Tag Archives: James Vaughan

Huddersfield Town: Frustrating Start to 2014 Provides Reality Check for Terriers

March 27, 2014 Spoughts 1 Comment

As Town brought the curtain down on 2013 with a thumping 5-1 victory over Yeovil, there was a real sense of optimism around the club and a definite feeling that the club was moving in the right direction. A series of impressive performances in November and December – including wins against Burnley and Bolton, as well as creditable draws with Brighton and Derby – saw Town sat in 11th place and just 4 points off the play-offs at the halfway stage of the season.

Although any talk of Town mounting a push for the play-offs this season was always likely to be wishful thinking, the way in which Town’s form has dipped as the season has gone on has been hugely disappointing. The forward momentum that Town seemed to be building towards the end of 2013 has all but evaporated and it is almost as if the team has regressed to the stage it was at when the season began. To put into context just how much Town’s form has dropped, it is worth pointing out that in the first 23 games of the season Town gained 31 points – the equivalent of 1.34 points per game. Since then, however, Town have picked up 14 points from 15 matches, or just 0.93 points per game. There are no two ways about it – Town’s form since the turn of the year has been borderline relegation form.

Games Played	Points Gained	Goals Scored	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points Per Game
23	31	31	26	+5	1.34
15	14	18	27	-9	0.93

Admittedly there have still been some good moments in the second-half of Town’s campaign. Town were excellent, for example, in victories against Birmingham and Barnsley; however, this has only served to prove the point that Town are capable of much better than that what they have been producing of late. At the minute it really does feel like the team is taking one step forward and two steps back, and if there is one word that aptly sums up Town’s performances since January it would be “inconsistent.” This is exemplified by the fact that between the Leeds match on the 1st of February and the Doncaster game on the 8th of March, Town’s record was lose, win, lose, win, lose, win, lose. Town’s failure to string together a positive sequence of results has prevented the team from building any momentum or a foundation to build from, and has led to a series of disjointed and patchy performances.

One of the major factors behind this inconsistency seems to be complacency. With a mid-table finish virtually guaranteed, the players seem to have accepted that their work for the season is done and that they can take it easy for the remainder of the season. This may not actually be the case but it is certainly the feeling among supporters. Sloppy individual errors have been increasingly apparent in Town’s play and it is galling that Town are not making their opposition work hard to get a result. Against Blackburn and Leeds, for example, poor decisions and performances by individual players saw Town throw away the opportunity to gain positive results against mediocre opposition. Furthermore, some of Town’s better performers from the beginning of the season, i.e. Jonathan Hogg, Adam Hammill and Oliver Norwood, have all failed to reproduce their early season form on a consistent basis – something that was clearly evinced by Mark Robins’s decision to drop Hammill and Norwood for the recent match against Charlton.

Even more disappointing has been the fact that Town have allowed themselves to be outfought by teams who simply wanted it more. It is fair to say that the current Town squad has a dearth of on-the-field leaders and although there are a number of players who are brilliant when things are going well, there are too many players who seemingly go missing when the chips are down and the team is struggling. Against Leeds, Doncaster and Sheffield Wednesday, for example, Town were not prepared to scrap and subsequently capitulated against distinctly average – but more motivated – opposition.

Although it may seem irrelevant whether Town finish 7th or 21st, the reality is that Town need to finish as high up the league table as possible in order to keep the momentum of the last couple of seasons going. Town will look a much more attractive proposition to potential new signings, and indeed to the more talented players currently at the club, if there is clear evidence that Town are a club that is on the up and constantly progressing. Although those who watch Town on a regular basis are quite rightly able to say that Town have come on leaps and bounds over the last 12 months, this is not something that is necessarily apparent to the majority of people outside Huddersfield. If Town were to finish in a similar position to last season, for example, there is a chance players will continue to see Town as capable of achieving little more than survival or lower mid-table at this level. On the other hand, the higher Town finish, the more players will be attracted to Town as a club that is on the up and developing all the time. As such, it is not good enough for Town to simply accept that the aim of achieving mid-table has been accomplished and that they can subsequently start their summer break early.

Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that Town are still very much a work in progress. Though it does not really excuse some of the performances Town have put in in recent weeks, it is easy to forget how far Town have come in the last 12 months – after all, Rome was not built in a day. What is more, the second-half of this season has been characterised by injuries to several key players, most notably the highly influential duo of James Vaughan and Joel Lynch, and this has seriously underlined Town’s lack of strength in depth.

Without wishing to single out individual players for criticism, it is evident that a high percentage of the current squad are no longer good enough for what the club is trying to achieve. Though Town have a relatively strong starting 11 when everyone is fit and available, a combination of poor recruitment in the summer – only James Vaughan, Adam Hammill and Jonathan Hogg can be deemed good signings – coupled with the fact Town are still burdened with players on big wages from the Simon Grayson and Lee Clark regimes, has meant that Town have not been able to build a squad full of players capable of competing in the Championship.

Don’t get me wrong. It is not as if 2014 has been a disaster for Town, it has merely been frustrating that Town have failed to play to their true potential on a more regular basis. If Town are able to learn from the mistakes they have already made, and ensure they do not repeat them in the future, then I remain convinced that Town will be able to push on again in 2014-15. Despite a questionable record in the transfer market so far, I remain utterly convinced that Mark Robins remains 100% the right man for the job and have faith that he will be able to operate more astutely in the upcoming summer transfer market. If the club is able to shift some of the considerable deadwood that is still at the club, and replace them with at least 4 or 5 quality players, then Town should be well in contention for a top-half finish next season. Furthermore, if some of Town’s talented young players can keep themselves fit and add consistency to their game, then there is no reason to suggest that Town can’t aim even higher than that. After all, the Championship is nothing if not incredibly open.

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Articles, 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, Norwich

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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