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Huddersfield Town’s first friendly of the summer is now in the books, with 23 members of Martin Drury’s squad getting their first pre-season minutes in a 3-1 defeat to Birmingham.
On this week’s We Are Terriers podcast, we discuss who caught the eye, how the new signings and academy prospects got on, and an interesting situation at centre-forward.
Plus we…
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It’s been a busy week for Huddersfield Town in the transfer market with three new arrivals, two departures, and a new contract — just in time for the Terriers to jet out to Portugal for pre-season training.
This episode of the We Are Terriers podcast takes a look at what we might expect from Matty Young, Ethan Brierley, and Ilias Bronkhorst, as well as w…
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Things look like they could be starting to get moving for Huddersfield Town in the transfer market, as this week’s We Are Terriers podcast is here to discuss.
Lee Nicholls looks to be on the brink of a move to Preston North End, with Sunderland prospect Matty Young linked with a loan move as his replacement — plus it’s our first time chatting since Alfie…
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Huddersfield Town have made their first signing of the summer transfer window, with Ashley Fletcher coming in from League One rivals Blackpool.
That news came after reports linking Joe Taylor with a move to the Championship — so what does it all mean for the shape of the Terriers’ transfer window, and would it be pru…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.com
Huddersfield Town did not yet have a head coach the last time we ran the rule over the squad and tangentially talked transfer needs on our keep and sell podcast a few weeks back.
As such, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look in a bit more detail now we have a bit more idea of what Martin Drury’s intentions are and what Chris Markham is looki…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.com
Martin Drury’s appointment as Huddersfield Town head coach, and the press conference that followed, offered plenty of interesting detail on how the Terriers see the season ahead.
This week’s We Are Terriers podcast reacts to the news of Drury’s promotion and what we learned from what he and and sporting director Chris Markham had to say.
How can Town help…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.com
You can also listen to the full press conference in your podcast feed or by clicking the play button at the top of this story.
Martin Drury’s brief: Get the performances right, and the results should follow
Although Chris Markham stressed the need to get results alongside those performances, there was little to no talk about objectives based on league positions or promotion.
When asked what the minimum requirement was for Drury in the season ahead, the sporting director said: “Look, football as an industry is about winning, and nobody is hiding from that. It’s obvious. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to win, and every conversation we have is focused on winning and focused on the outcome.
“But what we also need to know and take back a bit of control over is the performances, and that was the difference in the last seven games. The performances were more like what resonated with me and other people at the club who have cared about this club for a long time, plus most importantly the fans.
“So for me, the minimum requirement is that we keep that level of performance, and there was never a backward step taken, really. And considering some of the situations, with George Sebine playing up front, we’re 3-1 up at Bolton.
“Obviously that didn’t end how we wanted it to, but the intent of the performance, the detail behind it, playing on that front foot, that’s what I think is the minimum requirement, and that’s what we’ve discussed when we interviewed the candidates.
“That was at the forefront of it. How are you going to play, and even when things don’t go well? Because look, there’s going to be defeats, definitely, because that’s every club in world football ever.
“So for us, I think it’s one of those things where, once those setbacks happen, can we still be consistent to those beliefs and try and do everything we can to try to win and be on the front foot and make decisions that are brave?
“They were the things that we’ve been talking about the most, because we believe that if we get that right consistently, we will win more games than we don’t win. And I think the performances that Martin and Jon and the players delivered within the last seven games didn’t get the results that they deserved, in my opinion.”
At the stage Town are at, and having talked up their chances to varying degrees over the past two seasons, it is probably a sensible move to stop putting the cart before the horse.
That does not mean the club are being any less ambitious, but does suggest a desire to stop making promises they cannot guarantee keeping. It’s a managerial cliché, but focusing on the things they can control is their best route to getting the outcome they actually want.
Markham pointed to the early days of David Wagner’s reign as an example, saying: “When David came here, even though the first part of the Championship season, it wasn’t really any better results-wise than what had been before, that momentum was building, that identity, and that’s what everybody got behind with David and that team.
“I was here and lucky enough to experience it — it was the style, it was the front-foot nature, it was the intensity that created something that fans can feel.
“When I talk about this, I’m not talking about Xs and Os and tactics and number 10s and profiles. I’m talking about a feeling, an intensity and a direction of bravery, of wanting to win and be on the front foot, and an excitement.
“I think that’s what Huddersfield Town fans want.”
Town know what they want from the transfer market — but it can’t be all buy, buy, buy
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.com
After last week’s on-air editorial meeting made it clear that you’d asked far too many excellent questions to get through in one sitting, we’re back with the second part of our Q&A.
This time, the We Ae Terriers podcast answers questions about the summer transfer window, Huddersfield Town’s playing philosophy and what lies ahead in pre-season. We talk ab…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.com
We had approximately a billionty questions from you for our Q&A — so many that we’ve legitimately had to save some for next time.
This time, though, the We Are Terriers podcast concentrates on the questions around Huddersfield Town’s managerial recruitment process, and what exactly they will be looking for in their next head coach.
That means digging into…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.com
Huddersfield Town have a real balance to strike over the summer transfer window.
The retained list makes clear that Town are likely to need to shift some players out of the squad if they are to bring new faces in — so who would we keep around and who might be better served by a move elsewhere?
On this week’s We Are Terriers podcast we go through every pla…
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.com
Another season is done and dusted for Huddersfield Town, for better or worse, and that gives the We Are Terriers podcast a natural place to give our thoughts on the 2025/26 campaign.
Where were mistakes made, and where were Town hit by unforeseen issues? Might a sporting director have made a difference last summer? Who rose to the challenge, and who disa…
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The following are selected highlights of Jon Stead’s pre-match press conference ahead of facing Wimbledon. You can hear the full thing, as well as Murray Wallace’s thoughts, on our podcast feed or by hitting the play button above. You can also check out our weekly digest for full team news.
