Danns’s experience could be vital to strugglers Town

The loan midfielder has battle-hardened experience in one infamous escape mission, ironically involving tonight’s visitors Crystal Palace, as do his Town team-mates Sean Scannell and Alan Lee.

The trio and their Selhurst Park colleagues may not have received gongs at the end of the 2009-10 campaign, but if Eagles supporters had anything to do with it, they would have all received badges of honour.

After looking upwards in January 2010, suddenly Palace were propelled down the Championship table like the proverbial stone, courtesy of a 10-point penalty for entering administration which saw them plunge from ninth to 21st in the table – just three points above the relegation zone.

But against considerable odds, Palace maintained their second-tier tenure by virtue of a final-day draw at Hillsborough which relegated Sheffield Wednesday.

With Town’s season in danger of veering from a drama into a fully-blown crisis if their 12-match winless streak continues much longer, expect character and mental strength to come to the fore.

Danns – set to line up against his former club tonight after being ineligible for the FA Cup tie with parent club Leicester City on Saturday – is urging his team-mates to ‘man up’ amid testing times and end the run which has seen them go without a league win since November 10.

On the predicament facing sixth-from-bottom Town, currently with a five-point buffer over third-bottom Barnsley, Danns said: “We now have to be strong as characters and not go hiding.

“When the fans are not always behind you and get a bit frustrated and it goes quiet, you have to use it as a positive to give you strength as it is your job to go out there and get them going.

“The main thing is character and stepping up to the plate when things are not going right. I remember when me, Alan Lee and Sean Scannell were at Palace and we went into administration, and they were tough times.

“We had got ourselves into a nice position and then I remember we flew to Newcastle for a game and when we got off the plane, we got told we had been deducted 10 points.

“We were suddenly in a relegation fight when it went to the last day.

“Fortunately in that team, we had some strong people mentally, such as Clint Hill, Shaun Derry and Alan and a manager in Neil Warnock who was as big a character as anyone.

“We were well-equipped to deal with it and thankfully we got through it by drawing at Sheffield Wednesday on the last day.

“After the tough times we had been through it felt like a promotion.

“The advice I would give to the team here now is, ‘Don’t be a passenger and hide – drive the team forward’.”

Just 16 days after being brought in by long-time admirer Simon Grayson – who played with Danns briefly at Blackpool and who also tried to take him to former club Leeds United – the midfielder found himself working for a new manager in caretaker-boss Mark Lillis after the ex-Elland Road chief was sacked by Town.

Given his age and considerable experiences already in the game – most notably in that administration season at Palace – Danns, 30, has long since grown to appreciate the maxim that nothing should surprise you in football.

On Grayson’s exit, he added: “It’s football. I have been in this situation before and am experienced enough to know how to deal with it.

“A few of us here have been in the game for a while and will pass on our experience to younger lads in how to deal with this.

“But as people have seen so far, the lads have taken to the new gaffer pretty quickly.

“I had a chat with him on Monday and he told me he tried to sign me on loan when he was at Stockport and I was a youngster in Blackburn’s reserves, which was nice to hear.

“It is the first time I have worked for him and I have nothing but respect for him.

“The qualities I see in him are that he is honest and tells you how it is. As a player, that is what you want to hear; if you are not playing, you want to know why.”

Remaining positive ahead of tonight’s game with fifth-placed Palace, Danns added: “Anyone can beat anyone in this league.

“When I was on loan at Bristol City, they were bottom of the table and we went and beat Middlesbrough, who were third, 3-1 at their ground.

“When you look at their team against ours, player for player, there is not much difference. We have as much quality.

“The difference is they have a few game changers such as (Wilfried) Zaha. If we can do a job on those sort of players, we have a very, very good chance.”

Jermaine Beckford is available tonight, but Keith Southern (achilles) is set to be out for two to three weeks, with Lillis monitoring Joel Lynch (hamstring).

Last six games: Huddersfield DLDWLD, Crystal Palace DDLDWD.

Last time: Huddersfield 1 Crystal Palace 2; August 26, 2000; Division One.

Referee: C Boyeson (East Yorkshire).