Jordan Rhodes: "Returning to a place he did so well at might be good for him"
Brady Frost, Feature Writer
Twitter: @brady0894
Source for image above: HTAFC
Jordan Rhodes returns to Town but will it be a sweet reunion? We speak to Ben from the podcast The Wednesday Week to find out more about his time at Sheffield Wednesday.
We all remember Jordan Rhodes, don’t we? The absolute goal machine for Huddersfield Town, the club’s eighth all-time leading goalscorer, 87 goals in 148 games, The Terriers’ number 17.
When the Scottish striker left Huddersfield Town for Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 2012, which was a club record sale of £8 million at the time, many fans may have secretly harboured hope that one day they’d him in a Town shirt again. Nine years and four teams later, Rhodes is back, with the former favourite signing a three-year deal with the club.
Yet the circumstances around his return are admittedly not at a great time for either the player or Huddersfield Town. The Terriers endured a miserable second half to the season, winning just three matches in 2021, while Rhodes suffered relegation with Sheffield Wednesday and scored just seven goals in 36 matches for The Owls. There are only two ways a return can go, the player picks up where they left off and does amazing or it doesn’t work out, so what happens for Rhodes and Town?
With the move finalised, we look at what the club and player have said about the transfer and spoke to Ben Woodcock from The Wednesday Week podcast to find out more about Rhodes’ time with The Owls.
Photo source: HTAFC
What the club said
Despite it being one of the worst kept secrets this transfer window about Rhodes returning to Huddersfield Town, it did little to stop the fanfare from The Terriers. For the photoshoot, there was a nice touch with old shirts from the striker’s time with the team and a special behind the scenes video around the signing.
In the announcement on the club’s website, manager Carlos Corberán seemed pleased to add an experienced Championship player to his frontline. He said:
“We are really happy to add Jordan to our squad; he’s a very intelligent striker that has a lot of experience and a very good record in this division. When a player wants to come back to a club, it’s because he feels close to the supporters and that there’s something special to him about being a Terrier.
“As a striker, he gives us a lot of options and has the skillset to compliment the other forwards we have in our team. He makes clever runs, will fight in the air, help with the build phase, and is sharp in front of goal.”
The ‘five strikers’ comment from last season still crops in discussions but Corberán has lacked another striker with his traditional centre-forwards Fraizer Campbell and Danny Ward not delivering enough goals on the pitch last season. With Campbell not being renowned for his goalscoring in recent years and Ward suffering injuries, having a recognised centre forward in Rhodes has to be seen as an upgrade on other resources available to the manager in the last campaign.
Photo source: HTAFC
What the player said
Huddersfield was the club where a 19-year-old Rhodes had his big break after joining from Ipswich Town, so the forward seemed thrilled to return to the club. Speaking in his first interview on Huddersfield’s official YouTube channel. He said:
“I’m delighted and chuffed! Since I knew of the interest it was a no brainer and I’m really looking forward to getting started.
“I’ve got so many great memories, there’s great people here, and just the possibility of pulling on the Town shirt again and hopefully scoring a goal or two; that filled me with so much joy in previous years. The possibility to have the chance to do that again is something that really drives me.
“I felt like it was my first real break in football, coming up here away from Ipswich and normal surroundings, throwing myself into uncomfortable and not normal territory, but I did find myself at home. Coming back here now does feel like coming home again. I owe so much to this club, a huge debt, and I just can’t wait to get started again.”
Leaving the potential success of this transfer to one side, it’s great to hear a former player is delighted to return to your club even if it’s a recurring theme with Huddersfield’s recruitment at the moment. Fans who watched Rhodes in his first spell with Town will be aware he scores goals but didn’t contribute much in terms of build-up play. However, with goals being hard to come by last season, is it worth the punt?
Photo source: HTAFC
Fan report
Since joining Sheffield Wednesday in 2017, it would be fair to say it’s not gone swimmingly for Jordan Rhodes but we wanted find out why and if there was any suggestion he could carry on his amazing form from his first spell at Town. So, we spoke to Ben Woodcock from Sheffield Wednesday fan podcast, The Wednesday Week, to learn more.
Huddersfield fans are familiar with Jordan Rhodes, but how would you sum up his time at Wednesday?
To be brutally honest, absolutely horrendous, especially when you consider the cost. Around £8-10m which means each goal cost approximately £400,000. He probably goes down as the most detrimental transfer Sheffield Wednesday have made.
