Ooh To Be A Terrier: a Huddersfield Town F.C story

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Linecoigne1998

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Huddersfield appoint Letellier as manager on a one-year contract

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The French 31-year old takes over at the John Smith's Stadium in the hopes of doing better than previous manager Chris Powell who was sacked towards the end of June. Letellier is completely unknown to the footballing world and is despite some doubts from fans in Huddersfield, they were overall pretty excited about what he was capable of doing and if he could finally take Huddersfield to the Premier League. Indeed, Huddersfield are one of the only teams who have not participated in the modern Barclays Premier League along the likes of Bristol City as well. They won the Premier Division three years in a row between 1924 and 1926 and the FA Cup in 1922 in what was the club's best years in its history but Letellier will definitely be trying to change that as Huddersfield's best finish in the Championship was 8th in the 1999/2000 season and have never finished in the top half of the table since their promotion from League 1 in 2011/2012. In his introductory press conference, Letellier announced he was aware of the many challenges he would face here at Huddersfield but was definitely ready to take them on and hopes that the fans will like the work he does at Huddersfield.

"I'm really excited to be here, it's my first managerial job at a very top level and the fact that the club is giving me a chance here makes me feel like we'll all work very well together. I think the squad available here is of very high quality and if the players are used correctly, we could definitely do better than the past few seasons for this club and that's why I decided to take on this challenge. The stadium here is absolutely beautiful as well, one of the best in the division for sure and I just can't wait to see fans coming from Premier League games here one day. For now, my contract runs until the end of the year so we'll have to see what happens in the future but if I do well I don't see why that would be extended by another couple of seasons."

Today marks the very first day of July and Letellier should have his first game in charge in a couple of weeks as part of the usual pre-season friendlies which should allow him to experiment with the side he will manage all season if everything goes well. When asked questions later on, Letellier announced that his main quality was probably his adaptability as he moved a lot when he was younger and also considers himself a very determined manager who definitely wants to do well in England to prove himself and make a name for himself.

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CanalSide Sports Complex

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I met with the players today and felt very welcomed by everyone at the club. Being only 31 years old means that some players are as old or older than me and that can be a bit intimidating but I really felt very welcomed here. It's my first big managerial job and I want to at least show that I know what I'm doing even if I end up getting sacked at some point but hey, let's not think about that right now. Our first training session went well, I talked to Mike Marsh who gave me a bit of an overview about the kind of players we have and right after I went in my office to watch some highlight videos from training sessions of most of the players to get a sense of the types of players we have and what kind of tactic and formation I could use to get the best from those players. So far, I can definitely see a couple of key players for our side who will definitely come in big during the season:

Nahki Wells - striker (25 years old)

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Nahki is one of the players who really caught my eye as I was watching our players in our practice games. He's incredibly quick and has a deadly right foot and it showed last season when he scored 14 goals in 35 games. This season I can definitely see him doing even better and it wouldn't surprise me if he went past the 20 goal mark.

Sean Scannell - left/right attacking midfielder (24 years old)

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Another extremely quick player who will come up big on the wings when trying to put those crosses in, especially because of his good dribbling he'll be able to quickly go past players and get the ball forward to score as many goals as possible.

Joel Lynch - centre-back (27 years old)

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Our most solid defender who is strong, can head the ball well and still run pretty fast for a centre-back. I'm definitely counting on him to lead the defence and get us to concede as little goals as possible. Mark Hudson, our captain, will obviously be the main leader in this team but Joel will be great as another solid centre-back throughout the season.

 
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Looking at our squad and knowing that our transfer budget stands at around 2.8 million pounds, I decided to look into a couple of players to get on loan. A wide midfielder was much needed I felt as Harry Bunn might not be good enough to fit the role I want him to play in so I decided to look after Rolando Aarons. Who better than a 19-year-old English midfielder looking for some playing time for us? In terms of centre midfielders and defensive midfielders, we've got some quality players but no one as back up, so I looked to Harrison Reed of Southampton, he'll be a great player for us and will definitely do us some wonders this season. I tried to go for Jean-Kevin Augustin of PSG as well to strengthen our offence but he rejected our contract offer and went to another French club on loan. Our first friendly is coming up against Grenoble Foot 38 from France and it should be quite an interesting game but hopefully we'll get the victory then.

