Huddersfield Town 2019-20: Jan Siewert confident he can restore winning mentality to Terriers

JAN SIEWERT, the Huddersfield Town head coach, is not really one for a summer break when there is work to be done.
Thumbs up: Huddersfield Town head coach Jan Siewert salutes the fans after the final whistle of the Premier League draw against Manchester United.Thumbs up: Huddersfield Town head coach Jan Siewert salutes the fans after the final whistle of the Premier League draw against Manchester United.
Thumbs up: Huddersfield Town head coach Jan Siewert salutes the fans after the final whistle of the Premier League draw against Manchester United.
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Such an attitude is understandable. Few, if any, among his Championship peers started the close season with as much filling their ‘in’ tray as the German.

Relegation from the Premier League always brings a rebuilding job that has to be done with one eye very much on keeping the finances in check.

On his way: Huddersfield Town's Philip Billing.On his way: Huddersfield Town's Philip Billing.
On his way: Huddersfield Town's Philip Billing.
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But throw in Town gaining a new owner in Phil Hodgkinson and the long-awaited appointment of a football director still yet to materialise, and this has been an especially busy time. Not that Siewert is complaining.

“I am excited,” he tells The Yorkshire Post. “It has been a big process to get us here. Last season, we started to look in the final three weeks at each detail of what had gone wrong to help us plan for the moment we have reached now.

“If we had not done this so early, I think we would still be struggling. Last season was really tough for us. We all know that. It still needs time to get over. But we are in a good way.”

Siewert’s appointment in late January was akin to management’s ultimate hospital pass. Town may have had 15 games still to play but Yorkshire’s sole top-flight representative was already as good as down.

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The spirit that had once fuelled the Terriers’ promotion and subsequent survival among the elite had long since departed, leaving behind a punch-drunk squad.

Just three games into Siewert’s reign, Jonathan Hogg, the club’s long-serving midfielder and renowned competitor, likened Huddersfield’s struggles to a boxer taking beating after beating.

Christopher Schindler later sought comfort in the German phrase ‘Was dich nicht umbringt, macht dich stärker’ –what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger – when speaking to this newspaper as the defeats continued to pile up.

Siewert nods his head in agreement when both these past utterances from his players are relayed to him. “It was very difficult for me,” he says about being parachuted into a struggling club. “I suffered the same disappointment as the players over the results.

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“After being beaten for such a long time, it was not easy for them. But what I always believed was that we were on the right path doing the things we were doing.

“You saw at the end, in the game against Manchester United or even Southampton, we were making progress.

“Even the game against Liverpool, when we lost 5-0. That is fine, they are the Champions League winner. But what I saw that night was the football starting to be played how I wanted.

“Now, after pre-season, we are getting there. That makes me happy. It is what kept me going in the difficult times.

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“I stuck to my ideas. Every manager has to. That is important. I believed in what we were doing.

“As a coach, you have to be strong. I am sure it is the same in your job as a reporter. You stick to your ideas. That is important.”

This strength of character will be pivotal if Town are to avoid the pitfalls suffered by others dropping out of the top flight with such a resounding thud.

Derby County, the only other club to be relegated in the Premier League era with six games remaining, finished 18th on their return to the second tier. More recently, Aston Villa followed demotion and a paltry 17-point haul with a bottom half finish.

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Life will not be made easier by Huddersfield, as a former Premier League outfit, enjoying a much higher profile than was the case on their last stay in the Championship.

Sky selecting three of the club’s first four home games for live broadcast suggests the Terriers will be a prized scalp in the upcoming campaign. Asked if his side were there to be shot at, Siewert replied: “The big thing this season is we are stable. We have to get back to the habit of winning. That is the first step. Don’t make the second step before we take the first step.

“There is a rebuild here. The chairman put this very well. We all know it is not just one transfer period that we need after such a season.

“I feel the club is really together at the moment. In each part of it, the staff at the training ground, the stadium and the players. This is how it should work in football. We are putting ourselves on a route that is good. There is a positive atmosphere. That is important.”

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A host of imponderables, mainly surrounding the transfer market, make second-guessing how Town will fare this term a difficult task.

Philip Billing is expected to join Bournemouth for £15m this week and Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen is also free to leave.

With new owner Hodgkinson having stated earlier this month that the club’s £200m bounty for being in the Premier League has already been swallowed up along with this year’s £55m parachute payment, any further signings are wholly dependant on whether the likes of Billing, Jorgensen and Abdelhamid Sabiri are off-loaded.

Aaron Mooy and record signing Terence Kongolo, two players Siewert very much wants to keep, are also attracting interest from elsewhere to leave Huddersfield with a fine balancing act ahead of the transfer window closing on August 8.

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Nevertheless, Siewert feels his squad to be in good shape. “I would say we are starting to see my version of Huddersfield Town,” he said. “It is going in the right direction but I also know there is a lot to do.”

Town’s record-equalling relegation did have one upside, in that it afforded Siewert, whose career had previously been spent solely in Germany, an opportunity during those final few weeks to study in depth the division his club will this season call home.

“The Championship is the most competitive league in the world,” he said. “I honestly believe that. Incredible.

“I went to so many games and they were so tight. Just maybe the final five minutes that pushed the result in a certain direction.

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“The amount of quality of players is the highest in the world, in terms of being on a competitive level.

“There will be tough games and we have to be ready for that. I would say more competitive than anywhere – Germany, Italy, Spain.

“Just look at the points. There is not much difference between all the teams. It will be a hard task for us. But we are excited about this task.”