RESULT! 100% FOOTBALL ACTION, GOALS & STATS
The Town chairman revealed up to £4million of improvements will be made to the John Smith’s Stadium after their epic Play-Off Final penalty shootout win.
But less than 48 hours after German centre-back Christopher Schindler booked their return to the top flight after 45 years, came the reality.
And now there is the job of turning a perfectly good stadium into a Premier League venue.
Floodlights have to be improved, the TV gantries need replacing and the dugouts extending. Even the press box will get an overhaul.
As for the turf, well that needs to be a certain length.
Hoyle, 50, said: “We sealed promotion on the Monday, we had one day off, then the day after at 9am we had 30 people from the Premier League turn up on a bus.
“Everything needs sorting. We need 15 dugout seats and the grass has to be so long.
“It’s whole new challenge and the Premier League is quite within its rights to say, ‘Look, Huddersfield Town. You get so much money – just get on with it’, and you can’t blame them.
“But it’s all exciting. There are lots of ground improvements, lots of squad improvements but what a fantastic place to be.
“I think it dawns on me and dawns on the staff here every day that we’re in the Premier League with the amount of work it takes to get us ready.
“Even down to the operational aspects of the stadium – cabling, floodlights, TV gantries – it’s all work, work, work.
“It’s a modern stadium but it’s not fit for purpose, so we’ve got lots of work to do. It’s like a wall of water hitting people. We’ve gone f rom having an £ 11m turnover up to £110m with a spot- kick and t hat has its challenges.
“It would cost £3m or £4m to sort. But it’s not the cost, it’s the time. We really are up against it.
“That’s life and the reality sets in but look at the alternative – it was another year in the Championship.”
Hoyle, who made his millions after founding The Card Factory, has already done his two biggest pieces of business. Keeping manager David Wagner (left) on a two-year deal and signing midfielder Aaron Mooy from Man City permanently in a deal believed to be worth £8m.
There are more new faces to come but Hoyle will not risk the club’s future to try to keep them up. He added: “We need to spend some big money because the Premier League riches are there for everyone to see.
“The first season, we’ve got the ability to really shape our squad for the future and bring in some high-profile signings.
“We may break our transfer record a few times but that’s the league we’re in. We’re in the biggest and richest league in the world with the most exposure and we’re a part of it and we’ll try to compete.
“We want people who are hungry. We’re not going to be ridiculous, we’re going to keep within our limits but at the same time we do recognise that we’re now playing at a different level and things have got to go northwards.
“We want to make sure that whatever happens in the future the legacy is left intact.”