Tag Archives: Huddersfield Town

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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Articles, Huddersfield Town

Why Huddersfield Town Had to Sack Simon Grayson

January 27, 2013 jthornton26 3 Comments

After just 11 months in charge Simon Grayson has become the latest manager to be shown the exit door at Huddersfield Town. Despite engineering Town’s return to the second tier of English football for the first time in 11 years and an initially encouraging start to life in the Championship, recent performances have meant that the decision to sack Grayson has come as little surprise to many.

In fairness to Grayson, he was exactly what Huddersfield needed to get over the finishing line in the race for promotion last season. Grayson’s coolness in the successful play-off campaign represented a marked contrast to predecessor Lee Clark. In the 2010-11 play-offs Clark let the emotions and the occasion get the better of him. After the semi-final victory against Bournemouth it almost felt like Town had already been promoted and this was mirrored by Clark’s jubilant celebrations during the post-match lap of honour. As a result there was a huge sense of expectation at Old Trafford among Town fans and it almost felt as if Town only had to turn up in order to get promoted. Under Clark, Town would be partially undone in the play-off final because they ‘played the occasion’ rather than the game itself. Grayson on the other hand was much calmer after the two-legged victory over MK Dons and the subsequent celebrations were much more restrained. Grayson gave the impression that there was still a job to be done and his calmness under pressure allowed Town to stay more focussed on the job at hand against Sheffield United in the final, and there was a greater air of realism among Town fans at Wembley than had existed 12 months previously at Old Trafford.

The play-off final victory was followed up by an encouraging start to life in the Championship with Town climbing as high as second in September. Grayson had Town playing genuinely good football, performances away against Sheffield Wednesday and Blackpool particularly stood out, and there was a general consensus that Grayson’s Town team were playing the best football since the Steve Bruce team of the turn of the century. With this in mind it might seem strange that, within four months of all this Grayson now finds himself out of a job, so where did it all go wrong for Simon Grayson?

Though Town were never realistically going to be able to maintain this form throughout the season, Town’s performances have tailed off alarmingly since mid-November and the buck must ultimately stop with Grayson. Increasingly erratic team selections gave Town an unbalanced and unsettled look. As a result the attractive football evident in the early days of the season gave way to aimless long ball football which isolated Town’s most creative players, particularly Oliver Norwood who had been instrumental in Town’s positive start to the season. Perhaps the most bizarre of Grayson’s team selections – or non-selection – was his reluctance to play Scottish international left-back Paul Dixon. Despite performing well for Scotland, Dixon’s form did admittedly start to fade for Town. However, the way Grayson dealt with the situation was poor. Dixon was dropped from the team altogether for a number of weeks and instead Grayson chose to play young centre-back Murray Wallace at left-back. Decisions like this became more and more frequent as Grayson struggled to arrest the slump in form and only served to strain the increasingly fragile confidence.

By Grayson’s own admission, he had never been in a position where he’d had to manage a team on a long winless run before. This was particularly evident in recent weeks and with Grayson at the helm there were real concerns about where the next win was going to come from. The team were low on confidence but more alarmingly the players did not seem, at times, to be putting in the requisite effort or commitment. There have been claims that Grayson had lost the ‘dressing room’ and this would explain why performances have deteriorated so rapidly and so drastically. Instances like the Paul Dixon one outlined above suggest that everything behind the scenes were not completely as they should be. Grayson’s departure from Leeds came amid similar allegations and though it is just speculation that behind the scenes problems were impacting on performances, it does seem hard to deny that Grayson’s questionable man-management and team selections led to the team losing its confidence and consequently the poor run of results.

At this stage it is worth pointing out that I think Simon Grayson has been good for Huddersfield. The calmness and honesty he displayed, especially in post-match interviews, were a breath of fresh air in comparison to his predecessor. Furthermore, when he was appointed his remit was to get Town promoted from League One and established in the Championship. Though Grayson achieved the first part of this by gaining promotion, recent performances have brought Town’s Championship status into jeopardy. In a way Grayson has been the victim of his own success. The performances at the start of this season raised expectation levels and this served to further emphasize the poor performances that have become all too common since November as Town fans know that the team is capable of much better than has been seen recently. I do believe that Grayson has been, to an extent, let down by his players. As they proved earlier in the season, they are more than capable in terms of ability, but in recent weeks both performances and effort levels have been lacking.

