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Stan's the right man to ensure success in centenary
It is a fresh start for Huddersfield Town this season with a new chairman, a new manager and a host of new players hoping to make an immediate impact. Richard Sutcliffe reports.
ACCEPTED etiquette in directors' boxes up and down the land dictates that the feverish celebrations so favoured by supporters in the cheap(ish) seats are invariaby frowned upon.
Club dignitaries and invited guests are, so the accepted thinking goes, expected to adhere to a strict set of dos and don'ts.
There is to be no singing, no shouting, no displays of emotion and, under no circumstances, no celebrating of goals. Or as Newcastle United chairman Mike Ashley, who is rarely seen at a match without a Toon Army replica shirt on his back, once succinctly put it: "You're supposed to wear a suit, a shirt and tie and behave like a headmaster. It's like one of those snobby, snooty golf clubs where they have rules for this and that."
From next weekend, Ashley will have an ally in League One when Huddersfield Town's new chairman-elect, Dean Hoyle, takes his seat in the Galpharm Stadium directors' box.
A lifelong Town fan who grew up on the terraces of the cavernous Popular Side at Leeds Road before graduating to the Kilner Bank Stand when the club moved a few hundred yards to their new home in 1994, the 40-year-old took charge of the Terriers in April this year.
One of his first moves after becoming chairman-elect – he will step up to chairman next summer when current incumbent Ken Davy steps down – was to announce a cut-price season ticket offer whereby fans were offered the chance to watch Town for just 100 in the club's centenary year.
The response staggered even Hoyle, who built his fortune by developing the Card Factory into a nationwide chain, with a phenomenal 16,123 being sold before the June deadline. It means Huddersfield will kick off their season a week today at home to Stockport County in front of one of the Football League's biggest crowds of the day.
Hoyle is eagerly looking forward to watching Stan Ternent's side in competitive action for the first time this term, though he admits to being in something of a quandary.
He told the Yorkshire Post: "What do I do when we score? I have never been one for sitting in the directors' box, my seat since Town moved to the new stadium has always been on the opposite side of the ground.
"As a supporter, I have never been shy of giving my opinion during a game and I don't hold back, as anyone who has sat near me will tell you.
"I would love to be able to tell you I will be more refined now I will be sitting in the directors' box but football is an emotional game and I always get swept along with what is happening on the field.
"I understand the usual behaviour in a directors' box is not to get too over-excited when your team scores but I won't be able to stop myself cheering. No chance.
"I should be able to stop myself from jumping on my seat, which would probably be going a bit too far. Though if we score against Leeds next season, I can't even make that promise!"
Hoyle's arrival in the boardroom towards the end of last season, coupled with Ternent succeeding Andy Ritchie as manager, means it is very much a new start at the Galpharm after a couple of years where the club has struggled to progress.
After reaching the League One play-off semi-finals in 2006 under Peter Jackson, Huddersfield have finished 15th and 10th with any hopes of a promotion challenge having evaporated soon after the turn of the year. Crowds, which in 2005-06 averaged more than 13,000, also dipped alarmingly with a couple of midweek games last winter being watched by a little over 6,000 fans.
The appointment of Ternent on April 24 – he chose to watch the final two games of last season with new assistant Ronnie Jepson from the stand and leave managerial duties to Academy director Gerry Murphy – has, in Hoyle's words, "shaken things up" and with bumper crowds guaranteed there is an air of anticipation in Kirklees.
So far, six new faces have arrived with 250,000 signing Gary Roberts being joined by Chris Lucketti, Jim Goodwin, Andy Butler, Keigan Parker and Michael Flynn. More are expected to follow with David Unsworth and Paul Gerrard both having played as trialists in a midweek behind-closed-doors friendly against Accrington Stanley.
Clearly, Ternent feels experience is the key to his side's prospects in the coming season and Hoyle is in full agreement with his new manager.
The new Terriers owner said: "We get on and the dynamics are working well. He is opinionated and forthright in his views, and I like that. He will never shirk an issue and I know he will fight for the money if he believes a signing will take the club forward.
"I am very confident we have the right man in charge with his ambition matching ours – to win promotion. He has the hunger to prove people wrong and he really wanted this chance to do great things with Huddersfield Town."
On the extensive recruitment in the close season, Hoyle added: "I sat down with Stan at the start of the summer and he said 'Dean, if we want promotion, changes will have to be made because these players will not get us up'.
"After having a long, hard look at the squad, Stan felt there simply were not enough winners in the team and that is why, come the opening weeks of the season, I expect us to have made 10 new signings in total.
"Stan wanted to shake things up at the club, which I think we all agree is something that needed to be done. It is a new start on every level – in the boardroom, the dugout, in the stands with all the season tickets we have sold and on the pitch."
The feverish transfer activity at the Galpharm has, Hoyle admits, led to concerns among some supporters that the club will start to scale down their investment in the Academy that has brought the likes of Jon Stead, Nathan Clarke, Jon Worthington and Michael Collins through to the first team.
To try and allay those fears, he is quick to stress that is not the case, though the new Huddersfield supremo does admit the club want to see an improved return.
He said: "The new start extends to the Academy as well. Basically, we want all aspects of the club to raise the bar and the Academy is no exception.
"It is an expensive operation for the club, but I want to stress it is very important to the club and something we all believe in. But we do want to see it attracting and then developing the best players."
That is, of course, something for the future with Hoyle and Town's immediate focus being on Wednesday's Centenary friendly against Arsenal at the Galpharm and the season's opener against Stockport.
The new Huddersfield chief, who will cut short his holiday in Portugal to watch the Gunners game, added: "I am nervously excited about the season.
"With us having signed so many new players, it may take a bit of time to gel but once that happens I feel we can achieve the success we all want and mark our centenary year in style."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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