Jon Stead
Katherine Hannah (BBC Radio Leeds) Obviously, passion is running really high after the Mansfield game last weekend, and you actually said [after the game] that given everything that had gone into the preparation, it felt like a bit of a slap in the face. I just wondered what reaction you’d had from your players in the aftermath of that, and whether actually any of them apologised to yourself and Martin.
Yeah, we had a lot of apologies, actually. Yeah, I think they recognised that they let themselves down. I think the slap in the face is just all the work that goes into everything, and I didn’t see that result coming. I just didn’t see it coming. So the shock of it was such a slap. It was just really, really difficult to kind of compute and understand.
When you have a couple of days to look back on it and you kind of review it — and we watch the games back two or three times, as we do, and we pick the bones out of it — you recognise that there was just a real lack of belief.
I think after the results that went the way they did on the Tuesday prior to that game, and kind of the mathematical inevitability that we weren’t going to make the play-offs, I think there was just a flatness and just a bit of a lull, and I think we felt that in terms of the result.
Performance-wise, it wasn’t as good as it has been. It wasn’t there. I mean, what’s mad — and I don’t get stuck on data, because I think everybody can see from the result and the way that game felt that it wasn’t right — but the data showed us that we were again ahead in terms of shots, all the metrics that we’d normally count as a good performance were there, and [Mansfield] had three shots on target and scored four goals. So it’s, yeah, difficult.
KH: I guess it’s very easy to just go, ‘well, they’ve downed tools, they’re not trying, nothing to play for’…clearly from the apologies you’ve had, what did the players actually say to you to convince you that that wasn’t the case?
Yeah, well, listen, we’ve been with this group long enough now and seen enough from them through these games that they’ve given everything. They have given everything. There’s been a complete turn in spirit and togetherness, in passion, in fight for the club, and we’ve seen it in abundance.
So I’m looking towards this weekend now as that game being a bit of a one-off. If you have one poor performance and one little lapse of concentration and not being quite at it for one game out of six, then across the space of the season, you’d take that, so I’m hoping that that’s the case.
But the players knew that they let each other down. They knew they let the staff down and the club as well, and that that performance didn’t fit in line with the rest of them that we’ve seen.
Again, there’s a lot of reasons behind that, and I think the biggest one is we spoke to the players at half-time, actually, at Leyton Orient, and just said, ‘look, believe. Believe in yourselves more’. I’m a very positive person in general, probably a bit too positive at times, but the belief that we had, myself and Martin and the staff, that we could get to a position where we could be going into this last game with everything to play for, we had 100 per cent belief in that — and I’m not sure at times the players did.
I think that’s just an accumulation of difficult moments throughout the season that’s kind of knocked them and knocked the confidence.
We got to a point where I think we’d picked that back up, and we’ve got there with it, and then you get another knock at Bolton and you have that frustration, and then the results that follow on that Tuesday make it a very difficult end to the season.
So like I say, I’m hopeful, and I’m really pushing for them to show everybody that it was a blip on Saturday and that that wasn’t a performance that they can hold themselves to, because the others have been very good.
KH: The chairman, Kevin Nagle, put out a very impassioned statement after last weekend’s game as well, and made no bones about it. He’s very much going to be watching this game on Saturday, in his words, sort of talking about who’s playing for the shirt. I just wondered if you could give us any insight into what conversations you’ve perhaps collectively had with the chairman over the last seven days, and how he’s feeling about everything going into this final game.
Yeah, well, I think a lot’s riding on it. I think there’s a lot of things around staff riding on it as well. There’s things about players, decisions for their future. So I think everybody’s got real things to play for.
It’s probably the opposite compared to it being billed as a dead rubber, with obviously Wimbledon winning their game last week and securing their place in the league for next season.
In terms of how we look at it and how Kevin looks at it, there’s everything to play for — that should be the case every game, that’s what this business is about, that’s why we do it, because everything is on the line every time you walk through the door here, and it should be like that, because you need to have that to be an elite environment, and that’s what we’re looking to build and create.
So yeah, there’s not been many conversations, but I don’t think there needs to be, because I think the tweet was very clear. Everybody needs to be on it.
You need to show how much you’re committed. You need to make sure that that’s very, very visible to see, because sometimes that’s the only way you can show it, is out on the pitch. Not me talking to you, not the players talking to you. It needs to be shown, it needs to be felt and seen and heard by everybody else outside in that stand.
So yeah, the pressure’s on in terms of that, because everybody is playing and competing and working hard for their futures, and that future needs to be — if you want it to be with Huddersfield Town, then you’ve got to put it in.
KH: There’s a lot of big decisions to make, I think, over the coming weeks. And inevitably you maybe need a bit of time for the dust to settle and people to reflect a little bit. But how soon do you think we might be able to expect some kind of resolution about where the club goes going forward, whether Liam Manning comes back, and on yourself and Martin and the playing staff as well? Are there any timescales when we might know a little more about the direction the future of the club will go in?
No, I mean, there’s no timescales as such. I think all these things, I think we’re all clear that they need to be resolved as quickly as possible. There’s a lot that goes into big decisions at football clubs, and they do take time.
I’m sure some of those discussions and conversations have already happened, so I think they’ll be working down the line in terms of when we can get that resolved. But again, our remit, for me and Martin, was very clear when we came in: try and put a product on the pitch that can re-galvanise everybody, that can reconnect the supporters with the players and the club, and give us every opportunity to go and still complete the objectives in very, very difficult circumstances when everything was probably against us.
The game is fine margins, and I think there’s been real fine margins in whether we could have achieved that or not. But on the whole I’ve seen moments in this last four or five weeks where I can be extremely proud of what we can be proud of as a football club, and how we’ve come together, and how we’ve had some magical moments out on the pitch, albeit you might be coming away from the game disappointed.
But there’s been some real moments of excitement and, I suppose, if I don’t get another opportunity to say this, I’ve loved every second of it, and I feel so proud and honoured and privileged to walk out there leading your football club. It is pretty special.
I’ve loved every second of it, and I’m just gutted that it didn’t end the way I really believed it would do, because I just fancied us. I really, really did — so did Martin. And you know what? We’re hurting as much as everybody else.