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Letellier relies on English youth

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Hugo Letellier signed yet another English youngster on loan for his Huddersfield side in the name of Sam Gallagher from Southampton. The 19-year old striker joins the West Yorkshire side until the end of the season in the hopes of making a name for himself in the Championship. Gallagher has only played 18 professional games with Southampton in the 2013/2014 season, scoring once but still being thought of as the next big thing for English football. He joins Southampton teammate Harrison Reed and English youngster Rolando Aarons as Huddersfield's 3rd loan signing this season as the Yorkshire side prepares for their 4th consecutive season in the Championship after 2 wins from 2 friendlies (2-0 against Grenoble and 4-0 against Villefranche).

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"We're ready", says Huddersfield manager

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Recently appointed Huddersfield manager seems very confident about his team's chances in their opening game of the season against Hull City this Saturday at the Circle in a game where Steve Bruce's side are the favourites to win:


"We've had a good pre-season and managed to grab wins in all of our games so the players are roaring to go. It's been a very exciting couple of weeks since I got here and we're all ready to take on the challenge of going to Hull's stadium on Saturday. It'll be a cracking game and I can definitely see us grabbing all 3 points if we perform as well as we have during the pre-season. Rolando, Sam and Harrison have settled in perfectly and are all really excited to be part of this team and it's going to be a good season, I can feel it."

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Steve Bruce seemed to have the same mentality ahead of their opening game of the season as they also won all 4 of their pre-season games and made it clear that he was excited to take on Letellier and be his very first managerial opponent but was keen on getting all 3 points himself and talked about how important it was to perform well at home in the first game of the season:

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"Letellier's determination and ambition is very admirable; as a manager who just started in a big club in a big league I've been quite impressed by the results he got during pre-season and the way Huddersfield have been playing. We got relegated from the Premier League last season and all the players here really want to go back up and try to put in more of a challenge against the big teams so it's incredibly important that we do well in this first game and try to outplay Huddersfield. They're a good side with good individual players but I completely believe in the team I selected for this game and am excited to be Letellier's first official opponent."

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Both managers seem confident in their sides' respective abilities and it should be a great game to watch as staff at The Circle get the stadium ready for the league clash on Saturday afternoon. Tune in at 3pm in 4 days to follow the Championship opening matchday and see how Huddersfield and Hull get on!

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Terriers claim memorable victory against Hull

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Huddersfield Town claimed a memorable victory for Letellier's first game in charge as they beat Hull City late on away from home at the Circle. Steve Bruce's side thought they had salvaged a draw when Diomande scored in the 80th minute by Harry Maguire's foul in the box just a minute later gave Huddersfield a penalty which Ishmael Miller put away with ease. This was Letellier's first official game in charge of Huddersfield as they now get ready to take on Crewe Alexandra for the Capital One Cup first round. At the end of the game, man of the match Nahki Wells talked a little bit about Letellier as a manager and what he told them to get them to push forward when Hull came back and equalised:

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"We had a great game today and it's all thanks to Hugo; before the game he told us that even though we weren't favourites for the game we needed to perform for the fans and just overall play well and we did and managed to win the game late on. On the sideline during the game he was also really active and always telling us what to do and where to go and definitely pushed us to that victory in the last 10 minutes. Hull were very strong out there but we pushed through and we're now confident going forward that we can beat teams who are stronger than us both on paper and on the field."

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Kind words from the striker who Letellier said would be his main man this season at Huddersfield. In other news, Charlton have now gone top of the Championship after winning 3-1 against QPR, thanks to a Yaya Sanogo brace. With their victory over Hull, Huddersfield find themselves in 6th place and one of the ten teams who claimed victories in this matchday. The other results from this afternoon and evening offered nothing too unexpected as most of the favourites to win their games managed to win them:

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Nice start mate, and always good to get a win to get the ball rolling :)
 
