WAGNER: ‘I FEEL RIGHT AT HOME...’
RYAN Giggs says he is unaware of Gareth Bale’s struggles at Real Madrid because he does not have the TV channel covering their domestic games.
Subscription channel Eleven Sports is the official TV rights holders of LaLiga games in the UK and Ireland, with matches broadcast through its online streaming platform.
But Giggs does not have access to the channel and admits he is struggling to keep an eye on Bale’s fortunes.
“I’ve not seen many of the games because they’re not on Sky any more,” Giggs said as he announced a 26-man squad for the Nations League decider against Denmark in Cardiff on November 16 and the friendly in Albania four days later.
“They are on Eleven Sports and I haven’t got that. I haven’t seen it.
“But we’re talking about a world-class player who never lets his country down.”
In a tongue-in-cheek reference to a saying which became popular when Giggs replaced David Moyes as Manchester United boss in 2014, Eleven said it was willing to give the service “to Giggsy until the end of the season”.
Bale missed last month’s highprofile friendly defeat to Spain and the Nations League victory against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin because of muscle fatigue.
The 29-year-old has has featured in four games since the last international break, during which time Real have lost 5-1 at Barcelona and sacked manager Julen Lopetegui. TOWN head coach David Wagner says he is very happy to be part of the Huddersfield community as he celebrates his third year at the football club.
The boss joined Town on November 5, 2015, and has steered the then-Championship strugglers to the Premier League in less than two years, clinching survival in the Terriers’ first top-flight season in 45 years. Wagner admits he has learned a lot in his time with Town, developing every day at the West Yorkshire club as they continue on a remarkable adventure no one predicted when he first joined as an unknown German manager.
And the boss also revealed his joy at being part of the Huddersfield community away from the football club, explaining just how welcome the local people made him feel after moving away from his home country in 2015. When asked whether he had changed over the course of his tenure at Town, Wagner replied: “Hopefully! For sure I have changed over the last three years. “I learn every single day and hopefully I take on board what I have learned. “I am very happy to be manager of this football club in the last three years, but I am very happy to be part of this community in Huddersfield and in Yorkshire. “It is a very warm circumstance and area here, even if the weather isn’t warm, but the people who live here make it very, very comfortable for me and my family. “For sure I have learned and improved and developed in my last three years massively because, if you leave your country, your family
It is a very warm circumstance and area here, even if the weather isn’t warm
and friends and try to start something absolutely new - without your home language as well - then you have to adapt and you have to improve.”
One part of the Huddersfield Town picture it did not take Wagner long to connect with was the fans, who he immediately noticed understood what he and his backroom staff were trying to develop at the John Smith’s Stadium.
He said: “We lost my first game against Sheffield Wednesday away 3-1.
“Sean Scannell scored the first goal of my time here in Huddersfield and we were 1-0 up and then we lost in the last 15 minutes.
“And then we played here at home against Middlesbrough and we lost 2-0. So I lost my first two games and after this game we were in the Championship relegation zone.
“Before I arrived, I think we were one or two points above the relegation zone and after my first two games we were in the relegation zone.
“So the start was anything but successful points-wise and resultswise, but after this game against Middlesbrough at home - and we played very well against them, they had two shots and won the game 2-0 - we got a standing ovation.
“I said to Christoph (Buehler) after this game: ‘What is going on here? Are these supporters so hungry for what we are doing that they think everything they see now is better than what they have seen before or are they really able to split the performance from the result?’
“And this is what our supporters have shown me in the last three years, and it started with my first home game, that they are very, very intelligent and very, very smart and that they are able to see the difference between performances and a result.
“This was the first time I had this taste and I am very, very happy we have this kind of supporters because it’s a difficult time for them as well.
“It has been a long time without a home goal and a long time without a home win as well.
“They will, for sure, invest everything to try and turn this on Monday [against Fulham], but to have these smart and intelligent supporters helps us and the support which they gave this team and this football club in the past - and they got a lot of praise for it from us and from opposition managers as well - this only shows how great they are and how helpful they are to us.”