But the honour and pride you have is quite remarkable. So I do want to thank, obviously, the club and the fans and you guys as well — I just want to thank everybody, because it’s been remarkable.
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Huddersfield Town gave their fans nothing much to cheer about in their final home game of the season as they fell to a 4-1 defat to Mansfield Town.
That led club owner Kevin Nagle to offer a warning to his players ahead of the final game against Wimbledon and the beginning of the summer transfer window — and it was hard to blame him.
The We Are Terriers p…
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Martin Drury
Katherine Hannah (BBC Radio Leeds): If you were going to sum up where it hasn’t worked this season, is it possible to come up with, say, two or three bullet points of, ‘well, that didn’t work, that didn’t work, and that’s why we are where we are?’
Yeah, definitely. That’s what’s keeping me up at night every night, looking at every single thing that we could have done better. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, around consistency — change of staff, change of players, big turnovers — very, very, very difficult to get success.
We’ve looked at Cardiff, we looked at Lincoln, we’ve looked at the other teams that are there…the stability that they’ve had, the way they’ve aligned recruitment to that, has been very, very good. We know there’s areas of that we can do better.
But at the same time, you look at the last three games in particular, and I appreciate, and naturally, people say, well, we’ve not managed those games well enough when we’ve been in winning positions because of late goals that have been conceded. And I’ll own that and accept that, and Jon will do the same. But it’s a much bigger piece than that.
If you look over 44 games this season, statistically we’re the worst in the league at conceding goals after 75 minutes, the worst team, [20 goals across] 17 occasions.
So if you’re going to look at the last three, I would say it needs to be a bigger piece than in-game management over three games. Fortunately, we’ve been in winning positions in all three of those games, which is good, but over the course of the season that stat is alarming.
That was shared this week with the players. I loved how they responded to it. I think some were shocked by it, and there are clear reasons as to why that is. I won’t go into too much, but it’s very, very clear, two or three things wrapped around that, why goals are conceded after 75 minutes. And that’s something that has been addressed and will need to be addressed more in the summer to ensure that next season that is not the case.
KH: And some quite difficult conversations are going to start happening pretty soon, if they haven’t already, in terms of where you go from here. Let’s start with the playing squad for starters. At what point do you and Jon and Liam — I don’t know what his input is at the moment — start to look at, right, who’s in the building, who do we want to keep in this building, and who maybe needs to be looking elsewhere?
Yeah, that started. That started before the last sort of five, six games. And that’s a process that takes place across your full season. You’re always looking to improve, whether that’s in January or the end of the season.
What I would say, as I said before, is I feel we’ve got a very, very good core group of players. And I think if you look in the last five games in particular, I’ve been hugely impressed, but not surprised, by the level of performance of individuals that potentially six or seven weeks ago people were looking at and saying, ‘well, maybe he needs to go, maybe he needs to go, he’s not lived up to this expectation’.
I think you’ve seen individual development across those players over the last few games. I think that’s galvanised them as a group, and they look more like a team, and that’s why they’ve been so competitive and played, in my opinion, really well in some of the games, and been the better team in, I’d say, four of the five games that we’ve had.
But of course Huddersfield Town can’t be where they are and accept that this group of staff, this group of players, is doing enough. It’s not. That needs to be addressed, and I’m sure it will be.
There was a massive overhaul of players last summer, so a huge number of new faces around. Is it likely to be the same this summer? Or, from what you’ve said there, if you feel you’ve got a good core, will it be more a question of tweaking it rather than a massive clear-out and start all over again?
Well, if you go back 12 months, that was the process that took place: massive turnover of players, new manager, new staff, all new staff.
So to do that again, I think it’d be a hell of a risk for the club. But also to stick with everybody that’s here would also be a hell of a risk.
So strategic planning, work out exactly who helps this football club move forwards, who doesn’t, who’s on board, who wants to go on that journey. Tough decisions will have to be made, of course.
But I do think heavy turnover year after year — I go back to it again — the clubs that have been successful this season in this league and the league above and the Premier League, consistency, quality and consistency, gives you a hell of a chance to succeed. That’s what this club needs, in my opinion.
KH: I appreciate this might not be an easy one to answer at the moment, but have difficult conversations started to take place about what happens with Liam and whether he comes back, and what the situation is with yourself and Jon? What more can you tell us about what the picture for the coaching staff looks like at Huddersfield Town going forwards into a summer which will arrive before we know it?
Yeah, I wish I could probably tell you more, but no.
Our remit is to take the last two games of the season.
As I said before, I’ve been in touch with Liam on a regular basis in terms of him and his health and how he is. The support we’ve had from above at the club has been outstanding.
We’ve not felt pressure, but we have felt expectation, which is what you want, but also real support from above.
We’ll take the last two games of the season. We’ll continue to work in the exact same vein that we have done over the last four or five weeks, and hopefully we’ll continue tomorrow at home, in front of our fans, where we’ve been strong, where the fans have been strong, where the players have been very, very strong.
Hopefully we finish strong tomorrow, and then we move into the last game of the season.
And as I said before, and I think Sean’s alluded to it, we won’t change. Nothing changes. We continue to work, whether it looks like you’re getting in the play-offs or not. We continue to work as hard as we possibly can. The players have done that themselves, which has been brilliant, and that’ll be the case over the next 10 days.
Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): You’ve talked about the recruitment and stuff that needs to change, and I appreciate that’s Chris Markham’s area — but have you been involved in discussions with Chris about what direction you think that needs to take?
We’ve had good conversations with Chris. Chris is someone that is open to listening to people’s opinions. So we’ve had good conversations this week around that and in previous weeks before then, so those are ongoing.
But ultimately, decisions should be made by Chris and the owner in terms of what those decisions look like.
SC: Do you feel that this season is kind of a necessary learning experience for these players, getting to know each other and getting to know what they need to do to win games as a team? You look at the continuity that the clubs have had above you, particularly Lincoln, and you can see maybe player by player they don’t have the most talented squad in the division necessarily, but you can’t argue with their league position. They know their jobs and they do them really, really well.