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Huddersfield very expectedly beat Crewe Alexandra 4-0 in a game that Jason Davidson shouldn't forget as he scored what might just be the best goal of his career. The left-back managed to score from the left-hand side of the field from what was probably a cross but ended up in the top right corner of the Crewe Alexandra net. Weels, Gallagher and Aarons will also all be happy about their performances as they all managed to score and overall provide with a fantastic game that saw Huddersfield show what they are hoping to achieve this season.
Blackburn Rovers manager Paul Lambert was asked about Letellier and Huddersfield performance at the end of his victory against Scunthorpe United 2-1 away from home and said that he was quite impressed with the way that the Terriers played and was excited about what should a great encounter between 2 very good teams:

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"They were very impressive in that victory but I don't think it's anything less than people expected. A Championship side is almost always favourite when they're facing a League 1 side but then again, they played very well and it showed through the scoreline. I'm excited about facing them on Saturday, it should be a close but very good game to watch and will definitely kickstart the winner's season so I'm obviously hoping to take the 3 points but the fact that Letellier is so unknown in the footballing world so far makes it hard for me and for other managers to kind of predict the system he's going to us and how he's going to play so it should be interesting."

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Hugo Letellier has now won two for two since taking over at Huddersfield and will definitely try to impress the fans for the club's first home game of the season at the John Smith's Stadium. With a couple of days to prepare for the fixture, Letellier announced in an interview that another goal he had with the club was to overtake rivals Leeds United and finish above them, something which has never happened in the past 10/15 years.


"I'm of course very satisfied with our two wins so far but we want more and you know, even though my goal when I joined this club was to finish in the top half of the table for the first time in the past 5 years, I also just really want to finish above Leeds. They're our local rivals and the fans know more than anyone that Leeds used to be one of the greatest sides in Europe and are now a mid-table team in the second division. With the squad we have here and the players we've brought in, I definitely think we can finish above them this year and I can't wait to see where we actually finish in the league. For now though, I'm just trying to focus on a game at a time and hopefully win them when they come around."

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Blackburn and Huddersfield in thrilling draw

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Rolando Aarons played heroes for Huddersfield as they rescued a late draw against Blackburn for their first home game of the season. It was revealed that Letellier wasn't very happy at half-time and the end of the game about the result but overall was still happy about some performances, especially Rolando Aarons'. The 19-year old has now scored 2 goals in 2 games and was named the man of the match in this game against Blackburn which lifted them up to 5th place in the league, just 2 points behind leaders Derby County who won 5-3 against Charlton. Overall, Huddersfield probably deserved more than just a draw but Blackburn took their chances well and also deserved the 2 goals they scored.

So Hugo, are you happy about this result? Surely coming into this game you were only favourites due to your home advantage but wouldn't it be correct to assume that Blackburn are a better side?

I'd say I definitely don't agree with that actually; we were the better team on the field today, had more chances, held the ball better and just played the more attractive football but we just got very unlucky with the bar and the post and a couple of silly mistakes so, in the end, we pay for it with a draw but it's nothing that worries me. I know that the players today gave their all and will definitely perform better next time because they'll know what to expect when going down a goal twice in one game so overall I'd say I was happy with the game.

Surely you'll be happy about Aarons' performance today? Scoring two goals and saving you a point must've really given him some points ahead of other players to start the next game right?

Obviously he's been amazing in the past few games and that makes me and the rest of the team happy; he was brought it to strengthen the squad and he's definitely made us a better team so I'm excited to see what he can bring to the table as we get further into the season but I'm definitely happy about his performances and he knows that if he keeps performing he'll keep starting games.

You take on Brighton in your next game, a team who are undoubtedly one of the strongest sides in the Championship this year; do you think you can get a good result against them?

I don't see why not to be honest. Huddersfield have never been doubted as one of the top teams in the Championship and I feel like that has pushed some teams to be complacent when facing us so the fact that pundits think they're a better team doesn't really scare us and we'll approach that game just like we approached today's game and hopefully get a bit luckier when it comes to putting away chances and not lose points again.

No big surprises in the other games this weekend as there were a lot of draws but also expected victories. Let's hope that the games next Tuesday will offer a bit more entertainment because there really wasn't much to be excited about today.

