Huddersfield Town Season Review: One to forget for the Terriers
Picture from Mark’s Mobile Phone
Max Marshall, Writer.
Twitter: @maxrmars29
The 2023/24 season marked the start of a new era at Huddersfield Town, with new chairman Kevin Nagle taking full control of the club in the summer of 2023. After Nagle saved the club from administration, he went on to say, “There are exciting times ahead for this football club” and fans hoped they would have their club back fighting to get into the Premier League after narrowly avoiding relegation to Sky Bet League One thanks to championship mastermind Neil Warnock.
Pre-Season
The Kevin Nagle era began with many changes in personnel, whether that be staff, players, coaches etc. Two key changes that were made, were the appointments of CEO Jake Edwards and Sporting Director Mark Cartwright.
Due to the takeover taking longer than expected, it was a struggle for the club to bring in new players for big fees and so this meant loans and free transfers were preferable, especially due to the Financial Fair Play rules (FFP) that were in place too. In order for Nagle’s reign to have some stability, the decision was made to keep Neil Warnock as Head Coach for the foreseeable even though everybody including himself to be finished at the club at the end of the 22/23 season.
Now that the Head Coach situation was sorted it was up to Warnock and the recruitment team as to what players were brought in. The only transfer fee Town paid was for a midfielder in the name of Ben Wiles from Rotherham United for around £1m. The rest involved a free backupgoalkeeper, Chris Maxwell from Blackpool and loans in the form of right-back Tom Edwards from Stoke City and winger Delano Burgzorg from Bundesliga side Mainz 05.
After a successful, unbeaten preseason in Cornwall, overcoming sides including Bodmin Town 9-0 and Liskeard Athletic 13-1, it was time for the competitive season to begin.
23/24 Season Underway
Image: BBC Sport
Ironically, Huddersfield Town’s first fixture was down the road from their pre-season camp with a visit to Plymouth Argyle on the cards for the Terriers. A clash where the extreme winds took control for most of it but only helped Argyle as they turned Town over with a 3-1 win to announce their return to Championship football.
Town were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Middlesbrough 2-3 in the midweek following, and things didn’t get any better as Town grabbed one point from their first four league games.
However, form began to turn around after a first Huddersfield goal from Delano Burgzorg and a last-gasp winner from Jack Rudoni saw the Terriers collect their first three points away to West Bromwich Albion. One win became two as Rotherham were outclassed by strikes from Josh Koroma and Sorba Thomas, meaning Huddersfield were climbing the table after a 2-0 victory.
Just as Town’s season began to gain some momentum and the supporters were gaining confidence it wasn’t going to be another season of misery, the club announced the next fixture against Stoke City would be Neil Warnock’s last as former Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore was set to take over. A 2-2 draw with Stoke brought an end to Warnock’s reign for the second time as the club looked forward to the future.
As for Darren Moore, it took him the same number of matches to gain his first victory (5), with three draws and a 4-1 hammering from Birmingham, a nervy 2-1 win against Queens Park Rangers looked as though Town could be taken away from the dreaded relegation zone. This wasn’t the case though as Town were left with no wins over a month on from this match. An aggregate scoreline of 3-10 to the opposition sides meant Moore collected just three points from a possible 15.
As relegation loomed largely already, the festive fixtures were next up and with many of the opinion that these are the most important games of the season, Huddersfield needed to galvanise themselves to steer clear of relegation troubles. As playoff-pushing Sunderland were next up, the Terriers picked themselves up and put in an outstanding performance and top scorers Michal Helik and Delano Burgzorg added to their tallies to take all three points back to West Yorkshire.
This performance became just another one off though as it wasn’t until another month after on Boxing Day that Darren Moore achieved another win. Disappointing performances led to 1-1 draws against Swansea, Bristol and Millwall, whereas Preston and Norwich were more clinical in attack and beat Town comfortably.