I definitely agree with that. Player for player, on talent and ability, I would say we’ve got one of the best squads in the league, and that doesn’t win football matches. That will give you a chance to win football matches and to compete, but to win football matches there’s much more than talent.
There’s leadership, there’s selflessness, and there’s game intelligence, game understanding, winning mentality, and people who will not just do it, but actually love to do the ugly side of football, the dirty side of football, the dark arts of football.
Player for player, we’ve got a brilliant squad, brilliant squad. But I do feel that, as I touched on before, some of the stats that I’ve just given there give you an indication of what’s missing.
I think if you add that on top of the real quality that we’ve got and a real good core of good men — we’ve got a core of good men, these are good men, honest men — but we’re missing two or three things within that to make that stronger and to complement what we’ve already got.
Big changes I don’t feel are necessary, but certainly specific changes will be key in the summer.
SC: Is it all about getting the players who can knit it together and keep their heads and drag people along with them a little bit? When you talk about game management and things, it seems like that must be top of the list.
Look, from a coach’s perspective, you’d love 11 captains on the pitch every week. It’d be an easy job. That’d be lovely, and you can sit in the dugout and be calm. That’s not the case. So you need as many as possible.
And again, you need that consistency, so they’ve got a platform to feel like they can lead. Because I do think we have got some leaders in the group that maybe have not felt they’ve had the opportunity to lead or not felt they’ve had the platform to do that this season, and with so much change comes uncertainty. So again, people take a step back whenever they should be taking a step forward.
So they need that platform. They need that consistency and continuity across staff as well as players, and I think that will give them the leverage then to come forward and be the leaders that I know there are. There are some more leaders in there that we’ve probably not seen the best of this season.
But again, that’s something that is more of an off-season, pre-season piece. Very difficult when you’ve got seven games left to start going into real big detail around those types of things, very, very difficult, but very easy when you’ve got time.
SC: It sounds like you’re not making excuses for it, though. It sounds like you’re aware that, as you say, Huddersfield, with the ambitions and the budget and the squad that you’ve got, should have done better this season. Is that fair to say?
More than fair to say. More than fair to say. Excuses will land us in the exact same position in 12 months. Anyone that’s got an excuse needs to leave the club.
There needs to be accountability. We need to take responsibility for it — players, staff, everybody in the club. As a club, we’ve failed. The club’s failed this season to be where we are at this stage of the season. We’ve failed.
But within that failure has been a hell of a lot of learning, and you’re a step closer to success when you go through that. That’s how I feel at the minute, this moment in time. I think we’re a step closer to where we need to be, because there’s a lot more clarity on what needs to be done.
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You don’t need us to tell you what happened at Bolton Wanderers as Huddersfield Town blew a two-goal lead against ten men, with yet another injury time goal costing them the three points…but hey, we’re going to give it a go anyway.
The midweek games could well confirm that Town are out of chances to sneak into the play-offs after a very costly eight days…
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The following are selected highlights of Martin Drury’s pre-match press conference ahead of facing Bolton. You can hear the full thing, as well as Jak Alwnick’s thoughts, on our podcast feed or by hitting the play button above. You can also check out our weekly digest for full team news.
Jamie Raynor (BBC Radio Leeds): Martin, good to see you again. Now the dust has somewhat settled on Tuesday night, how do you reflect on what was such a strong performance from the team, but ultimately a disappointing result in the end?
Yeah, exactly as you said, a really, really strong performance from the group. I arrived home late Tuesday night, got the laptop out, watched the game back. I was very, very pleased with many aspects within the game, in particular the amount of chances that we created, the threat that we posed to Cardiff.
As I said after the game, I think it’s 15 shot, is it, from within their box? Which is quite a staggering statistic — but again, somewhat disappointing to only take one goal from that.
I thought out of possession the players were excellent. The first thing I look for when we’re watching is whether they’re invested in what they’re doing psychologically. I thought they were immense from start to finish, which you have to be against Cardiff because they’re so good attacking down the sides, really, really good.
So I thought the work the players put in, I thought they looked together, I thought they looked connected, I thought their work ethic and their levels of output physically were outstanding. And as I say, and as you said, it’s somewhat frustrating that we don’t get over the line and take three points.
JR: Does Tuesday not only encourage you, but maybe slightly frustrate you, in the sense that they can put out that level of performance and reach, to an extent, that potential that you see in the group, but then have not done that maybe as consistently over a period of time across the season as a whole?
There’s frustration within it, but at the same time it’s quite comforting, because I feel, as I said after the game, to have complete clarity on exactly where we are, what are the strengths of the group, what good things have we got. I think those things have been really, really clear to see of late.
But I also like the fact that it’s crystal clear what we need to get better at, whether that’s on us, whether that’s on the players, or collectively together. There’s things we need to improve in, and I don’t think they’re big things. I really don’t.
And maybe across the season people have looked in and gone, ‘there needs to be some big, big changes here, we need to do this, we need to do that’…I don’t see that.
We have to be strategic in what changes we make, whether that’s from us as staff or players. But I think the potential of the group, as you said there, is a lot higher than potentially what people were thinking.
I believe in the group, and I think with some very, very small tweaks we can get big gains. And as you’ve said, I think the potential for the future is massive.
JR: How much are you involved in long-term discussions of this football club, as well as the fact that you’ve got a short-term goal to still try and reach?
Of course, it’s within your thinking, naturally thinking about it. But the priority for us as a group of staff right now is the here and now.
The powers that be, I’m sure, will have eyes on what the future looks like. Of course, there’s conversations, but they’re not big conversations at this moment in time because we’ve got a job to do and we’ve got to help these players, and that’s been our focus, to help these players in the last stage of the season.
So we’ll continue to do that, and I’m sure that further down the line those decisions and certain things that will be done will be made by people that you can definitely trust from above.