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Huddersfield in disappointing collapse against Brighton

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Brighton did the impossible today as they came back from being 3-0 down to hold on to a point away from home against Huddersfield. Wells managed to score 2 goals as Davidson also got his second of the season but complacency from Letellier's side allowed Wilson to score a brace of his own and Murphy to score a dramatic equaliser in the 87th minute. The stats really show that the end result was probably fair and had Huddersfield not completely given up their focus, they might have not let the stats be so reflective of the result and maybe could have grabbed a win. Letellier was obviously not very happy during his post-match press conference, as he believed his side really had the game in the bag and just let it get away from them:

"It's just ridiculous that we gave away such a lead. I'm very disappointed in the players and they know that; they know that they should have done better and conceding three goals in a game that we controlled like that is unacceptable. I'm really hoping that we turn our focus to our next game now as this was definitely the worst game we've had all season so far. I really have no words to describe my disappointment and I really don't see the point in talking about this game anymore."

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In other news, Blackburn also got an unexpected victory against Cardiff as they move up the table to 11th and Cardiff drop from 1st to 5th. Terrier fans will probably be even more disappointed by the fact that a win for Huddersfield today would have taken them all the way to the top of the Championship and put them in 1st place.

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Fulham completely destroyed Huddersfield at Craven Cottage as they beat the Terriers 3-0 to move up to 4th, leaving Huddersfield down in 15th after their first loss of the season. Letellier probably expected a loss from this game but maybe not of that margin, especially considering the stats of the game which suggest that Huddersfield should have and definitely could have done better today. Nahki Wells and Sam Gallagher were two of the big disappointments for Letellier's side as they failed to really ever test the keeper or take their chances when they did.


"It's extremely disappointing to be losing like this especially for our first loss of the season as I don't feel Fulham were a much better side than us. We dominated most of the game and that shows in the stats but we just couldn't take our chances, which was an issue in the game against Brighton already and clearly we haven't learned our lesson. I'm hoping that now our game against a League 1 side will allow to try and think more about not missing easy chances to score goals and get us qualified for the next round to at least have some positivity in the dressing room because as of right now we're just not performing as well as we could be and it's definitely impacting how players think outside of training and off the pitch which then makes them perform badly so it's my job to really try to get them fired up again for the next game against Milwall and then the next game against QPR in the league."

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In a way, this Fulham victory wasn't entirely unexpected and the hosts will be happy to have beat Huddersfield by such a big margin. There were once again no other big shocks in the league as the stronger teams and favourites to win almost all won their games or drew, which at least gives Huddersfield some hope moving forward that if they start upsetting the odds then they can really start getting some points and move up the table.

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Letellier's Huddersfield needed to redeem themselves in the Championship after suffering an embarrassing defeat against Fulham last week and did so in great style as they beat QPR 3-1 at home despite being a mean down for the entirety of the second half. This sees Huddersfield shoot right up the table and will definitely give the players some new found belief to try and finish in the top half of the table as they move up to 11th 5 games in, just 5 points away from 2nd and 3rd place and 2 points away from 3rd. QPR move down to 19th and are only a point above the relegation zone. Harrison Reed scored his first goal for Huddersfield with an absolute stunner from the left side of the box as he hit a rocket in the top right corner and Paterson scored a beautiful chip from inside the box on the right-hand side of the field to put it in the top left corner of the net. Hasselbaink was understandably disappointed by the result and talked about Letellier's start at Huddersfield when he was asked what went wrong today:

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"I just have to congratulate Huddersfield today, they outplayed us and deserved the victory for sure. What went wrong? I'm not entirely sure I just know that we didn't really put any pressure on them and even when they had 10 men they managed to score on us which was disappointing. I have to give credit to Letellier for motivating his players enough to go and grab that 3rd goal even after going a man down. They were already 2-0 up at that point and most managers would tell the players to hold on to the lead but he pushed his team to attack and that's an admirable risk to take. He's done pretty well so far at Huddersfield but looking at how he managed his side today I can definitely see them getting better and better as we go further into the season and maybe go into the playoff spots for promotion to the Premier League."

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QPR fans will be disappointed by the result and will hope for a better result when they play Nottingham next and will also hope that Hasselbaink tries to change up his team and strategy to get a second league victory since the start of the season. Middlesbrough consolidated first place with a win against Sheffield Wednesday whilst Burnley stay close second after they won against newly-promoted Bristol City.

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