TEAM PREVIEW: Huddersfield Town – Andy Holdsworth believes club can push on

 

Despite a strong looking squad on paper and some strong financial backing, Huddersfield have struggled to bother the top half of the table since their return to the Championship. Chris Powell has an urge to succeed after leaving Charlton and will hope for a stronger finish this season.

Last Season: Championship (16th)

Manager: Chris Powell

 

Squad

GKs: Alex Smithies, Joe Murphy
DFs: Mark Hudson, Murray Wallace, Tommy Smith, Joel Lynch, William Boyle, Joe Wilkinson, Jason Davidson
MFs: Jonathan Hogg, Sean Scannell, Jacob Butterfield, Adam Hammill, Joe Lolley, Duane Holmes, Philip Billing, Sondre Tronstad, Kyle Dempsey, Dean Whitehead
FWs: James Vaughan, Ishmael Miller, Nahki Wells, Harry Bunn, Jake Charles, Jordy Hiwula

 

Transfers

In: Callum Charlton (Brighouse Town), Jason Davidson (West Brom), Dean Whitehead (Middlesbrough), Kyle Dempsey (Carlisle United), Jordy Hiwula (Manchester City)

Out: Daniel Carr (Cambridge United), Jake Carroll (Hartlepool United), Anthony Gerrard (Released), Oscar Gobern (Released), Martin Paterson (Released), Jon Stead (Notts County), Conor Coady (Wolves)

 

First Six: Hull City (A), Blackburn Rovers (H), Brighton & Hove Albion (H), Fulham (A), QPR (H), Cardiff City (A)

Likely Lineup: (3-5-2) Smithies – Hudson, Smith, Lynch – Scannell, Hogg, Butterfield, Whitehead, Dempsey – Vaughan, Wells

 

 

A word from…Andy Holdsworth

On playing for his boyhood side When you sign at 11 years old that’s what you want to do, go and play with the first team, it was a massive achievement for me and family, a lot of work went into it.

I loved every minute of my time there, all you want to do is be a professional footballer and I had some great times there. To leave was difficult, it got to a point where I’d gone a bit stale in my performances and I wasn’t enjoying football as much as I used to. It was a good chance for me to go elsewhere, meet different people and different players and just start out fresh.

On trying to conquer the play-offs It is difficult, the aim is to get promoted and when it comes down to a couple of finals it’s tough to deal with when you lose. It’s the best way to go up but it’s horrible to lose, you don’t get as much time off after either so you don’t get much of a rest before you’re in and trying to pick yourself up again.

On the current side They’ve always got a chance, the way the club is now and the foundation that’s been set. You look at the players there and 90% of the players have played Championship football or Premier League football.

The recruitment has been good, they’ve lost Conor Coady but they’ve got a great mix of youth and experience, Conor will be a big loss and maybe they need beefing up a bit through the middle but they’ve got too fantastic strikers up front in Wells and Vaughan.

Dean Whitehead has been a good signing, plenty of experience. I don’t know how they’ll get up but I’m sure one day they’ll get close, they’ve got some good youth and I’m sure we’ll see more of players like Duane Holmes. It’s a hard league to get out of and a hard league to stay in but they’ve got as much of a chance as anyone.

On Dean Hoyle Dean’s fantastic, I only met him a couple of times when I was there as he was just taking over. It’s all about the fans to him, he’s a proper Huddersfield fan, sat on the terrace when he was a kid and he only wants the best for the club.

The Premier League is the be all and end all of it, that’s the aim for everyone and if the players can repay the faith shown by the chairman and give something to the fans then it would be great.

 

The Offside Rule Podcast Prediction: This year could be Huddersfield’s chance to really progress towards the top end of the division. Recruitment has once again been solid and they have a manager who will have every chance of leading a strong side at least towards the top six.

Key Player: Nahki Wells – A proven goalscorer and a big hit when he arrived from Bradford after a super spell in League One. Goals win you games and Huddersfield will have plenty of chances with players like him and James Vaughan up front.

One to Watch: Kyle Dempsey – The teenager had a superb breakthrough year with Carlisle and looks like an impressive acquisition for Town. With plenty of pace and an eye for goal, it will be interesting to see how he finds the step up.