So for now, we just focus on what we can do. We work with the players the best we can. The players, as I said, have been first class. I’m enjoying the relationship between us and the players, and we’ll continue to do that over these next three games.
JR: We’ve obviously now learned that Jake Edwards has left his role as the club’s chief executive in the last 24 hours by mutual agreement. Does that at all have any impact on your current situation, the conversations that you’re having day to day?
None whatsoever, no. None whatsoever. I wish Jake all the best. Jake was a lovely guy. Everything that I had to do with him when he was here was really good.
The decision has been made between Jake and the club, and as I say, I look ahead for him and I wish him all the best for the future. But for me, solely right now, I’ve got quite a lot on, Jamie, so I’ll focus on the players.
JR: Bojan [Radulovic] obviously came off part way through the first half on Tuesday. Is his situation at all any clearer?
Well, he’s one of the ones that came in this morning saying, “I’m all good to go on Saturday,” with his arm hanging off.
So that’ll be a late call with Bojan. He got a scan yesterday on it, and it’s not as bad as we first feared, which is really positive news because everyone knows how good he is and how big he is for us.
’m not sure Saturday is realistic at this moment in time, but we’ll do everything we possibly can to try and get him on the pitch for Saturday. So yeah, that one’s definitely in the balance.
JR: If Saturday isn’t achievable for him, in terms of replacement, is it game by game in terms of how you approach the opposition from a forward-line standpoint, like for like with Bojan and his physical presence, or more diminutive in the form of Alfie May?
I think you have to respect who you’re playing against first and foremost, and also not just respect their threats but also be excited about the areas you think you can hurt them, and then look at which players you think can do that.
So if you look at the Wycombe game on Saturday, if Alfie May had scored, I think everyone would have said he was outstanding in the game. If you look at his movement, if you look at his link-up play, if you look at the work he did without the ball, he got an assist. He was just missing a goal. And goals can often change the opinions of how people see that people have performed. I thought Alfie was excellent.
Tuesday night was a completely different game from that role and that position. We needed something a little bit different. We needed somebody who could help us defend on the sides, which is not natural for Alfie. He does it, but it’s not natural to him. And we needed someone that would travel with the ball on transitions to get us up the pitch and offer that threat, and then also press with a real intensity, which Alfie did really well against Wycombe.
But if you look at [David] Kasumu’s performance the other night, he was brilliant. He was brilliant for what was needed for that game.
So it’s not us picking players based on who do we like this week and who do we like [the next] week. It’s based on all aspects of the game.
Who’s going to help us hurt the opponent? Who’s going to help us defend when we haven’t got the ball?
When we haven’t got Bojan, that changed the game plan, how we felt we could attack the other day. We felt goal kicks for us would be a really, really big part of how we could attack. You saw that in the first half, the way Bojan held the ball up, the way we were able to get movements underneath him, link in play off him.
Alfie May is a completely different player, completely different profile, so I wouldn’t ask Alfie to do that job. George [Sebine] is a different profile. George is more similar to Bojan. We had no reservations to put George on the pitch.
I thought he did it well at times, and we have to help him, as we’ve done today on the grass, with some work around how we can refine some of those techniques that he has alongside his physical capabilities.
So that’ll be no different. We look at Bolton, we look at where we can hurt Bolton, but then we also look at how do we stop Bolton and pay the respect that they’re due, and then we’ll pick a team based on what we think will win the game of football.
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It was another good performance, another bitter ending for Huddersfield Town in their 1-1 draw with Cardiff City.
We were once again left impressed by Martin Drury and Jon Stead for what they delivered on and off the pitch, but yet another late goal meant the Terriers failed to take full advantage of Stevenage’s slip-up.
Plus, we give our reaction to the …
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The following are selected highlights of Jon Stead’s pre-match press conference ahead of facing Cardiff. You can hear the full thing, as well as Cameron Humphreys’ thoughts, on our podcast live feed or by hitting the play button above.
Jon Stead
Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): I’ll start with team news if I can please…how’s Lee Nicholls doing after Saturday?
He’s OK, he’s improving by the day. Obviously, with something like that, you need to take precautions, so he’s been assessed daily and that’s how we’ll work it at the minute.
We’ll probably have a better picture after Tuesday to see how long term that is. It just gets assessed and runs through a staged protocol, so when it gets to a point where there’s an assessment made on how long that time frame will look like, we can give you that, but for now, it’s day to day, but he’s improving and he’s in good health.
Is he ruled out tomorrow regardless?
Yeah, he’ll struggle for tomorrow. There’s no risk that we can take in that regard, so it will rule him out for tomorrow, but what he’ll look like after that, we’ll have to wait and see.
So is he in the concussion protocol?
Yes.
OK. So Jak Alnwick obviously will step in and get a chance against his former club, of course. How did you regard Jak’s performance on Saturday?
Brave. He came for things, he was dominant when he needed to be.
Jak’s a good goalkeeper, and I’m sure he’ll be ready to go. He’s been waiting for an opportunity, and a massive game tomorrow, isn’t it? I have no worries about him whatsoever. He’s a top guy, he’s been around the league now, he’s got good experience, and he’s got insights on Cardiff as well, which might help us! But yeah, he’s ready to go and he gets an opportunity.
And how’s Lynden Gooch doing after he went off?
Goochy’s still being assessed. He’s got a really, really tight calf, so that’ll need a scan and we’ll have a look at that to see what that looks like. Not ruling him out yet for tomorrow, but we’ll have to get the assessment off the back of the scan today.
And I think the other three you’ve got out — George Sebine, Jack Whatmough and Ryan Hardie — any more on any of them?
George should be fine … We’ll have to be careful with him, because he’s still got stitches, and I think there’s stitches underneath and then stitches on top, so they’ll still be in there — so he’ll have a nice big bandage on if he gets on the pitch tomorrow.
Jack is close, so he’s closer to training now. Whether tomorrow comes a little bit too quick for him, [I don’t know], but he won’t be far after that if he doesn’t make it.
