Articles

We hope that you’re basking in the warm glow of Town’s most recent victories and enjoying the international break. Assuming that you are, we thought we’d provide a quick update on the Heritage Project, which launched in earnest way back in July.  The good news is that the website, which contains over 40,000 pages worth of Town-related history, has been visited over 18,000 times since then.  We’ve also received an additional thousand or so pages and items from generous history buffs, including a treasure trove of material from the 1930s and 1940s donated by one David Longbottom. We hope to scan and add...

The plans for the £14m Kirklees Stadium were set in stone in August 1992, with a view to swinging open the doors to a new home and a new chapter in Huddersfield Town history at the beginning of the 1994-95 season. After 86 years of triumph and tribulation on the hallowed turf of Leeds Road, a new state-of-the-art stadium coupled with a retail and leisure complex was pencilled in to be constructed only 150 metres from the old Leeds Road ground. The plan was to create jobs and generate revenue for the town while concurrently boosting prospects for both football...

Last month, we spoke to respected journalist and Town fan Doug Thomson about the past, present, and future of Huddersfield Town. -- HP: Let’s begin with a simple question: Why Huddersfield Town?DT: Well, I come from Huddersfield, so it’s my hometown team. I’ve always supported them. In terms of the newspaper involvement, that came from starting to work for the Examiner and gradually edging my way to the football desk.  HP: When did you start watching Town?DT: The first game I can remember is Town versus Arsenal in 1971, which I’m pretty sure was also the first match that I attended. I’d have...

This article was published with the permission of Populous, the company which designed the John Smith’s Stadium. --The term ‘ground-breaking’ is often bandied about in architecture, but there is no better adjective to describe the John Smith’s Stadium. Opened in 1994, it is the building that rewrote the rulebook on sports architecture, won unprecedented awards for design, and pioneered a new business model for year-round revenue generation—forever changing the way these venues would be considered by architects, clubs and spectators. The project resulted from a review and safety assessment of Huddersfield Town FC’s existing Leeds Road ground. The club wanted a new home...

The Town faithful often wax lyrical about the Great Escape season of 1997-98, when Peter Jackson returned to the club and performed a Houdini act, rescuing it from certain relegation to Division Two. However, this wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened. Back in March 1993, former manager Mick Buxton returned to Leeds Road, just over six years since he’d been sacked, to help drag Town out of the mire.On The Precipice Ian Ross had been in charge since March 1992, having been promoted from assistant manager when Eoin Hand was sacked after a run of two wins in...

As part of the Heritage Project, we're asking Town fans to vote for their all-time favourite players and managers, from 'wing wizards' and 'bombers' to 'whackos' and 'King Davids'. The ten most popular will be inducted into our Hall of Fame. This week, football writer Oliver Fisher makes the case for three people whose names he believes should be immortalised in ones and zeros for eternity.--Peter JacksonNo hesitation from a personal point of view putting Jacko in. My first real season was the 2003-04 campaign, and during the summer before the season started I was made painfully aware as an eight-year-old...

Town visit Hillsborough on Sunday to play third-tier side Sheffield Wednesday in the first round of the League Cup.  How have the clubs fared against one another in the past? Head-to-Head Town have faced the Owls on 62 occasions since their first meeting on 25th September, 1926.  Town won 26, lost 21, and drew 15 of these encounters.  Their most convincing victory was a 6-1 rout at Leeds Road on 30th January, 1932, in the old First Division. Their worst defeat came in a Second Division tie on 29th November, 1958, when Wednesday triumphed 4-1 in front of a home crowd of 25,394.  League CupThe two...

The Huddersfield Town Supporters Association (HTSA) is pleased to announce the launch of its Heritage Project website in association with local company Microform.  The website is an open access archive that hosts over 110 years’ worth of material from Huddersfield Town’s long and storied past.  BackgroundThe Huddersfield Town Heritage Project was born out of the crisis of 2003, when fans dug into their own pockets to save the club from liquidation. The remaining funds were set aside by members of the newly formed HTSA to consolidate the club’s history in one easily accessible place. Some of those funds were used to build the...

The Huddersfield Town Supporters’ Association (HTSA) is asking fans to vote for their all-time favourite players and managers, from 'wing wizards' and 'bombers' to 'whackos' and 'King Davids'. The ten most popular will be inducted into the newly launched Heritage Project’s hallowed Hall of Fame. Take part. 

From the highs of the swinging 60s, came the lows of the mid 70s. Huddersfield Town football club found themselves in the old Division 4—the basement of English football. Struggling for money, the club even organised a concert to raise some much-needed funds. The band that was chosen to perform was ‘Mud’, extremely fitting considering the situation that Town now found themselves in. Turnstiles were at an all time low and the Terriers were known as the ‘’sleeping giants’’ of the football world. Some thought that we would never wake up.It was described as a bleak era in our history. The...

