Football Season Review

After the heartbreak of last season's Play-Off final, Huddersfield entered this season aiming to put the Wembley misery behind them and secure direct promotion. The board opted to stick with Lee Clark despite the Play-Off failure, and the Terriers' manager was given money to spend in order to strengthen his squad. However, the signings made in the summer were underwhelming, but the Terriers started the season strongly thanks to the good form of several established players, especially Jordan Rhodes, who went on to have a fairytale season, scoring 40 goals and getting called up for the Scottish national team. Things looked super until late November, as Huddersfield were in the top two and were undefeated, going to to break Nottingham Forest's long standing unbeaten record of 42 league games. However, the Terriers managed to improve Forest's record only by one game, as they were beaten by eventual champions Charlton with a 2-0 scoreline away from home, and this is where their problems started. Due to the good overall form and the high league position, the fans turned a blind eye on the Terriers' habit of surrendering leads, but this soon turned into a very worrying pattern, with Huddersfield dropping points from several games in which they lead by two goals or more. With the team dropping down the table and the side playing worse and worse as time elapsed, the board opted for a change in mid February, and Lee Clark was fired, with Simon Grayson taking over. The move was met with outrage by the general footballing public, but the Terriers' fans were mostly happy to see Clark leaving. Grayson didn't manage to achieve his initial goal of securing direct promotion, and started rotating his side with several games to spare in order to keep the players fresh for the Play-Offs. It eventually proved to have been a masterstroke, as the Terriers saved their best football for the end - they edged out MK Dons in semi-final after an impressive display in the away leg, and then overcame Sheffield United in a nail-biting final, which saw the Terriers by far the more dangerous side but secure their Championship ticket after a dramatic penalty shoot-out. They are now set for a return to the second tier after eleven years of hurt, and there is little doubt that their goal will be higher than plain survival.

Player of the Season: Jordan Rhodes