Jordan Rhodes lifts lid on second Huddersfield Town spell and makes blunt Neil Warnock relationship admission
Jordan Rhodes has conceded he did not have a strong bond with Neil Warnock during his second spell at Huddersfield Town.
Warnock, like Rhodes, returned to the John Smith’s Stadium for a second spell as a man with a stellar reputation among supporters.
Rhodes returned in 2021, joining from Sheffield Wednesday having enjoyed a goal-laden first stint in Huddersfield colours.
Warnock followed in 2023, tasked with keeping the Terriers afloat in the second tier of English football. While he fulfilled the brief, he used Rhodes sparingly and the forward was loaned out to Blackpool for the following campaign.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Rhodes said: "I wouldn't say there was one [a relationship with Warnock], to be honest, but these things happen in football.
"People make up their minds, make their decisions and it's just a mutual handshake and you move on and go elsewhere. I hadn't changed as a player; I still felt like the same player and the same person I always was.
“The first time around under Lee Clark, there was an emphasis on 4-4-2, wingers, balls into the box and you very much knew where you stood.
“The second time around, maybe it was a little more complicated with tactics, formations, systems and the demands of that lone striker had changed in those 10 to 12 years.
"But I very much enjoyed going back there. I have friends to last a lifetime and I wish them nothing but success in the future."
Rhodes found form in League One with Blackpool and there was even talk of a recall when Darren Moore succeeded Warnock in West Yorkshire.
He instead saw the season out at Bloomfield Road and completed a permanent move to the club at the end of the campaign.
Rhodes said: "It was a wonderful environment to come into at the stage of my career I was at. Every day was a learning day under Neil Critchley and I learned a great deal under him.
"There haven't been too many times in my career where I can say I could turn up every day and be authentically me. Sometimes you have to put on a bit of a mask, a facade and try and be somebody you are not."