A run of 12 games without a win in the league and the nature of the performances that accompanied them, meant that, even though Town were still 7 points above the relegation places when Grayson was sacked, Dean Hoyle had little choice but to sack Grayson. Grayson should be praised for his success, after all Grayson is one of only 9 managers in the clubs entire history to actually win something, and I am genuinely disappointed that things haven’t worked out for him recently. However, with no sign of form improving the decision to make a change had to be made before Town slipped even further into trouble. The early season panache has disappeared and performances against Leicester (6-1 defeat) and Watford (4-0 defeat) were quite frankly unacceptable and it is the nature of these defeats that really set the alarm bells ringing. Town also struggled in home matches against Sheffield Wednesday and Blackpool, who they had beaten so comfortably at the beginning of the season, and it was evident that something had to give. It was impossible to say where the next victory was going to come from and after having to fight so hard to get back to this level Dean Hoyle simply could not afford to let the current slump continue and risk an immediate return to League One – especially given the clubs recent financial figures.

It is obviously not a given that Town’s form will dramatically improve when a new manager is appointed, but history shows us that new managers often do provide struggling teams with fresh impetus. With regards to the next manager, Nigel Adkins is a name currently doing the rounds and would be a great appointment, however it remains to be seen if he would be prepared to go from managing a Premier League team to a side struggling at the wrong end of the Championship. What is crucially important is that Town look for a long-term replacement. Whoever Town end up appointing, they must choose someone who will help push them on to the next level and buy into Dean Hoyle’s vision for the club, rather than just a temporary stopgap who will help Town avoid relegation, if not the club will find itself in the exact same position in 12 months time.

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Huddersfield Town 2012-13: The Story So Far and What It Means for the Rest of the Season

September 8, 2012 jthornton26 1 Comment

After 11 years away from English football’s second tier, Huddersfield’s first month back in the Championship was always going to be interesting. Despite an underwhelming pre-season and the eventual sale of star striker Jordan Rhodes, Town have enjoyed an encouraging and entertaining start to life in the Championship. Here we attempt to outline some of our thoughts on Town’s fledgling season so far and what it means for the rest of the 2012/13 season.

Tactics, Systems and Flexibility

Too often in recent years Town have been stuck in a rigid one-dimensional system with no ‘Plan B’. In the past if things weren’t going Town’s way, the team would often be sucked into knocking aimless long balls up field towards the strikers. Simon Grayson, however, has shown a refreshing flexibility in his tactics and a willingness to change games when things aren’t going Town’s way. So far this season Grayson has already used three different formations to good effect. Away from home Grayson has adopted a 4-5-1, which has allowed for fluent, counter-attacking football, as shown so impressively at Cardiff, and is a far cry from the 4-5-1 implemented by his predecessor. At Cardiff a central midfield three of Keith Southern, Adam Clayton and Oliver Norwood were able to effectively stifle Cardiff’s midfield but at the same time provide the forwards with service.

4-5-1 may well be the formation Town set up with on a regular basis away from home, however, in home games it seems that Grayson prefers a more orthodox 4-4-2 formation. How Grayson will fit Adam Hammill, Sean Scannel, James Vaughan and potentially another striker into the team remains to be seen, but it should lead to entertaining football at the John Smith’s Stadium this season. What is more, the signings Grayson has made give him real options off the bench to change, not just the personnel, but also the formation and style of play. For instance when Town have struggled, such as against Forest at home, Grayson didn’t just make like for like changes but instead switched to a style of play which brought Town back into the game. Bringing on an extra centre back gave Jack Hunt extra license to attack down the right hand side and this was the primary reason that Town were eventually able to earn an unlikely point.

Life After Jordan Rhodes

After a protracted transfer saga Jordan Rhodes finally departed for Blackburn at the end of August in a deal worth at least £8 million to Town. As far as the transfer itself went, Dean Hoyle and Town would have been foolish to reject such a large fee for a player who was relatively unproven at any level above League One and – crucially – wanted to leave. Though James Vaughan has shown signs of real quality since arriving on loan from Norwich and should only get better as he gets more game time, question marks over his long-term fitness and the fact that Lee Novak and Jimmy Spencer are unknown entities at this level, mean that Town will probably require another striker in the loan window if they are to really push on this season.

It remains to be seen if a loan deal for Jermaine Beckford, or indeed any other striker, can be done. Despite his Leeds connections and the fact his career has somewhat stagnated in the last couple of seasons, Beckford would be a quality addition offering pace, strength and most importantly goals. Significantly, in Simon Grayson, Town have a manager who has previously got the best out of Beckford. Town currently have a squad with enough quality to keep its head above water this season, but bringing in a proven goalscorer at this level could make the difference between a top half finish and a finish in the bottom 8.

Stepping Up

Before the season started questions were asked as to whether any of last season’s squad would be able to make the step up to the Championship.