And then Ryan, again, I think he’s in for another assessment this week to see when he can start really pushing again. We’re hopeful of him getting back sooner rather than later.
And we know Josh Feeney and Cam Ashia are very unlikely to feature this season…any other team news you can give us?
No.
With the emotion of it on Saturday, you said you’d have to go away and pick the bones out of it — what did you find when you went and did that?
Yeah, obviously not much sleep on Saturday night, I’m sure everybody else was the same!
But we were back in as a staff on Sunday morning and we went through it stringently. We looked at a lot of things that we did really well, really, really well, which were top in terms of the stuff we’ve been working on, and seeing that come out in the game was really, really pleasing.
On the flip side of that, there’s obviously areas that we need to massively improve, some of those individually, some of those collectively in units.
So we assessed where we needed to make changes there and make sure that we’re giving the lads the right information, giving them the opportunity to go and succeed and maybe correct some of those individual errors. They fall around different aspects of the game, not just the set-piece aspect, which is obviously right there in your face, isn’t it? But there’s a lot of other things as well that we need to get better at.
So the processes, the way we work, will stay the same, and we’ll keep picking at that. Even if people think sometimes it’s a good performance and everything’s fine, you move on — that’s not the case, not the way we look into it.
There’s always things that we need to get better at. So we did a lot of that on Sunday morning. A lot of stuff then has gone on today in terms of individuals, units and team meetings. And then yesterday, again, your focus has to then straight away switch to Cardiff. So yesterday again was a lot of stuff in the afternoon, making sure we’ve got all that prepped and ready to deliver to the players this morning.
So again, processes carry on no matter how wild the game is, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. We have to keep to the same disciplines and make sure we’re doing everything that we can do to make the players as comfortable as they can be on the pitch. So those things happen, and then obviously the focus of that on Tuesday.
On some of the positives in a moment, but obviously that last 15 minutes — and look, we know the set-piece record has been poor in the last few months — is there a sense, though, of, for instance, the second phase on the final goal, is it just boot it upfield when they’ve got all 11 men in your half and you have to make them chase it for 30 seconds? Is it that kind of game management to avoid those set pieces in the first place?
Yes, it’s a very, very simple game, complicated by coaches sometimes, but actually, I think there’s a simplicity to that: look, it’s the last second of the game, can we play it forward?
There’s things then when there’s the look of it as well. The ball goes to the side and gets delivered back into the exact same place that [Radinio Balker] would have been in.
There’s things that happened before, in terms of the first goal — somebody is just slightly out of position and makes a decision to move forward instead of back. There’s loads of different things that just equate to actually the simplicity of football.
But I think when you add in the magnitude of the game, the level of stress that these players are under, the fatigue level that you’re at at that point, it obviously clouds your judgement…but I’m certainly not making excuses for any of us, and I mean that collectively, because there’s things that we need to do better as a staff as well.
So that allows us as a collective group to nail all these things and make sure we’ve given them the right information, so when it’s in that high-tempo environment, they can make clear decisions. So we’re all looking at that collectively to make that better.
But yeah, like you say, it’s a simple thing. That ball travels into the opposition half, they don’t retrieve it, and the whistle’s probably blown. I’m certainly not going to argue about refereeing decisions because that’s not what we’re about. We need to really focus on things that we can control and the things that we’re trying to implement.
And like you said, we’re seeing that. I’ll tell you what, it was an entertaining game, giving it a right go. We’ve been written off every two minutes in the last four or five weeks. We still keep putting in another performance and just creeping it back again, and we’ll need to do that again tomorrow night.
I’m sure you’ve been banging your head against the wall with this set-piece record for weeks now. What is it? Pure concentration? Is it people knowing their jobs? What do you put it down to as a coaching staff?
I think we could have these conversations with any coaches, any clubs across the league, from top to bottom.
There’s an element of individual stuff. There’s an element of personnel, and the capability to go and deal with certain situations. We look at the setups and whether the setup’s right or wrong. We’ve changed and adjusted those. We’ve adjusted how we deliver it on the grass, how we deliver it in meetings.
I know that’s, in a lot of respects, not a good answer because the outcomes have been the same, but we’re trying to figure out which way we can get that better, and we’re working extremely hard to do that, as are the players as well, taking accountability for that as well.
I know that from speaking to you after the game, and from speaking to Martin as well, your attitude is you’re not giving up on this season. It’s still 'anything can happen, keep going…’
Yeah, we’ve been written off every 10 minutes. Again, the players have shown that they’re not giving up. The conversations that we had this morning, the way they trained this morning, nothing’s done and dusted.
The fans have been fantastic. What an atmosphere it was. I know it ended in disappointment, but that spell before that was just incredible to be a part of. It really, really was. I think everybody felt that in the stadium.
We need that again tomorrow against a very, very good side, by the way, but one that we’re more than capable of matching and beating.
So we’re still full of confidence, and the players showed that in the way they trained this morning, and when we’re asking them questions around things, and the way that they’re answering it, they’re telling us they want to go again.
So I’m excited again for tomorrow. Honestly, like I said, we get written off every two minutes and I’m sick of it, to be fair. Until it’s done, it’s not done, so until then, let’s get right behind it.
Have you been in situations like this, either in your coaching career or your playing career, where you do get written off? We’ve seen it at Huddersfield a few times, albeit more in relegation battles than promotion pushes, but have you been in that situation where it feels like everything’s against you and you managed to pull it off?
Yeah, we’ve had a few. I think again, probably relegation side of it more than others, where you just get over the other side. And I remember getting Harrogate, as a player, through Covid and stuff, where nobody expects Harrogate to get up into the Football League. We ended up being in the final playoffs at Wembley and then, for a small club, for the first time in their history to get into the Football League…it was unheard of.
I think as an individual, you get written off a lot, especially as a player, and I think a lot of our lads have been written off a lot this season, and a lot of them have come back. A lot of them have struggled through that. A lot of them have found ways to show what they’re really capable of.
Again, our job as a staff is to give them the platform to show what they are capable of. Because I think everybody at the start of the season looked to this group and just thought, you know, that is a group that can go and do something this season.
