Royally shafted in the play-off final by Jon Moss, and now propping up the Championship, it’s been a tough few months for our visitors this Tuesday Huddersfield Town, according to our regular contributor Brady Frost from the Takes That Chance Podcast.

Huddersfield got absolutely shafted in that play off final, and took it in a lot better grace than I would have done. Still stings?

Yeah it really stings, but time has helped. The worst thing was I had made peace with the result and then came out of the ground and saw the penalty decisions later and it was just gutting. Would we have scored those penalties if they were given? We’ll never know but the frustrating thing is it feels like the final has an asterisk on it because of that. I will say though, it was a terrible game, we didn’t turn up, I don’t think Forest did really either and it felt like it was heading to penalties. Also, I’ve never seen a group of fans so happy to rub the result in my face rather than celebrate but we would have been battered every week in the Premier League so that’s some consolation.

How’s the start been? I feared for you but this must be worst case?

Terrible. Until the last few matches, we were easily the worst team in the division and deserved to be bottom of the table. Two managers by November is never a good sign for a season going well, however, the performances in the last few matches have offered some signs of encouragement. Hopefully, the break for the World Cup will allow the team more time on the training ground to improve for the second half of the season. We have to invest in the transfer window to have any chance of survival though.

Huddersfield’s league games so far…
Huddersfield 0-1 Burnley Maatsen 18
Birmingham 2-1 Huddersfield Hogan 5, Placheta 45 — Ward 61
Huddersfield 3-1 Stoke Nakayama 44, Ward 70, Rhodes 86 — Baker 56
Norwich 2-1 Huddersfield Sargent 6, Sinani 16 — Jones 81
Huddersfield 2-2 West Brom Anjorin 11, 30 — Wallace 37, 57
Bristol City 2-0 Huddersfield Wells 35, Semenyo 80
Huddersfield 0-1 Blackpool Corbeanu 38
Huddersfield 1-2 Wigan Lees 76 — Keane pen 25, Lang 82
Huddersfield 1-0 Cardiff Rhodes 8
Reading 3-1 Huddersfield McIntyre 29, Nicholls og 36, Meite 81 — Lees 90
Luton 3-3 Huddersfield Adebayo 18, 37, Clark 45 — Morris og 11, Rhodes pen 32, Jackson 70
Huddersfield 2-0 Hull Coyle og 29, Helik 51
Rotherham 2-1 Huddersfield Washington 25, Kelly 61 — Ward 29
Huddersfield 0-1 Preston Cunningham 50
Middlesbrough 0-0 Huddersfield
Huddersfield 1-0 Millwall Nakayama 9
Huddersfield 0-2 Sunderland Pritchard 55, Diallo 90
Blackburn 1-0 Huddersfield Brereton 35

Danny Schofield, hospital pass? Or could have done more?

It was a difficult position for any coach to take over unexpectedly three weeks before the season starts but Schofield could have done more. He was playing players out of position and experienced players who were responsible for our good run last season were uncharacteristically poor. There was a lot of apathy with fans as it he was clearly thrown into a situation that he was not ready for.

What do you make of the new appointment, and what he’s done so far?

There was a lot of rumour of our legendary manager David Wagner returning, so unfortunately for Mark Fotheringham when you’re not Wagner, it’s disappointing to some fans.

He’s not been in charge for too long and inherited a struggling side that lost a lot of key players over the summer but as mentioned, we’ve been better in the last couple of matches without threatening to score. The jury’s still out for some of the fans due to the results, but he’s not had ten matches in charge yet and it’s his first role as a manager as opposed to an assistant. Some of his comments have been eye-catching because when he first joined, he wasn’t afraid to hold back his opinions but his talk of being competitive, physical and positive attacking play is the style that Town fans want but we’ve not seen enough consistently yet.

The break in the middle of the season for the World Cup will be key for the side and the response from the side when the season restarts will be key to how the fans view his side.

What’s the latest ownership swap and change, different chairmen, different paths, feels a bit of a shambles?

Former chairman Phil Hodgkinson saw his businesses go into administration so in many ways, we’re lucky that Dean Hoyle, who sold to Phil but still maintained a 25% stake, was able to step in and stop the club going into administration. Dean’s first stint as Huddersfield Town Chairman brought us from League One to the Premier League, so he’s given me incredible memories that I couldn’t have dreamed of supporting the club.