Although the John Smith’s Stadium was the venue for a 3-0 win against Blackburn on Boxing Day, Middlesbrough were next to travel to the JSS and although the scoreline was 1-2 it could have been more.
January Transfer Window
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It was clear that reinforcements were needed in the January transfer window; not enough goals were being scored and too many were being let in. Chairman Kevin Nagle also noticed this and travelled back across the pond to assist with any new signings needed.
With FFP more relaxed, it meant Nagle could spend more money on the players that the club desired. The window started off quickly with a loan signing from Chelsea in the name of midfielder Alex Matos, all parties involved hoping he would be just as successful as previous Chelsea loanees including Izzy Brown, Kasey Palmer, Levi Colwill etc.
There were also the introductions of two strikers Bojan Radulovic and Rhys Healey, in order to put the ball in the back of the net which hadn’t been happening too often so far in the season.
Another signing which Town fans were excited to see was the Dutch centre back Radinio Balker from Groningen who was clearly ready to take the step up from the Eredivisie to English Football.
Fullback Brodie Spencer was also recalled to the club after being on loan at Motherwell after impressing both in the Scottish Premiership and for his national side Northern Ireland.
Second half of the season
Image: BBC Sport
2024 didn’t start off easily for Town as they were drawn away to Manchester City in the FA Cup Third Round, a game that ended 5-0 to the holders, which every football fan was expecting.
Throughout January, Town were playing relegation rivals, so they had to pick up as many points as possible. A 4-1 thrashing from Leicester City at the start of the month didn’t give the squad any confidence though heading into these fixtures. All three matches against Plymouth Argyle, Blackburn Rovers and Queens Park Rangers finished 1-1 with the opposition often looking like they would be the ones to find a winner. Ultimately, this resulted in Darren Moore losing his job as Town boss after a measly 3 wins in 23 matches, with bleak performances throughout leaving supporters angry.
As the club looked to find the right man going into the final games of the season, caretaker manager and Huddersfield Town legend Jon Worthington took charge and after working with the majority of the squad in the academy, the players took to him immediately. This was illustrated in his first match, a huge Yorkshire derby vs Sheffield Wednesday. In his post-match press conference, he mentioned that before the match he said to both Sorba Thomas and Josh Koroma that “they’d win them the match”. With a full-time scoreline of 4-0 and both getting on the scoresheet, Worthington’s plans worked perfectly.
Across his 4-game tenure, supporters couldn’t believe what they were seeing at time; how could the same squad play so much better than they had been previously? A key moment was when Town were 2-0 up against promotion pushing Southampton and even led 3-2 at one point as well, ultimately the match resulted in a 5-3 defeat, but the hunger from the squad was there to see.
Nagle had found his man, Andre Breitenreiter formerly of FC Zurich, Schalke 04 and Paderborn. The German had been extremely successful with clubs known as underdogs, achieving Paderborn’s first promotion to the Bundesliga, a European spot with Schalke and a league title in Switzerland for FC Zurich. There was a good feeling around the club, one that buzzed with excitement, Andre got off to a flyer with a 2-1 win against Watford and an unexpected 1-1 draw against rivals Leeds United.
The feel-good factor was soon diminished within the club though, as after seven matches Breitenreiter didn’t manage another victory to his name until Rhys Healey popped up in the 94th minute against Millwall in what was thought to be a season-saving header.
This ended up being a consolation goal in Huddersfield’s season though, as Town didn’t manage another win before the end of the season, losses and draws to Bristol and Birmingham ended with relegation to Sky Bet League One after five consecutive seasons in the Championship.
What does relegation mean going forward?
Image: Sportsmax
Although the feeling of relegation is still very raw around the club and it still hurts supporters deeply, it could be a blessing in disguise. With Breitenreiter describing many players had already checked out of the club, it could mean that players are brought in who want to fight for the shirt and a season of success is on the cards instead of another relegation-battling one!
What are your thoughts on this season and life in League One next season? Leave your opinions in the comments.
