Huddersfield Town defeated Reading on penalties in the English Championship Playoff Final. David Wagner’s Terriers will enjoy the Premier League for the first time in club history. Their story, remarkable as is, can be emulated by other clubs in the English Football League.
Huddersfield Town became the 20th and final club to represent next fall’s 2017/2018 Premier League season. This will be the first time Huddersfield appears in the first division of English football since the early 1970s. Just 13 years ago, the Terriers played in the fourth tier.
Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner had his club punch far, far above their weight class all season long. The German-born, and former U.S. international will be one of the most sought after managers in Europe in a few years’ time. Following five years of managing Borussia Dortmund II, Wagner received an offer to coach a little-known club from West Yorkshire in November of 2015.
At the time, there were rumors circulating Wagner would join Jurgen Klopp’s backroom staff at Liverpool – perhaps even as his number two assistant manager. Instead, David Wagner, 43 from West Germany took Huddersfield chairman Dean Hoyle’s offer to become the club’s first ever non-British Isle manager.
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Wagner’s Terriers survived that Championship season. In the summer, Wagner brought in a total of thirteen new players, from seemingly every continent, to challenge far wealthier clubs. His challenge? Develop chemistry within these new players under his preferred style.
Wagner utilized his connections in Germany to secure signings of several players playing in the 2. Bundesliga.
Left back Chris Lowë was a free transfer from Kaiserslautern. Christopher Schindler, the central defender who scored the match-winning penalty, arrived for £2 million from 1860 Munich. Furthermore, Schindler’s partner, Michael Hefele, came on a free from Dynamo Dresden. Hefele remarkably played both striker and central defender for Huddersfield Town.
The remainder of David Wagner’s squad consisted of a series of loan signings. Player of the year Aaron Mooy, an Australia international, arrived from Manchester City. Liverpool sent out promising Welsh goalkeeper Danny Ward to the club. He never looked back – starting 45 of 48 Championship matches.
Chelsea delivered a pair of promising forwards in Kasey Palmer and Izzy Brown. Both provided depth scoring when the club needed it most.
Club leading scorer Elias Kachunga, another German, came from Ingolstadt. Together with Bermuda international Nahki Wells, Kachunga and Wells combined for 23 goals in all competitions.
David Wagner built a sustainable model through inseparable club chemistry, unmatched resourcefulness, and promising youth development with a Town the population of Hollywood, Florida or Rockford, Illinois.
They weren’t always great. In fact, Huddersfield finished with a -2 goal differential over the league season. Extrapolated over 1,000 matches and they would not be in the top-six on current form. But that doesn’t matter in a league season; all they needed was a chance, and they took it.
For Villa executives this should resonate. Dr. Tony Xia splurged approximately £75 million on player signings. Huddersfield Town? About £5 million.
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Aston Villa can emulate this model by finding a charismatic, knowledgeable manager. Steve Bruce might be that man, but whatever happens, the club can no longer be wasteful in the transfer market. They must squeeze every ounce of talent out of every single player in the squad, like Huddersfield before them.
That is a quality the club has not seen in a decade.