Looking at his stats, he has seven goals this season in 36 games but only 15 of those were starts. Is he still the good finisher we saw at Huddersfield Town?
He can be, for sure. However, he’s never done it consistently for Wednesday. It’s easy from the outside looking in to say give him the service and he will score, especially when he’s done that at other clubs, but we have and he’s not always delivered. So much so that I don’t think he’ll be a big miss for us in League One.
How would you describe his playing style?
Rarely involved unless he’s scoring. At times he’s linked play up well but this has been few and far between at Wednesday. I think even at Huddersfield first time around he was often on the periphery of games and would pop up with a goal or four. He’s been the same for us, minus the goals.
From the outside, it looked like at times, he formed a good partnership with Josh Windass, do you think he works better with another striker or is he better up front on his own?
I’m not sure it was a case of a partnership forming but Jordan Rhodes certainly needs somebody up front with him, otherwise, we’ve tended to seem light up top with a lack of presence. As I’d mentioned about his playing style, he doesn’t really get too involved in the build-up to attacks.
Do you think his performances were affected by the off-the-field issues at the club?
I think every player has been affected by not being paid three times this season, I’m not sure whether it’s something you could put Rhodes’ poor form down to though. This has actually been the most productive season of his time at Hillsborough.
Do you still think he’s good enough at Championship level?
If I’m honest, I don’t think he’s Championship quality. He’s never shown that for us. A lot of Wednesday fans think he would perform better for someone else, but I’m not sure I agree. I think we bought him 5 years too late, I’d go as far as saying he’s past it. But I could be proved wrong.
How do you think he’ll get on at Huddersfield Town?
Returning to a place he did so well at in the past might be good for him. Somewhere he loved and was loved, I don’t think he ever got that at Hillsborough due to his poor performances. I still don’t think he’ll set the world alight but he might find his feet again.
What has the fan reaction to his departure been like? Can you tell us more about his relationship with the fans?
I think Sheffield Wednesday fans are ecstatic really. Don’t get me wrong he seems like a brilliant bloke. His relationship with the fans has actually been pretty good, he’s replied to young fans who’ve written to him. Sent boots etc. This has meant the fans have never really got on his back, and everyone’s wanted him to succeed throughout. Unfortunately, that doesn’t win football games. I think everyone knows it’s for the best that all parties move on.
Is there anything we should know about Jordan Rhodes’ time at Wednesday that we don’t already?
I don’t think anything from his time at Wednesday has gone under the radar, there’s always been plenty of talk, sometimes from pundits saying he should be playing, when he plays he scores goals sort of comments. This has always wound Wednesday fans up who’ve watched poor performance after poor performance. I wish him all the best but I’m glad we’ve got him off the wage bill.
Photo source: HTAFC
Summary
When Rhodes left Huddersfield, he went onto have similar success with Blackburn Rovers, scoring 85 goals for Rovers but after joining Middlesbrough in 2016 that’s where his amazing goalscoring rate began to suffer.
His goals for Middlesbrough helped secure Boro promotion to the Premier League but was left on the bench for a final day title decider against Brighton by then boss Aitor Karanka. He went on to play just six league games for the Teeside club in England’s top-flight without scoring and this move seemed to be the turning point for Rhodes in his career.
A loan at Sheffield Wednesday before signing permanently with The Owls has seen him score 20 goals in 57 starts and 55 substitute appearances for the club. Since signing for Wednesday, he’s had five different managers take charge, and also a full season loan spell at Norwich City - where he was a fairly good impact sub as they secured promotion.
It could be argued that this lack of stability could be an explanation for his disappointing spell with the Sheffield side along with off-the-field issues at the club, but Rhodes himself would probably admit the last few seasons haven’t gone how he would have wanted.
Town fans know all about Rhodes’ finishing ability but the player would contribute little else to the team and at the age of 31, this feels like his last opportunity to prove he can still cut it at Championship level. For the striker to succeed at Town, he needs the team to play to his strength and supply him with the chances, which has been an issue for this team for quite some time. It would be easy to write him off at this stage, but we love a romance story in football. Could a struggling striker returning to a faltering team where it worked so well for them both last time be a match made in heaven? We’ll have to wait and see.
How do you think Jordan Rhodes will do at Town? Let us know in the comments.