Despite being something of a Huddersfield Town legend and excellent for much of his Town career, there were doubts as to whether Peter Clarke would be able to perform in the Championship. Though Clarke is not the quickest or most comfortable on the ball he has started the season in good form and his partnership with Joel Lynch looks promising. Clarke’s form has undoubtedly been helped by the fact he has a settled and capable midfield in front of him, which will leave both Clarke and the entire defence less exposed. Furthermore, as his partnership with Sean Morrison last season proved, Clarke raises his game when playing with another quality centre-back alongside him, and, in Joel Lynch, Clarke has a partner who has shown real class and ability since arriving from Nottingham Forest.

Though Jordan Rhodes was unquestionably Town’s stand out performer last season, the hugely exciting Jack Hunt was in many people’s eyes the second best player in the squad. Lightning quick, skilful and a player who creates chances for team mates with his runs from deep; Hunt has the potential to become a top quality full-back. Though he is not yet the finished article, Hunt has made an encouraging start to life in the Championship. Hunt’s ability going forward has never been in question and due to his attacking prowess there was even talk of converting Hunt into an out and out winger, however, this would limit his effectiveness as he is at his best running at defenders with pace from deep. If Hunt’s attacking play was not in question, the same could not be said about the defensive side of his game. Admittedly Hunt can still, at times, be somewhat naïve and occasionally caught out of position, but it is easy to forget just how far Hunt has come in the last two seasons. His performance against Craig Bellamy, one of the very best players in the league, in the opening game of the season proved that Hunt’s defending is good enough for the Championship and the more he plays at this level, the more he will continue to learn and grow as a footballer. Though some of the current squad will find the Championship a step too far, it is good to see some of the players, who excelled in League One, take their chance at a higher level.

Midfield

In recent seasons Town’s midfield has been, at times, virtually non-existent. Despite a huge influx of central midfielders every year since 2008 – from Jim Goodwin to Tommy Miller – only Damien Johnson really came close to good enough. This summer, however, Grayson has brought in Adam Clayton, Oliver Norwood and Keith Southern and so far its all looked extremely promising.

There must be a greater emphasis on goals from midfield this season and Town simply cannot rely on a striker scoring so many goals this time around – Jordan Rhodes scored almost half of all Town’s league goals last season. Fortunately in Oliver Norwood and Adam Clayton, Town seemingly have players who will contribute goals from midfield. Norwood has been one of Town’s stand out players in the first few games of the season and though it is still early days, Norwood looks every inch a player who was brought up by Manchester United. Comfortable on the ball and a great passer, Norwood is one of the most technically gifted players Town have had in a long time. His ability to switch play and the protection he should get from the hard-working Keith Southern means that Norwood will almost certainly be one of Town’s most influential players this time around.

Though the season is still young, Town’s midfield already looks much better than it has at any point in recent years. Despite this, it is worth pointing out that Norwood and Clayton are both still young players and relatively inexperienced at this level. Though they undoubtedly have the potential to be great players, it would not be surprising if they struggle at times this season as it is incredibly hard for any player to maintain form for a full season let alone young players in the early stages of their career. Additionally, both Clayton and Southern are prone to picking up bookings and it should not be a shock if they are suspended for a number of games this season. Nevertheless, this season’s midfield is a source of great optimism and, given time, could be one of the most successful in recent history.

Entertainment

Though Town eventually won promotion last season, the football was often incredibly dour as Town inevitably scraped to victory or contrived to draw games they really should have won. If the first few games of the season are anything to go by then Town fans will be getting much better value for money this time around. Somewhat perversely, going to games may be more enjoyable this year even though Town will probably lose more games than last season. This was evident in the game against Nottingham Forest. Town were outclassed for much of the game but the quality of football on display meant that it was at least an entertaining game to watch. Players of international calibre and Premier League experience will regularly be on show at the newly named John Smiths Stadium and this can only be a good thing. What is more, Simon Grayson will invariably send his teams out to win games, which should see Town fans going home satisfied with the entertainment on display if not the overall result.

Summary

The monumental pressure that has been on Town for at least the last two seasons has been lifted and that should be evident in the performances this season. The players should be able to play with a freedom and without a fear of losing. In Simon Grayson, Town have a manager who sends his teams out to try and win football matches and his calm demeanour at the start of this season has won over many of the doubters. Though, realistically, Town probably cannot achieve a place in the top six, a talented, young squad and a calm and composed manager means that if Town continue how they have started this season, then they should be able to achieve a comfortable mid-table finish, which, in all honesty, should be deemed a successful season.