 3 at the time of writing have left few Town fans in any doubt that Vaughan is a player of real quality and that every effort must be made to try and secure his permanent signing.

Vaughan is Town’s leading scorer this season with 9 goals but Vaughan should not be judged on his goalscoring record alone. Despite the fact he is only on loan, he has displayed genuine passion, determination and character – attributes which have endeared him to the Town faithful during his brief spell at the club so far. Heavy defeats, such as the thrashings Town received against Leicester and Nottingham Forest, clearly hit Vaughan hard and it is refreshing to see a loan player show such genuine commitment to the cause. Vaughan’s phenomenal work rate and determination are valuable assets to the team in terms of both chance creation and defending from the front. If anything it could be said that Vaughan works too hard. At times he arguably pushes himself too far and this has occasionally resulted in injuries and needless bookings – 11 bookings in 29 games is staggering for a centre-forward. Nevertheless, as Vaughan’s game is based around robust hard work, shirking challenges or holding back in any way to avoid bookings or injuries would take away a large part of what makes Vaughan such an effective player.

To demonstrate just how important Vaughan has been to Town this season, it is worth looking at Town’s win ratio with and without Vaughan in the league this season. This season, Vaughan has started 23 games. In these games Town have accumulated 34 points – 9 wins, 7 draws and 7 defeats. This means Town have gained 1.48 points for each game Vaughan has started. To put this into context, if this points to game ratio was maintained over a season then it would give Town 68 points. In contrast, in the 15 games Vaughan has not started, Town have picked up just 13 points – 3 wins, 4 draws and 8 defeats. This is a points to game ratio of just 0.87 points per game and this would give Town only 40 points over the course of a season. Obviously it is not as simple as this – even if Vaughan had started every game this year it is highly unlikely Town would have acquired 68 points – but it does go some way towards proving just how vital Vaughan has been to Town’s season.

As Vaughan has clearly proved himself in terms of ability, and as his injury record has been generally good, Huddersfield should be doing everything in their power to try and secure a permanent deal for Vaughan. But can a deal realistically be done? The first thing that has to be considered is whether Norwich would be willing to sell. With Norwich’s Premier League survival all but guaranteed, it seems that Vaughan will find himself surplus to requirements at Carrow Road next season. As well as already having Grant Holt and Simeon Jackson on the books, Norwich have brought in Luciano Becchio and Kei Kamara since Vaughan joined Town in August. With the impending arrival of Dutch international Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Vaughan appears to be well down the pecking order in a team that often plays with just one out and out striker. In this regard it seems that Norwich will probably be willing to listen to offers if a reasonable bid comes in.

The second thing, therefore, that must be contemplated is whether Huddersfield can afford to sign Vaughan. Vaughan would likely command a fee in the region of 1 to 1.5 million pounds, which is a significant fee for a lower end Championship side. However, the sale of Jordan Rhodes last summer means that Town should be able to spend some money (within reason) in the transfer market this summer. Though Chairman Dean Hoyle has spoken of the need to make Town self-sufficient and to further reduce the club’s wage bill, the fact is Town simply cannot afford to pass up on the chance to sign Vaughan. When the loan deals of Vaughan, Theo Robinson and Jermaine Beckford expire in the summer, Town could have only one striker – the untested Jimmy Spencer – on their books. Alan Lee’s contract almost certainly won’t be renewed whilst Lee Novak’s future at the club is seemingly undecided. Given the need to bolster Town’s attacking options, therefore, and the potential availability of Vaughan, Town would be mad to pass up the opportunity to sign Vaughan permanently if he was available at a reasonable price.

The only problem that leaves is whether Vaughan himself would be interested in signing permanently. Vaughan is not the type of player who will just be happy to sit on the bench or fester in the reserves at Norwich, and in the aftermath of the Leeds game Vaughan admitted he would be happy to discuss terms if a fee could be agreed. Vaughan would likely become one of the clubs highest earners if he were to join but given the fact that a number of the existing high-earners, such as Alan Lee, are out of contract in the summer, Town should be able to offer Vaughan a decent contract and still have money left over to bring in some more reinforcements. However, although Vaughan is clearly enjoying his loan spell at the club immensely, it remains to be seen whether Vaughan would be prepared to take what would probably be a sizable wage cut in exchange for regular first team football. Also, as Vaughan has proved himself a highly capable Championship striker whilst playing for a struggling team, there is a chance that Town could be gazumped to his signing if a bigger club comes in with an offer over the summer. For periods this season Vaughan has simply looked too good for a Huddersfield team that has, at times, struggled to adapt to the demands of the Championship and at points he has almost single handedly carried the responsibility of scoring Town’s goals this season. With this in mind it would be hard to begrudge Vaughan if he decided to take up the opportunity to play for a team with greater aspirations and more financial clout if the offer was forthcoming.

Nevertheless if Huddersfield do maintain Championship status, they must do everything in their power to attempt to bring Vaughan in permanently. Though Vaughan would not be cheap, he has proved himself a player of real quality and few players have made as much of an impact during a loan spell for Town as Vaughan has. The emphasis must be on quality rather than quantity this summer and Town would be much better off signing a player of Vaughan’s caliber than signing 2 or 3 ‘squad players.’ Some of the money from the Jordan Rhodes sale must be used over the summer if Town are to be at all competitive next season and if a deal could be done for £1-1.5 million then that would surely be money well spent by Town. If Town are to have any realistic chance of making Vaughan’s loan move permanent, then staying in the Championship is vital. Town’s Championship status next season is far from certain and any chances of signing Vaughan hinge on survival. Vaughan would not want to sign for a team in League One, nor would a League One side be able to afford his transfer fee or wages. A deal for Vaughan, therefore, is by no means guaranteed and it would be foolish to think that Vaughan will certainly sign for Town – even if Championship status is secured – but the powers that be must do everything they can to try and sign him. If a team comes in with a better offer or if Norwich are unwilling to do business then that is fair enough. However, it would be criminal if Town made no attempt to permanently sign a player with such high workrate, determination, passion and, most of all, quality.

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