How Terriers’ defender Erik won World Cup

HUDDERSFIELD Town have global status as part of the Premier League.

It gives them live TV exposure to more than 60 countries every time they take to the field, in addition to myriad spin-offs as part of the most watched division in the world.

But the club are still keen to provide opportunities for homegrown youngsters – those in Kirklees and surrounding areas – to watch the team in blue and white stripes.

So the schools who currently work with the club, most notably with the Huddersfield Town Foundation, have been sent ticket voucher brochures.

The idea is that those selected pupils will be able to use the vouchers at the club’s ticket office to get seats at reduced prices for selected games to see David Wagner’s men in the Premier League.

This will enable the club to fill spare seats at matches, helping them enhance the John Smith’s Stadium atmosphere even further, and also provide the chance to watch Town live for youngsters who wouldn’t otherwise perhaps get the chance.

Tickets will be for the Fantastic Media Lower, subject to availability.

“It’s great that we are able to offer our youngsters in the local area the chance to watch Premier League football in Yorkshire with Huddersfield Town,” said the club’s head of marketing and communications, David Threlfall-Sykes.

“Even though we’re doing a lot of work on a national and international stage, it’s so important that we also stick to our roots, and this is one way we hope to give something back to the community.” HUDDERSFIELD Town star Erik Durm still has to pinch himself about a whirlwind few weeks which changed his life.

The 26-year-old has been impressing in the Premier League under David Wagner, since regaining full fitness at the John Smith’s Stadium.

And he showed his versatility by reverting successfully to left wingback in the 1-0 defeat against THE VILLAGE of Leamington Hastings in Warwickshire may look like the set of Midsomer Murders, but it is in fact the geographical centre of the Premier League.

Past the trees and Tudor cottages, towards the end of Birdingbury Road, opposite the Liverpool, after previously catching the eye as a starter at right-back.

He suffered a series of long-term injuries at Dortmund.

Those setbacks enabled Town boss David Wagner the opportunity to step in and offer Durm a 12-month contract at Premier League level, with the option of another year should he regain fitness and the form which earned him seven caps for Germany.

At the moment, it looks an inspired move and Durm has been happy to reflect on his time with village green, sits a house with a large garden.

It looks a million miles away from the hubbub of Manchester or the smog of London, but at the end of that garden is the geographic centre of the 2018/19 Premier League – around 120 miles away from the John Smith’s Stadium, home of Huddersfield Town. How? Well, if you take the locations of Jurgen Klopp and Wagner at Dortmund and the key decision to switch from striker to defender which helped earn him a World Cup winners’ medal.

But as he explained to Town’s matchday magazine The Terrier, it all took off extremely quickly.

“It was the idea to do a pre-season with the first team, then go back to the second team and try to make further practice in the games with David Wagner,” said Durm.

“Then there was a game against FC Magdeburg – normally I have to go back to the second team after, but luckily I scored a goal and made an assist and, after that, Klopp came to me and said to stay with the first team.”

In fact, just 15 days after his debut for the national side, Durm was in the squad which kicked off the successful World Cup campaign with a 4-0 win over Portugal in Salvador.

“I think four or five weeks after the Magdeburg friendly I played my first Bundesliga game and, one year later, I was in the national team, so it all the top-flight clubs and then work out the average location, you arrive at the village of Leamington Hastings.

The geographic centre of the Premier League has shifted south from where it was last season.

The beating heart of the 2017/18 campaign was just opposite the unassuming ‘Hot Foods’ burger van on Chance Avenue on the outskirts was a very special year,” continued the player who started out at Mainz II. “I didn’t have time to think about what was going on or how special that year was at the time. “I think this was the most important thing for me, that I didn’t have the time, because every three days we had another game in the Champions League. “I played against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu and stuff like that, so it was very overwhelming for me. The first year was such a great experience and such great memories I will never forget.” Durm didn’t make his Germany debut until June 1, 2014 but, on the 16th, he was with the squad playing their first match in the World Cup finals. “I didn’t expect at any point in my life that I would ever be in the national team, so I was just happy and tried to give my best whenever I played,” said Durm, whose debut was a 2-2 draw against Cameroon. “Sometimes, I think, I still haven’t I didn’t expect at any point in my life that I would be in the national team, so I was just happy of Coventry. The shift south has been going on for some years now.

Between the 1880s and 1920s the centre stayed generally around Cheshire and the Peak District.

In 1906/07 for example it was located on Eccles Pike, while in 1911/12 it was just opposite the Snake Pass Inn.

By the 30s though it moved