Onwards and upwards as ambitious Terriers plot Championship challenge

WITH 12 players out of contract this summer and the football budget set to be slashed by more than a third if Huddersfield Town kicked off next season in League One, the stakes were incredibly high ahead of what we all hoped would be a great Yorkshire show at Wembley.

Happily for all at the Galpharm Stadium, therefore, goalkeeper Alex Smithies held his nerve to convert the Terriers’ 11th spot-kick of an extraordinary shoot-out as Steve Simonsen blazed over to ensure the future, suddenly, looks very rosy down Huddersfield way.

Certainly, as chairman Dean Hoyle and manager Simon Grayson prepare to meet this week to discuss the way forward over the summer, those negotiations will have surely been made a lot easier by the events of Saturday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The two men get on well, as was underlined as the shoot-out got under way when they chose to sit together on the Town bench. So, those talks would have been convivial even if the Blades had prevailed in the final.

But there can be no underestimating the value of victory with Hoyle admitting to the Yorkshire Post that a failure to go up would have impacted seriously on the club due to the League One salary cap that is being brought in next season.

“We would have had to cut it (the budget available to Grayson) by 35 per cent,” says the lifelong fan who since taking charge in 2008 has bank-rolled his beloved club to the tune of millions.

“That would have been big. But, at the same time, football has to cut its cloth accordingly. If we had been in League One, we would have done it.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Now, though, we have a bit more cloth to play with. That is not to say we will be silly, as we will not, but we have more flexibility.”

Chief among the topics set to be discussed by manager and chairman will, of course, be the future of Jordan Rhodes as West Ham United, fresh from winning promotion to the Premier League, prepare to return with a bid for a striker who they failed to land in January despite offering £5m.

The saga is likely to dominate much of the summer, particularly in the national media whose knowledge, judging by most of the questions asked in the post-match press conference at Wembley, of Huddersfield seems to begin with Rhodes’s goalscoring ability and end with the fact Grayson used to be employed by Ken Bates.

Of course, whether Rhodes stays or goes is vital as replacing someone who found the net 40 times will not be easy.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But there are plenty of other important matters to ponder as Town gear up for their first campaign in the second tier for 11 years.

Among these is what to do about the double-figure tally of players out of contract come the end of next month along with resolving the futures of Sean Morrison and Damien Johnson, the two loanees who played such an integral part in Huddersfield making it through the play-offs successfully.

Morrison is keen to stay in West Yorkshire and, considering his impact in tightening up the defence, it is to be hoped a permanent deal can be struck with Reading once the window opens.

Johnson, meanwhile, is officially a free agent after being released by Plymouth Argyle a couple of weeks ago due to financial constraints and, when fully fit, there is no doubt that the midfielder has been a key performer for the Terriers over the past two seasons.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As for those out of contract, the list is 12-strong with the deals of Gary Roberts, Alan Lee, Gary Naysmith, Danny Cadamarteri, Tom Clarke, Ian Bennett, Tommy Miller, Nick Colgan and Nathan Clarke all running out next month along with those of youngsters Aidan Chippendale, Simon Thomas and Lloyd Allinson.

Chances are we could have seen several of those names for the last time in a Town shirt, though the likes of Naysmith, Bennett and Tom Clarke do have strong cases to be retained along with possibly Miller and, as an impact player from the bench, Lee.

The factor in Grayson’s favour, of course, is that promotion means funds will be available due to the increased sums that come from the Football League compared to when in League One.

Attendances, too, will be up significantly in a division where a plethora of northern-based teams mean the numbers in the away end at the Galpharm will be swelled along with the home seats as fans savour the chance to face Leeds, Birmingham, Wolves, Bolton et al in league combat.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

For Grayson, it represents not only a vindication of his decision to return to League One in February but also a chance to try to emulate the success other newly-promoted sides have enjoyed once in the second tier.

The Terriers chief, who after winning promotion with Leeds in 2010 brought in 11 signings that summer to overhaul the Elland Road squad, said: “I am not going to make any rash statements. But anything is possible with any football club. You look at other teams who have come up.

“Norwich went up again, so did Southampton. At Leeds, we finished seventh. What I will say is the first thing we need to do is make sure we survive as a Championship club. We have not been at that level for some time. If we can manage that then we can see where it takes us afterwards.”