Over the years, 59 Huddersfield born players have worn the famous blue and white stripes. No. 19 on that list was also one of three to have played for England. Robert ‘Bob’ McNab became the first to do so in 1968, making his debut against Romania in Bucharest. From Rawthorpe to Leeds RoadMcNab was born in Huddersfield on July 20th, 1943, and grew up on Rawthorpe Lane, just a stone’s throw from Leeds Road. He attended Rawthorpe Secondary Modern where his headmaster once told him, “I should have an automatic caning machine for you!” Despite his subsequent career in football, McNab also...

Running a heritage project is fraught with risk.  As soon as people find out what you’re doing, they assume that you live cheek by jowl with matchday programmes, old telegrams, and the disembodied head of Tilly the Terrier. In some cases, this leads to a perfectly well meaning offer to transfer the entire contents of their loft to your living room, or bedroom, or any room, really.  On the whole, though, it’s an interesting and rewarding endeavour.  And so it was this week, when local businessman Andrew Mear contacted us about a Huddersfield Town-themed poem he'd come across while researching the Highfields building...

As someone born in the 21st century, it seems alien to me that Huddersfield Town were ever referred to as anything other than The Terriers. It seems a distinct part of the club’s culture and heritage—well at least to me, as I’ve grown up alongside the nickname, the crest, and various terrier mascots. The nickname certainly seems to have become more apparent in recent years, with the club and the fanbase supposedly exhibiting a ‘terrier spirit’. But where did this nickname come from, and what’s it got to do with Huddersfield?The connection to Huddersfield lies with the ‘father’ of the...

This article was originally published in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner--I began feeling nervous, but I kept walking as fast as I could. It was only a few minutes to 6 (3pm GMT), Liverpool vs Huddersfield Town was about to start, and I still hadn’t found a place with a TV to watch the game.I’d been stressing about this for days, even taking to Twitter to find fellow Town fans in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s little capital. “It’s unlikely you’ll find any, but maybe you’ll find a couple of Scousers?” was the only response.Unperturbed, I set out on Saturday with the hope of finding a...

This article was originally published in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner--Watching Huddersfield Town play has been a bit of a mixed bag for me.I've cheered them on in rowdy sports bars in Kenya and in sticky Irish Pubs in Rome; one time, I caught the end of a game in a little shack in a Kakuma refugee camp, and Somali and Sudanese refugees shook my hand and told me they were happy we’d been promoted.And of course I’ll never forget being in Accra, Ghana, my woolly town scarf wrapped around my neck despite the oppressive heat, watching big man Laurent Depoitre plough through...

Today marks the launch of Town’s latest home kit, an occasion that seems to come around much quicker these days. In the not-too-distant past, football teams would often keep the same home kit for two seasons, but as the game has become more money-oriented and sponsorship deals have become more lucrative, it is now a yearly change.  Town were relatively late to the party and it’s only since the 2007-08 season that home shirts have been swapped on an annual basis. It also wasn’t uncommon for teams to wear the subsequent season’s kit in the final game of the calendar, which...

Mikron Theatre are aiming to score with their next theatrical offering for their 49th year of touring. They will be premiering Amanda Whittington’s new play Atalanta Forever, which looks at the story of the pioneering women in football in 1920. Atalanta Forever will kick off at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on 9th June and then tour nationally by road and river until 19th September.It’s 1920, and in post-war Britain, women’s football is big news. Across the country, all-girl teams are pulling huge crowds in fund-raising games for wounded soldiers. Huddersfield amateurs Ethel and Annie take a shot at the big...

Peter Goy had already enjoyed a decent career before he arrived at Huddersfield Town in 1965.Although he hailed from Beverley in Yorkshire, Goy was playing for Lincolnshire Boys in a county representative match against Derbyshire Boys in 1953 when he was spotted by a scout from Arsenal. Soon afterwards, he got the call to go to Highbury, signing as part of the ground staff.After two years as an apprentice, Goy signed professional forms at the club in June 1955. Despite this, he was a member of the youth team that won the South East Counties League championship at the end...

Derek Hawksworth has the distinction of playing for Huddersfield Town on two separate occasions. He had signed for Bradford Park Avenue in 1943 and played for them in the Wartime League, breaking into the team when he was just 16 years old. He also guested for Colchester United between 1945 and 1946. Unusually for the time, Hawksworth was a naturally right-footed player who played on the left wing. Although the Football League finally resumed in time for the 1946-47 season, Hawksworth was on his way to Leeds Road, signing for Town in July 1946. Alas, his first spell at the club produced...

