Paul Ogden, Radio Leeds
Manager: Lee Grant
Last season: 10th
Key ins: Alfie May (Birmingham, undisclosed), Ryan Ledson (Preston free), Joe Low (Wycombe, free)
Key outs: Brodie Spencer (Oxford, undisclosed), Jonathan Hogg (released), Josh Koroma (Leyton Orient, free)
Expectations: Brand new manager. Bunch of summer signings. Promotion essential.
Yes, last season’s opening script lines will do fine again this time for Huddersfield Town, thanks.
At what we’ll now be calling the Accu Stadium, the Terriers could do worse than run out to Orange Juice’s 1983 hit “Rip It Up (and start again)” after last season’s appalling fade from promotion candidate to a 10th-placed finish.
Strengths? Lee Grant, former Derby, Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper, is strictly speaking a first-jobber in a managerial sense, nevertheless offering vast experience of how domestic football really works.
Networking skills and industry credibility go nicely with his coaching badges, as well as his most recent role as a key member of the coaching team behind Ipswich’s journey from League One to Premier League, a vital component of his successful application for the Huddersfield job.
Operating these days without a director of football as such, Huddersfield have sourced no fewer than ELEVEN new players.
Weaknesses? Grant has totally revamped the squad with those 11 new arrivals, plus the departures of stalwarts Jonathan Hogg and Tom Lees.
Many of the new boys come with quality pedigree at this level. That said, bedding in an entire new team with expectations of being right at the top of the division wont be straightforward.
Difference-maker? Alfie May, the Terriers’ most expensive summer investment at over £1m. The striker has a superb goalscoring record at this level and is tasked with doing what he did for Birmingham, one year on from choosing Blues over a move to Huddersfield themselves.