We still have that same belief, that same belief in the players, in their attitudes and the commitment and the way that they approach training conversations and the way that they behave around us.
They’re a joy to work with, so I just want them to get the rewards. I just want the players to get the rewards for all this hard work, and they will be fired up, and we will have them fired up and ready to go again tomorrow.
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We weren’t sure if we were going to do this week’s We Are Terriers podcast after Wycombe or after Cardiff. Well, we’ve decided to do a little of both with a half-length podcast after each game.
First up, then, it’s that 3-3 draw with Wycombe Wanderers — a game where Town should have been out of sight long before three goals went in from the 90th minute o…
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The following are selected highlights of Martin Drury’s pre-match press conference ahead of facing Wycombe. You can hear the full thing, as well as Bojan Radulovic’s thoughts, on our podcast live feed or by hitting the play button above.
Louis Reynolds (BBC Radio Leeds): How’s George Sebine getting on? I appreciate there are probably some protocols to follow, but how is he?
No, he’s been good in himself. He’s recovered quite quickly from it. Obviously, as a young lad, we want to protect him a little bit and look after him, which we’ve done over the last few days. The medical team have been really, really good.
But no, George is in a good spot. We’ll make a late call on George and see where he’s at in terms of the game. Hopefully he’s OK, and if not then we’ll look towards Tuesday.
LR: And from what you’ve seen with him in the first team, how do you reckon he’s got on?
I think for a young boy, 19 years old, to have done what he’s done in such a short space of time — let’s not forget, not just at Huddersfield Town, but coming from non-league to professional football — I think the academy has done a fantastic job with him. Jon Worthington and everybody involved with the academy have done a brilliant job.
And when he’s come in with the first team, I’ve been really, really impressed, both with him as a human being and him as a footballer. We can see the qualities that he has, both physically and technically, and then his hunger and desire for the game, his willingness to learn and listen, every day has been top class. So yeah, he’s been a brilliant addition.
LR: How’s Ryan Hardie getting on?
Yeah, Ryan’s obviously in his rehab. It’s probably not settled as quickly as we would have liked, and probably as quickly as Ryan would have liked. He’s champing at the bit to get amongst it again.
Of course, he’s a big miss for us. He’s been brilliant around the place as well.
So we’re still on with that one. It’ll probably take a little bit longer, though.
LR: And Joe Low as well?
Again, Joe’s been brilliant in terms of his rehab, worked really, really hard, and Joe’s really close — really close. We’d like to have Joe back involved, whether that be this weekend or Tuesday. So yeah, credit to him, and again the medical team, for the condition he’s coming back in.
We had a session with him the day after the Leyton Orient game. Joe’s brilliant, both from a footballing perspective and in terms of his attitude towards everything. So yeah, he’s really, really close.
LR: Any fresh concerns after Easter weekend?
No, no. Alfie May is back amongst it. He had a problem with his foot, which has settled down. He’s trained this week and was excellent in training today, so Alfie will come back into the mix for the weekend.
LR: How do you reflect on those two games? Let’s start with Reading — starting at the back, a late point. How do you reflect on it?
Yeah, Reading was obviously the first game that we’d taken in Liam’s absence. We’d had a little bit of time to prep for that, so we felt going into the game that we were quite clear. We knew Reading were a good team, as we saw on the day and from the run that they’re on.
But I thought the way the players went about it that day, they were excellent, particularly first half. Second half didn’t look how I wanted it to look, we know that, but there were things we were able to understand from the game about exactly why it didn’t look how we wanted it to look, so that led us into the game on the Monday.
And two games in such a short space of time, again, credit to the players for how they turned themselves around in that amount of time. Obviously Monday took care of itself, and there’s a lot to say about that day.
LR: Talk us through that moment at the end at Leyton Orient from your point of view.
Yeah, look, it was a tight game. I don’t think we ever got the game on our terms in terms of how we wanted to play. We were hopeful going into it that we could make it look like the first half against Reading, but it’s different opposition, a different stadium, and obviously away from home, so there are some challenges within that for us.
Second half I felt we were much better than in the first half. I don’t think it was a lack of trying in the first half — the players worked incredibly hard in both halves. The data tells you that the difference in the second half was that we were a lot more connected, the distances between our players in every moment of the game, whether that was second balls landing for us or whether it was connecting passes in possession.
As the game went on, you’re pushing, you’re trying to get the goal, the game was tight. But fortunately for us, we’ve got such quality on the bench to come off it, including players that missed out. That’s where we’re at at this moment in time. We know we’ve got good players, and we know that in moments.
We said it before the game. I said it to the players in the hotel before we left: 11 players won’t win that game on Monday. We needed 20 players to win the game, and that’s what it took.
So from [Josh] Feeney going down in the warm-up and being injured, to changes on the bench, I thought from start to finish, in terms of togetherness and the collective spirit of everybody, and then obviously, as you all saw, Ryan Ledson comes on the pitch and does what a good leader and a good captain does. Big, big moment, big player, in a really big game for us.
So relief is one word, for sure, but also pleased for the whole group, because I feel that over the two games, four points is what we deserved, if not more.
LR: When you mention parts of games not looking how you want them to look, and a different level of opposition going into Monday, what were those things you didn’t like the look of? And how do you and Jon go about fixing them in a short space of time?
Well, if I’m going to be really open, if you look across the season, the group that was assembled in the summer were playing a certain style of football under Lee [Grant] and doing it really, really well initially — the way they were playing, dominating the ball, trying to move the ball up the pitch in quite a slow process but in a really controlled way.
That changed as the season went on, but you still had the same group of players. So then you’re trying to do something that’s not exactly the same as that, but a little bit more progressive. Depending on what players you have, that’s going to dictate the way you play football, right? So it’s not as simple as, ‘we want to play this way, so let’s go and do it’.