However, since Dean has taken over for his second stint, it seems clear that’s he given it a go but his heart isn’t in it the same as it once was. Fair enough. However, since losing to Nottingham Forest in the playoff final, we’ve lost key players and although I feel the signings we’ve made are good for 12-18 months time, we’ve neglected on replacing players for the now. Huddersfield are never going to spend £3m+ on a player and the fans don’t expect that, especially given we make a loss every year as a club. The fact is though we’ve lost six players from the Starting XI in that Playoff Final and I’d struggle to argue we’ve closely matched the quality in any of those positions. It appears the club model of develop players and sell them on for a good fee has worked well but we’ve gambled a bit too much for the future and neglected the team currently.

So now Dean’s stepped away from day-to-day activities and is looking to sell the club. Questions have been asked about Leigh Bromby, our Director of Football Operations too but it’s just poor mismanagement from all those above. One of the few positives I can say is that a Championship club is a more attractive buy than a League One club but we’d have to have a hell of a transfer window.

Sure, Carlos Corberan leaving so close to the season starting didn’t help but being bottom of the table and looking like we could be cut adrift soon, you have to wonder if he was right to leave if he wasn’t given assurances.

Ins >>> Jack Rudoni, 21, CM, Wimbledon, £850k >>> Tyreece Simpson, 20, ST, Ipswich, £522k >>> David Kasumu, 22, CM, MK Dons, Undisclosed >>> Michal Helik, 26, CB, Barnsley, Undisclosed >>> Yuta Nakayama, 25, CB, Zwolle, Free >>> Connor Mahoney, 25, RW, Millwall, Free >>> Will Boyle, 26, CB, Cheltenham, Free >>> Tino Anjorin, 20, AM, Chelsea, Loan >>> Luke Mbete, 18, CB, Man City, Loan >>> Kaine Kesler-Hayden, 19, RB, Villa, Loan >>>

Outs >>> Lewis O’Brien, 23, AM, Forest, £8.46mm >>> Harry Toffolo, 26, LB, Forest, £2.16m >>> Pipa, 24, RB, Olympiakos, £900k >>> Reece Brown, 26, CM, Forest Green, Free >>> Romoney Crichlow, 23, CB, Bradford, Loan >>> Matty Daly, 21, AM, Harrogate, Loan >>> Carel Eiting, 24, DM, Volendam (Holland), Free >>> Naby Sarr, 28, CB, Reading, Free >>> Jamal Blackman, 28, GK, Exeter, Free >>> Fraizer Campbell, 34, CF, Released >>> Alex Vallejo, 30, DM, Katokopias (Cyprus), Free >>> Josh Koroma, 23, CF, Pompey, Loan >>> Scot High, 21, CM, Rotherham, Loan >>> Rarmani Edmonds-Green, 23, CB, Wigan, Loan >>> Ryan Schofield, 22, GK, Hibs, Loan >>> Rolando Aarons, 26, LW, Motherwell, Loan >>> Matty Dale, 21, AM, Harrogate, Loan >>> Kieran Phillips, 22, AM, Morecambe, Loan >>> Danny Grant, 22, RW, Harrogate, Loan

Stand out players and weak links?

Sorba Thomas’ delivery from set pieces is key to this side that has struggled to score from open play. Lee Nicholls, who was in the Team of the Year last season has kept some of the scores much more respectable than they should be, so look forward to his time-wasting antics if Huddersfield take the lead.

Jack Rudoni seems to be growing in confidence and he’s one of those players that someone would love to clip his highlights for a semi-viral Twitter compilation. David Kasumu is a tenacious midfielder who’s looking to fill the hole left by Lewis O’Brien and covers a lot of ground so you’ll see him and Jordan Rhodes, who’ll likely be on the bench, tends to make an impact and cause problems for the opposition by winning those annoying free kicks to get the side further up the field.

Revised expectations for the season?

Huddersfield Town just need to limp to the World Cup break without being too cut adrift and reset.

Hopefully recalling some loan players, getting players back from injury and getting backing in the January transfer window can transform us, but it looks dire currently. Performances have been better under Mark Fotheringham than they were under Danny Schofield, even if that is a low bar but it’s hard to not say relegation as it currently stands. Hopefully when we catch up in February for the return fixture, I’ll have more positives to write about.

Links >>> Official website >>> Ground Guide >>> Down at the Mac — Forum >>> And he Takes That Chance — Podcast

The Twitter @brady0894, @takesthatchance, @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

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TacticalR added 20:28 - Nov 7 Thanks to Brady. I see this is the second time we've done this this season because the earlier game got postponed. It's quite strange to see Huddersfield in this position as they are a club that in recent years have known how to survive and sometimes thrive in the Championship. That's an interesting point that Corberán's decision to leave was a symptom rather than the cause of the problems.

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