After two seasons in the Premier League, Huddersfield Town are back in the Championship. Quite a few things have changed since they were last there. The ownership of the club has changed hands, unsettled players have or are in the process of leaving and some shrewd signings have also taken place.
Huddersfield Town’s Spirit Can Help Positive Campaign
Newfound Publicity
The season has not yet begun in earnest, but Huddersfield Town have already had more publicity and been talked about far more than they were in their whole Premier League foray.
The reason? Well, THAT shirt. The first club in Paddy Power’s ‘Save our Shirt’ campaign. The club are sponsored by Paddy Power, but actually ‘unsponsored’ as no sponsorship logo will appear on The Terriers’ home and away shirts.
When the fake kit was launched as the start of the campaign to draw awareness of how sponsorship was turning the game of football into something it didn’t deserve to be, uproar ensued. Media outlets and even the FA were taken in. The proper kit was announced the day before it went on sale in the club’s shops.
Transfer Business
During the transfer window the Terriers have made several interesting and shrewd signings. Herbert Bockhorn, a fullback from Borussia Dortmund II, joined from somewhere The Terriers have shopped before as the current head coach, Jan Siewert, and his predecessor, David Wagner, both came from the German team.
Isaac Mbenza was with Huddersfield last season on loan from Montpellier and the midfielder officially joined this window. Most interestingly has been the signing of Kamil Grabara on a season-long loan from Champions League victors Liverpool.
When The Terriers were last in the Championship, they also had a keeper on loan from Merseyside. Danny Ward became the hero to the fans, saving vital penalties in the play-off semi-final and final to earn promotion.
Jurgen Klopp has a connection to the Yorkshire side as the previous head coach David Wagner was his best friend. Klopp is also very familiar with the current boss too. Loaning a keeper to The Terriers where Grabara will be guaranteed first-team football was a no brainer.
Huddersfield have not sold many of their stars. In fact, at the time of writing, Aaron Mooy and Terence Kongolo, both mainstays of the Premier League campaigns, show no signs of moving on.
Karlan Grant was a bargain from Charlton Athletic in the January window and the striker ended as the joint top scorer for Huddersfield last season. That wasn’t hard, though, as the Terriers struggled in that area.
Positivity
Pre-season has seen the smiles back on the faces of the players. Those players that did not want to play or stay are either moving on or have not had squad numbers allocated this season.
If Huddersfield can get back to scoring goals, get that winning feeling back and gain confidence, this Championship season will go well. A mid-table or top-six finish would satisfy most fans. Of course, ideally, the Terriers will want to bounce straight back into the top flight. However, this can be difficult to achieve.
As it stands, they could well be in for an automatic promotion spot, but Huddersfield Town’s spirit will need to be on show again to banish the demons of last season.
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