Alan Lee Archives

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.

For more HTFC based ramblings follow me on twitter: (JThorn26)

The sacking of Lee Clark at Huddersfield Town has sent shockwaves across the world of football, with observers from Henry Winter to Wayne Rooney expressing their shock and dismay at the decision. To the uninformed spectator the decision may seem bizarre, however Huddersfield fans have been far from disappointed at the decision, and some have actively welcomed it. How did a man with only 3 defeats in 55 games come to be sacked? And why have so few fans been unhappy with the news?

At the start of Lee Clark’s tenure there was a positive vibe among the fans, after an encouraging end to the 2008-09 season. The feeling of positivity was matched by the performances on the pitch over the following year. Clark assembled a talented young squad which played a genuine brand of free-flowing attacking football and would eventually finish 6^th in the table, racking up 82 goals in the process. Nevertheless, Huddersfield’s soft underbelly and lack of experience would be cruelly exposed by a resilient Milwall side in the play-offs.

The defeat against Milwall would have a terminal effect on the style of play Lee Clark would adopt for the rest of his tenure. Huddersfield clearly needed experience and graft to accompany the undoubtedly talented youngsters at the club. This was reflected by Clark’s signings before the 2010-11 season, with the arrivals of Ian Bennett, Gary Naysmith, Damien Johnson, Joey Gudjonsson and Alan Lee all examples of the experience Clark felt necessary. On paper these signings looked to be exactly what the club needed. However as the season progressed it was clear that some of Clark’s signings were over the hill and simply happy to collect one final pay-packet. This left Town with a squad of youngsters and has-beens with very few players at the peak of their footballing ability.

Despite a promising start to the new campaign Town’s football would become increasingly negative as the season went on. The final blow to Clark’s attacking football would come after a 4-1 mauling at promotion rivals Southampton in late December. This result led Clark to implement a 4-5-1 system for the remainder of the season. Town would subsequently go unbeaten for the rest of the season, and were admittedly unlucky that they were competing against as talented a side as Southampton for the second automatic promotion place. The problem with 4-5-1 was the negativity that accompanied it. Between January 1^st and the end of the season, Town won only five games by more than 1 goal and became the divisions draw specialists. Four games at the end of February where Town picked up just 4 points from a possible 12 seriously dented their promotion chances and meant that Town lost too much ground on Southampton to recover.

The play-off final against Peterborough was arguably the crippling blow from which Lee Clark would never really recover. His decision to play 4-5-1 with the 18 year old Benik Afobe as the lone striker ahead of Jordan Rhodes perplexed many fans, even if Rhodes’s form had not been as mercurial at this point. Clark’s tactical shortcomings in this game were not the only thing that annoyed Town fans though. The Peterborough squad had been assembled on a fraction of the budget that Lee Clark had to spend and highlighted just how much money Lee Clark had squandered on players. Clark’s transfer record was a real mixed bag with the signings of Jordan Rhodes, Anthony Pilkington and Lee Peltier seemingly showing he had an eye for a player. However, Clark would sign enough players to have four separate teams in his time at Huddersfield but never one good enough to secure promotion. Signings like Dominik Werling, Alan Lee and Robbie Simpson have been monumental flops in their time at Huddersfield. In addition Clark has never been able to address Huddersfield’s problem area of central midfield, despite a host of signings aimed at addressing the issue.

Clark was rarely able to re-create the feel good factor around the club in the 2011-12 season as fans struggled to recover from the play-off final defeat. There was a growing sense of apathy around the club due to the prospect of another season in League One, with empty stadiums and long ball football. Again, Huddersfield were victim to drawing too many games and sacrificing winning positions and there was a growing feeling that this was down to Clark’s tactical shortcomings. Despite Town still riding high in the table fans were disillusioned with the brand of football they were being made to watch. At the end of the day, football is a form of entertainment and in a time where fans are, more than ever, struggling to justify the high prices of going to watch football, Huddersfield have simply not played an attractive enough brand of football to warrant extortionately high ticket prices.

Furthermore Clark’s man-management skills have come under scrutiny and generally been found wanting. Donal McDermott and Anton Robinson had both impressed for Bournemouth, but were never able to show their ability under Clark. Indeed, as the season wore on, it appeared that some players were scared of playing for Lee Clark. This was in part due to Clark’s increasingly strange team selections, which prevented players from gaining confidence. From one week to the next it was as if the selection was random. Players would go from not even being in the squad for months on end to suddenly being plunged into the starting eleven, Danny Cadamarteri for instance. This scattergun policy to selection prevented Huddersfield from gaining any real consistency and confidence, and this is reflected in the quality of football and entertainment towards the end of Clark’s regime.

Despite all this Clark would probably have kept his job until the end of the season if he had handled his public relations and the media better. At the beginning of his stint as manager Clark talked a good game and his handling of the media helped to raise the club’s profile. However, the 2011-12 season in particular, has seen a markedly different media handling style adopted by Clark. His post-match interviews have been increasingly bullish and have alienated the media and supporters. His refusal to rule himself out of the running for the Leicester job left a sour taste in the mouth for all concerned, and potentially soured the relationship with the board. Poor performances after Christmas combined with him again refusing to rule himself out of vacant managerial positions led to growing disillusionment among the fans. This alienation of supporters led to a lack of confidence in Lee Clark’s ability, and it is this deterioration of trust, more than the results on the pitch, which led to Clark’s position becoming untenable.

Lee Clark should be praised for his 100% commitment and enthusiasm to the cause. Nevertheless Clark has been heavily backed by an ambitious owner and has ultimately failed in his remit of getting Huddersfield to the Championship. The major gripe among Town fans was how much the quality of football has decreased since the beginning of his reign. Though the sacking came as a surprise to many pundits, those who have followed Clark and Huddersfield this season understand the sacking was justified. His comments to the media have made him seem, at times, deluded and desperate – especially in the wake of the defeat to Sheffield United. Dour football combined with a deteriorating media relationship have meant that, bizarrely, despite a 43 game unbeaten run, Clark’s sacking is understandable. Despite the claims of footballing contemporaries Lee Clark’s sacking is not an example of ‘football gone mad’ and the actions of an egotistical chairman, but instead the actions of a man well within his rights to call time on a failing regime.

Spoughts

Tag Archives: Alan Lee

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

Why Lee Clark’s Sacking Is Justifiable