Huddersfield Town
1908 Huddersfield
Huddersfield Town are a West Yorkshire based football team who currently play in the Championship. Huddersfield are also known as The Terriers and they play at the John Smith’s Stadium. The side is managed by Spaniard Carlos Corberan, who will be hoping his side can go one step further this campaign after losing the play-off final against Nottingham Forest last season due to a Levi Colwill own goal.
The early days
Huddersfield Town were formed in 1908 and joined the Football League in 1910. The club enjoyed a lot of success early on, particularly in the 1920’s, where The Terriers won the Division One title in three consecutive seasons in 1924, 1925 and 1926. They have not won the top division, which is now known as the Premier League, since then.
They were however the runners up in Division One for the two years that followed their success, as well as winning the FA Cup and Community Shield in 1922, making the 1920’s the most successful period in Huddersfield’s history.
Relegation and the following years
Huddersfield were relegated from Division One in 1952 under Andy Beattie but were able to secure promotion back to the top the following year. After a third-place finish in Division One in 1954, their highest since World War II, Huddersfield were once again relegated back to Division Two in 1956, and Beattie would later go on to resign and was replaced by Bill Shankly.
A return to Division One was not achieved until 1970 with Ian Greaves in charge, which in itself was short lived as The Terriers were relegated in 1972 and would not play in the top division of English football for another 45 years.
Huddersfield suffered back-to-back relegations which saw them play in the third tier for the first time in their history. By 1975 they were the first league champions to fall to Division Four.
The John Smith’s Stadium era
In 1994 Huddersfield moved out of former home Leeds Road into the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, now known as the John Smith’s Stadium. The West Yorkshire side were able to achieve promotion to the Championship in their first year in the new stadium under Neil Warnock.
The club came close to facing extinction in the early 2000’s, and were saved by Ken Davy, who bought Huddersfield whilst they were playing in League Two in 2004. They were promoted back League One in the same season.
Huddersfield enjoyed play-off success to return to the Championship in 2012, beating Sheffield United 8-7 on penalties following a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes.
The David Wagner years
Huddersfield enjoyed their best years in recent memory under the reign of David Wagner. The former Mainz boss managed to guide The Terriers to an unlikely promotion to the Premier League for the first time.
Huddersfield managed to achieve promotion to the Premier League after finishing fifth with a negative goal difference in the 2016/17 season, which was enough to secure a play-off place. Wagner’s side saw off both Sheffield Wednesday in the semi final and Reading in the final to return to the top flight for the first time since 1972. The promotion was sealed via a penalty shootout, and the winning spot kick was scored by Christopher Schindler, with Huddersfield winning 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes of football had been played.
Wagner was able to guide The Terriers to a 16th place finish in the 2017/18 season, which saw Huddersfield secure their survival in the Premier League for another season. They managed to stay up with an impressive draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, picking up 37 points from the season.
The journey under Wagner was brought to an end the following season however, as The Terriers suffered the joint earliest relegation from the Premier League with Derby County’s 2008 side. Huddersfield only picked up 16 points from the 2018/19 season, finishing bottom of the table.
Wagner however had already left the club by the 14th of January 2019, as he agreed to leave the club by mutual consent, with Huddersfield bottom of the table and eight points adrift of safety. The German was replaced by Jan Siewert at the helm of the club, who oversaw Huddersfield’s relegation back to the Championship.
Carlos Corberan
Current Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan was appointed by The Terriers in July 2020, following Danny Cowley’s tenure at the club which had seen Huddersfield survive in the Championship. Corberan had previously been the Under 23’s manager at Leeds United, working under Marcelo Bielsa, and Corberan is well known for playing a similar style of football to the Argentine.
Corberan guided Huddersfield to a 20th place finish in the Championship in his first season in charge, as The Terriers were able to take 49 points from 46 games, ending the season six points above the relegation zone. Corberan admitted that the goal for the 2021/22 season at the club had been to ensure that Huddersfield ensured survival once again.
They were able to significantly better their target however, as the West Yorskhire club achieved a third-place finish in the league, just six points away from automatic promotion. After a slow start to the season, Huddersfield were able to impress from December until the season’s end, going on an eighteen-match unbeaten streak between December and March. A 2-0 win at home against Bristol City secured third place for Huddersfield, who were then into the play-offs.
The Terriers were able to see off Luton Town 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals, setting up a final with Nottingham Forest. It was a Levi Colwill own goal that saw Huddersfield remain in the Championship, with Steve Cooper’s side heading into the Premier League.
Corberan will be hoping that his Huddersfield team can build on a successful 2021/22 season where they defied all the odds to come so close to gaining promotion and go one step further to return to the top flight after four seasons in the Championship.
Records
Huddersfield’s record attendance is 67,037, a figure they were able to attract in their FA Cup Sixth Round match against Arsenal in the 1931/32 season.
The highest fee The Terriers have ever paid for a player was for Steve Mounié in 2017. The Benin international cost a reported £11m from Montpellier, as the striker moved to a newly promoted Huddersfield side preparing for their first ever Premier League season.
The highest transfer fee Huddersfield have ever received was for Jordan Rhodes in 2012, as the forward made the switch to Blackburn Rovers for £8m.
The club’s biggest victory was an emphatic 10-1 thrashing of Blackpool in 1932.
Huddersfield’s all-time record scorer is George Brown with 159 goals, and their league top scorer is shared between Brown and Jimmy Glazzard on 142 goals