It’s getting to that time of year when the pantomimes get going and Huddersfield Town have certainly resembled one in the month of November – with the good, the bad, the ugly and the just down right confusing.
To matters off the pitch first where, at the start of the month, we saw Town chairman Phil Hodgkinson’s company Pure Legal fall into administration. Town fans were quick to reflect and speculate on how this might impact the Terriers.
The news was met with a lot of sympathy from Town fans who have started to see a different side to Hodgkinson in recent interviews. The Town board of directors released a short statement insisting the club would not be affected.
This was then backed up a week later at an All Together Town meeting where members of the Cowshed Loyal, the Huddersfield Town Supporters’ Association and other fan groups were met with ‘no comment’ and ‘it’s business as usual.’
The rumour mill was given a shake and truth became reality and back again as the murky lines of football insider knowledge got blurred.
One thing that was reported by Steven Chicken, the Huddersfield Examiner’s football writer, was that Dean Hoyle, the previous majority shareholder, had paid all staff wages for the month of October.
Why is this key piece of information important? It is important because since becoming a minority shareholder of just 25% we haven’t heard from Hoyle since he spoke on a podcast last year hinting that he’d fallen out of love with the club and might not attend another game.
You might believe it’s an odd thing for Hoyle to pay the wages but, leaving that aside, what we now know is that Hoyle has been back at the stadium. Photos of the man himself on social media have also shown him at the training ground and so he is back involved to a bigger extent than Town fans may have realised.
Hodgkinson hasn’t done any media interviews since Pure Legal’s collapse. Therefore Town fans are unsure to what degree he is still involved in the running of the club.
What can be said is that any internet trolling of Hoyle or Hodgkinson should be stamped out as the two men try to find a way for the Terriers’ season not to derail. The future, whether it’s near or far away, will be interesting…
Moving to matters on the pitch and Town have only picked up four points from a possible 15 in November. The collapse of last season has been on all Town fans’ minds, and I’m no different. While it’s been a poor month I still have confidence in this squad.
The month started with a trip to rivals Peterborough and despite Town leading in that game with a 74th minute Danny Ward goal, Posh pushed back and got an equaliser five minutes from time squashing Town’s hopes of three points.
That game was followed by a bitterly disappointing 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City. Town led from the 12th minute and then saw the Bluebirds score two late goals to take the points.
The performance of the month followed with a home win against West Brom. Naby Sarr came into the side and put in a magnificent Man of the Match performance.
The Terriers ended November with two disappointing defeats. Town made a decent fist of it in London against QPR before going down 1-0 but that was followed by a 2-1 home defeat against Middlesbrough last Saturday in what was one of the worst performances this campaign.
Carlos Corberan will need to dig deep on the run up to Christmas as Town currently sit 8th in the Sky Bet Championship. They have 28 points from 20 games. They are four points off QPR who sit sixth.
The month of December could easily tip the balance over where Town end up this season. They have a number of winnable games starting next Saturday away at local rivals Barnsley.
My player of the month has been Danny Ward. Despite missing some gilt-edged chances he has put full effort into every game. Hopefully he’ll continue to be a hero and not the pantomime villain. Oh yes he will…