Graham Bailey was born in Shropshire on March 22nd, 1920 and by the time he was 16, he’d signed on the ground staff at Huddersfield Town on August 10th, 1936. The manager at the time was Clem Stephenson, a former Town player himself between 1920 and 1929 before becoming manager in 1929. Stephenson was assisted by another former Town player in Jack Foster, who was the Assistant Trainer. Graham remembers those early days: “I was taken on the ground staff and we got 30 shillings a week for digs and then there were 10 shillings left for yourself.” It wasn’t until he...

In August 1929, George ‘Bomber’ Brown left Huddersfield Town after eight and a half years of remarkable success. In that time, he’d scored 159 goals and become the club’s record goalscorer. That record still stands today, with only a select few coming close to breaking it. Jim Glazzard (154) and Andy Booth (150) are the ones who stand immediately below Brown in the list. But how many supporters are aware of Billy Price? And how many know that he actually scored 234 first team goals for the club in a 10 year spell? In October 1937, eight years after the departure...

It was way back in 1934 when Huddersfield Town’s third team began to play matches at Beck Lane in Heckmondwike. It had played host to Town’s first ever FA Cup game in 1909 but it became the venue for Town’s third team games when the club began to rent it in 1934. It later became the home of Town’s junior side and the club eventually bought it in 1951, added new dressing rooms and even installed floodlights in 1954. This was quite something as Leeds Road didn’t get floodlights until 1961. The floodlights at Leeds Road were funded by the sale...

My name is Steven Downes and I’d like to give you an insight into the most interesting and volatile period in the club's history.  As a sports fan and child growing up, I always watched football on TV. My first memory is watching the ball sail over David Seaman's head at the 2002 World Cup. I was 6 years old at the time and whilst upset that England lost, I wasn’t quite aware that my love affair with football had only just began.  At the age of 14, I kept asking my parents to take me to a live football...

Frank Worthington was one of the most charismatic players of his generation and a true entertainer of English football. Off the pitch, he was a character, too, known for his snappy dress sense and love of Elvis Presley. Frank was born in Shelf, West Yorkshire, on 23rd November 1948 to Eric and Alice. Eric had played for Manchester United as an inside-forward and Frank’s brothers Dave and Bob would also go on to have decent careers in the Football League. On top of this, Frank’s nephew Gary played for Huddersfield Town between 1986 and 1987. After initially training with Halifax Town, Worthington...

The 2017/18 campaign was remarkable for Town fans in many ways. Each of us will have our own collection of memories that grew exponentially from the precise moment Christopher Schindler’s penalty hit the net at Wembley. Switching off our tellies, unplugging the radio or, as was the case for almost 40,000 of us, setting off back home on a long trek up the M1, every one of us put pen to paper for the first chapter of our own Premier League experience. And while I wouldn’t say my own journey unfolded in the manner I had anticipated—as in truth, I...

Huddersfield has a proud and long-standing sporting heritage. Go back to the middle of the nineteenth century, and you’ll see the beginning of it: playing fields full of amateur athletes buying into Victorian ideas of muscular Christianity; working class men given the chance to exercise and enjoy sports in their new home, having moved from the country to the growing industrial landscape of West Yorkshire. These sporting clubs played an important part in making Huddersfield more than just a town of industry; they played an important role in forging an identity for Huddersfield beyond the factory.  There’s a reason why historians...

This article was originally published in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner--A few years ago, with World Cup fever in full swing, we thought it would be fruitful to delve into the Examiner’s archives to see how the people of Huddersfield watched and celebrated tournaments gone by. Having recently witnessed England’s 6-1 shellacking of Panama, and with ‘Football’s Coming Home’ still ringing in our ears, we decided to indulge our romantic side by reviewing the 1966 World Cup. A no brainer, right? Well, on paper, perhaps. You see, the most striking aspect of the Examiner’s 1966 coverage is that the sport editors seemed to...

This article was originally published in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner--When David Wagner swapped the banks of the Ruhr for the Colne, he took every opportunity to emphasise the parallels between the Yorkshire terrier and his preferred style of high-pressing, never-say-die football. Over the past few years, this happy coincidence has evolved into a full-blown philosophy—or ‘Terrier identity’—that has come to define Huddersfield Town; not just on the pitch, but off it, too. After all, what better represents a plucky underdog with ideas above its station than a plucky underdog with ideas above its station? Nothing, really, but that’s not for want...

On 26th January 2020, Huddersfield Town Women played their first game at the John Smith’s Stadium—an exotic break from their usual home at the Stafflex Arena, near Storthes Hall. There was a lot of buzz around this seemingly momentous occasion, warranting a comment by the Yorkshire Post that “history has been made” and it appearing as a step towards more support for women’s football in Huddersfield. The attendance reached just over 1,000 people, which was seen as a great success—but whether this was truly history-making is open to debate.You may never have heard of Huddersfield Atalanta—and why would you? A...