History of Huddersfield Town A.F.C.

During their first season in the top flight, former Leeds City manager Herbert Chapman was brought in (after Huddersfield helped him overturn his ban) as the new assistant to Ambrose Langley after a disappointing run of results, which saw Town battling against relegation.

In this time, 31-year-old inside forward Clem Stephenson was acquired from Aston Villa for £4,000 and 18-year-old George "Bomber" Brown (who went on to become Town's all-time top scorer) was placed up front, linking up with Billy Smith.

Chapman convinced the Huddersfield board to acquire the aging Stephenson, who was renowned for his passing and vision, after stating that "the young players need a general to lead them".

After being granted control of all footballing affairs at the club by the board, which was very revolutionary at the time, Chapman employed a wide-ranging scouting network to find the right players for his tactical system.

Herbert Chapman already brought in future England internationals Sam Wadsworth and Roy Goodall the previous season, who formed a strong defence with fellow players Billy Watson and Tom Wilson.

This proved the importance of the third Huddersfield goal scored by Brown in a 3–0 win over Nottingham Forest and the missed penalty of Cardiff against Birmingham in the last match of the season.

Town slipped to ninth place in November, but retained the league title after only one more loss in the 27 remaining matches, after Chapman signed goalkeeper Billy Mercer to replace the injured Taylor.

[7] After winning successive league titles, Herbert Chapman left for the more fashionable Arsenal, who offered to double his wages and attracted larger crowds than Huddersfield.

Tom Wilson, Bob Kelly, Billy Smith and Roy Goodall started for England, while Alex Jackson played for Scotland.

During the summer he made four crucial signings, full-back Ron Staniforth, utility player Tommy Cavanagh and inside forward Jimmy Watson.

This was the first time Town had played in the third tier of English football and only managed a 10th-place finish which led to Ian Greaves resigning at the end of the season.

Former Leeds United player Bobby Collins came in to replace him but he led the club to relegation and Huddersfield became the first league champions to slip into the Division Four in 1975.

This, however, did not last as Johnston demoted Haselden in September 1977 and gave himself the job and managed Town to their lowest ever league position of 11th at the end of the 1977–78 season.

In August 1978 Johnston resigned and Physio Mick Buxton became caretaker manager which saw an upturn in form and he was given the job full-time in October 1978 with his Assistant/Physio John Haselden.

Buxton set about revitalising the club, he demanded respect from the players and brought in harder training sessions which were taken by himself and John Haselden who had been promoted to Assistant Manager as well as taking over Physio duties.

Over the following seasons Town struggled due to lack of investment and after being unable to return to the Top Division, Buxton was sacked just before Christmas in 1986 with the team in 22nd place.

His replacement Ian Ross did better and, through the creative midfield partnership of Chris Marsden and loan signing Peter Butler and the goalscoring abilities of Iwan Roberts, steered the Terriers to a third-place finish and a Play-off meeting with 6th-placed Peterborough United, a tie Town were heavily favoured to win.

However, a successful run in the Football League Trophy and a narrow aggregate victory over Carlisle United in the Northern Final earned a trip to Wembley to face Southern Section winners Swansea City.

The upcoming Wembley appearance boosted the Terriers' morale and young striker Andy Booth and some memorable performances from another fan favourite Phil Starbuck steered the club well clear of relegation with a strong finish to the league campaign.

Huddersfield Town played their 1,554th and final league game at the Leeds Road ground on 30 April 1994, beating Blackpool 2–1, watched by a near capacity crowd of 16,195.

Horton, along with Dennis Booth, David Moss and Les Chapman, was sacked in October 1997 with Huddersfield at the bottom of the table having not won a single league match.

A good start in 1999–2000 saw Town top the division at Christmas and results included a 7–1 hammering of Crystal Palace and went on a run of winning 9 games out of 10.

Steve Bruce came under fire from the fans for travelling to Brazil to commentate on Manchester United games in the Intercontinental Cup when Town were going through a bad period.

After Gerry Murphy and Graham Mitchell had taken temporary charge after Ternent's sacking,[12] former Newcastle United and Fulham player Lee Clark was appointed as the Manager in December 2008.

After a good start to the 2012–13 season, even topping the division, Town experienced a dreadful run of games and didn't win in 12 matches and this saw Grayson sacked in January 2013.

Mark Robins and Huddersfield Town parted company by mutual agreement[14] after the first game of the 2014–15 season which was 4–0 home loss to Bournemouth, with Chris Powell taking over in September of the same year.

In November 2015, Chris Powell was sacked and Mark Lillis was put in temporary charge for the upcoming local derby against Leeds United.

Wagner left the club, however, by mutual consent on 14 January 2019 and was replaced by former Borussia Dortmund II manager Jan Siewert on a two-year deal.

Due to a long fight with illness and unable to run with this rate, Dean Hoyle announced his resignation as chairman on 3 May 2019, and was to be replaced the next season by Phil Hodgkinson.

A surprisingly strong finish to the season followed, with draws against Manchester United and Southampton which now sets the stage for what is to come with Siewert's plans as The Terriers return to the Championship.