We have to look at the capability of the group and what suits that capability. And that was the first thing that I said to them when we first spoke in the meeting after Liam was off. We said we wanted to maintain all the brilliant things that Liam had put in place. We wanted to reinforce those things, and also look at one or two different ways on top of that.
Working with Liam, and knowing Liam’s beliefs and values, we want to ensure that we bring out the best of the capabilities of the players that we have. I felt the first half against Reading was what that looked like. We didn’t play short and slow, we didn’t play long and direct. I felt we played in a way where we tried to dominate the ball, dominate territory, and I felt that was a good example of what we wanted to look like.
But I also felt at Leyton Orient, when the game didn’t look like that, our players were able to mix it up and play a different style of football, and compete and fight and show spirit. I thought we did that more and more as the game went on, and hence why you get that little bit of fortune, of course quality as well, at the end of the game to get that goal.
LR: What does that say about the character of the group, that OK, it might not be perfect all the time, but you’ve still got those four points?
I think across the season the players, rightly or wrongly, have come under criticism. I think you can question every now and again whether the quality was there in certain moments, whether we executed certain things. I think those questions are fair, really fair, and supporters’ expectations of what they want to see are spot on.
But if you watch the game the other day, with maybe five minutes to play, we lose the ball in Leyton Orient’s half and I saw 11 players sprinting the full length of the pitch to get back. Sean Roughan gets across the box and blocks a shot that potentially could have meant we lost the game. I think that tells you something about the spirit of where they’re all at, whether they’re all in in this moment in time.
And if you watch the celebrations of both the players and the supporters when that goal went in, I think that’s a really good example of where everyone’s at mentally and psychologically. These players are all in. I see them every day in training and I can’t compliment them enough for the way they’re working.
We’re not going to get everything right they’re not going to get everything right — they’re human beings. But if we don’t achieve what we want to achieve, it won’t be for a lack of training, I assure you of that.
LR: Let’s say if the chips are down tomorrow and you can feel that anxiety creeping in — if you could speak to the supporters, what would you say?
I think first and foremost they’ve got every right to voice their opinion. The fans are unbelievable. The numbers they have, both home and away, are incredible for where we currently are as a club, and I think they are well within their rights to voice their opinions in certain moments.
What I would say is that in 15 years of coaching, I’m yet to come across any player that responds in a positive way to criticism, because they’re just human beings. It’s difficult.
So I would say: we need you. The players need you. When they hear that roar and you’re right behind us, it lights the players up. I see it in them, and they speak about it. They love it when the fans are behind them. When they’re not behind them, and they voice it, I’ll be honest — it hits you like a tonne of bricks. That’s the reality of it.
So I have respect for both the fans and the players. And I think what you’ve seen in the last couple of games, the fans have been outstanding. I think the players have felt that. The performances over these two games, albeit not perfect, have been full of energy, full of spirit, full of togetherness, and there’s been a real connection between the two.
Hopefully that continues. In these last five games, that’s going to be paramount in whether we get success or not.
Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): Just going back to team news, if I can please — how’s Josh Feeney doing after he had to withdraw on Monday?
Yeah, Josh was unfortunate news. He’s got an issue that he’ll go back to Aston Villa to get treatment on, and he’ll probably struggle to play again for at least another five or six weeks, I’m led to believe.
So yeah, disappointing for Josh and disappointing for us, because he’s been brilliant. Whether he starts games or whenever he’s been called upon, he’s been a top, top lad. Loved working with him. So yeah, that’s disappointing news for everybody.
SC: How’s Jack Whatmough doing? I believe he had a bit of a niggle over the weekend…
Yeah, Jack had a little bit of a niggle, and it’s not as bad as we first suspected it might be. I’ll tell you one thing about Jack — he’s champing at the bit, even to come back before schedule.
This is me being really open: Jack came and said ‘just play me. Get me involved. Just get me involved’, even though he’s not quite ready. He’ll be back really soon.
Again, I think that’s testament to him and his character and what he wants to give the club. It shows that all the players are all in. So we’ll hopefully see Jack back soon. We’ll look after him over this weekend, make sure he gets the work that’s needed, and we’ll have a look at him on Monday.
SC: And Cameron Ashia? Jon [Stead] mentioned he’s seen a specialist. What’s the situation with him?
Yeah, unfortunately with Cameron it wasn’t good news either. I think it’ll be difficult for Cameron to be back on the pitch this season … It’s a groin issue.
I had a good conversation with Cameron the other day. Such a great character. He’s disappointed, of course. We lose someone who gives you that one-v-one threat in wide areas, those exciting moments.
So again, it’s a big loss for us. But we’ll look after Cameron and we’ll see where we are moving forward with him.
SC: Just going back to something touched on earlier with the crowd being behind the side: I appreciate circumstances have been difficult and it’s been a tough season in many ways, but you could see the message of support that the Cowshed had for Liam Manning last Friday, for instance, and the late goals, as you’ve mentioned, the celebrations for them — in a funny way, those are the kinds of things that can really galvanise a set of supporters and the team, isn’t it?
Yeah, I’d like to think so. We’ve certainly felt them over the last couple of games in particular. You’ve got to remember, I’ve been coming here many, many years.
I had a really, really close relationship with Carlos Corberan, so I was coming when Carlos was the head coach here.
The supporters and the fans were something that I took away from those moments when I came to watch games, alongside the football.
Exactly the same prior to that, when David Wagner was here. I used to come down and watch a number of games then as well, with different cultures, just looking and seeing what was going on. A big takeaway for me every time I came here was how big the fans and supporters are.
As I said before, if we give them something to cheer about, they’re unbelievable. And again, we’ve felt that in moments over the last couple of games. We’ve felt it in games prior to that, but probably not consistently enough. It’s worked both ways, I think, both from our performances and from the support. So hopefully, moving into these last stages of the season, there is a connection.
Jon’s said it quite a lot when he’s done the press conferences, and I think the fans have been right behind us.
For me, the moment the goal went in on Friday, and then the goal went in on Monday — the two late goals, as you say — that can generate a real connection between us, and hopefully that’ll continue for the last five games.
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