Other than a homage to the Examiner of old and it’s sportswriters, https://wordpress.com/post/htfcreports.com/1306 it has been a long time since I have written about anything related to Town.
Disillusioned by the Premier League seasons, despite some memorable moments, as the club collapsed under the weight of the illusory riches of that benighted, bloated, coterie, combined with a job which has given me an increasingly elephantine carbon footprint, the juices just stopped flowing.
Looking back, the Wembley shoot out, Palace on the first day, beating Mourinho’s Manchester United and that Stamford Bridge night was a peak so towering that crushing disappointment was bound to follow.
This is hardly new territory – I’ve seen Town in all 4 divisions, twice, in two different stadiums – but August 2016 to about November 2017 was almost certainly, at my age, the pinnacle of my Town supporting life.
Despite the travails of recent years, when even Corberán’s play off campaign felt like a drudge, and last year’s appalling relegation predicated on some bewilderingly awful decisions created a new low, there is a freshness to Kevin Nagle’s stewardship along with cautious optimism that Duff can brew up some success which has tempted me back, in the hope of catching a new wave of success.
As Wayne Gretzky always said, you need to be where the puck will be, not where it’s been.
However, I’m far from convinced that this season will see an immediate return to the Championship, and there is a good chance that Nagle’s commendable energy and ideas (which sing out from the new look stadium) will not be matched on the pitch. He deserves patience and so does Duff – we simply cannot afford yet another managerial change. The toxicity of the past few years has been deeply corrosive and will be difficult to reverse.
It is unlikely I will report on each game, though my old rule of only writing about games witnessed in the flesh disappeared with Covid, so when I’m away, a report is a possibility.
Just a reminder of my (very loose) philosophy on these reports;
- I don’t take a notepad to games. That would be just odd
- Accuracy is an aspiration not an objective
- Town losing upsets me. But not for long.
- Reports on defeats are generally easier to do than victories. Which is just as well
- I watch all home games from a seat on the halfway line. After 25 years of free entry courtesy of my brother’s box, I now pay for a season ticket.
- Feel free to disagree with the report, it’s just opinion.
- My occasional verbosity is deliberate; there’s always Google.
- In the end, it’s only sport.
Thesauruses at the ready – off we go.
Wishing the best for everyone connected to Huddersfield Town for the season, and London Road awaits.
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