Wagner’s stint at Terriers ‘among game’s finest feat’
NATIONAL MEDIA MARVEL OVER ACHIEVEMENTS OF POPULAR BOSS
DAVID Wagner left Town by mutual consent, but will be remembered forever in this part of West Yorkshire.
The 47-year-old German secured Premier League football to the Terriers for the first time in their history in the 2016/17 season, before miraculously clinching top-flight survival in only his second full season in charge.
The announcement surprised many fans, but the reaction has been one of gratitude towards the boss, who will go down in history as one of the Terriers’ finest coaches ever.
The national media also praised Wagner for his three-year stint in Huddersfield, with The Independent’s Miguel Delaney referring to Town’s promotion and survival story as ‘among the modern English game’s finest feats’.
Here is a look at how the national press reflected on Wagner’s departure... cles. Going by the resources available, and the squad available, Huddersfield should probably never have been capable of promotion. They should really have been relegated.
“So to follow that with survival was absurd. It was downright brilliant management.
“Many around the club even said it was ‘too early’ to go up in the summer of 2017, and expected to go back down. Wagner defied expectations. He defied economic realities. He got them and a hugely limited group of players to believe.
“He has thereby been responsible for two feats that should go down among the modern English game’s finest feats. They together added up to one special spell in the club’s history.”
“HUDDERSFIELD won an unlikely promotion under German boss Wagner back in May 2017.
“When he took over 18 months beforehand, Huddersfield have the third-lowest budget in the Championship and were staring at relegation to League One.
“But his brand of passing football and trust in players worked wonders as Town somehow made it into the Premier League via (another!) play- off win on penalties. Wagner kept Huddersfield Town up last season but they were all set to be relegated this term with him at the helm.
“And his decision to leave the club today has given Town a lifeline if they want to trigger a survival push.
“That’s because Town seemed prepared to be relegated with Wagner and push for a direct promotion again next season.”
His feats added up to one special spell in the
club’s history
“WAGNER was appointed in November 2015, with Huddersfield 18th in the Championship having won three league games out of 16.
“David’s football philosophy is directly in line with ours – he fits for what we need,” said Hoyle at the time of a man who had resigned from his role with the Borussia Dortmund U23s one month previously.
“He is the club’s first [head coach] from outside the UK and he brings a new approach and new ideas.
“Those ideas took a while to implement and Huddersfield finished 19th that season. However, following a net outlay of less than £3m, they finished fifth in the following campaign and secured one of the more unlikely promotions in living memory through the play-offs.
“Their fairy tale rise was secured by a spot-kick in a shootout against Reading scored by their then £1.8m record signing, Christopher Schindler.
“In a division where the net spend of comparatively unsuccessful teams such as Aston Villa and Middlesbrough was around £40m each, it crowned an extraordinary achievement. Unwilling to gouge the club’s supporters, Hoyle announced there would be no rise in season-ticket prices.
“Few gave Huddersfield the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of staying up and Guardian writers were kinder than most in predicting a finish of 19th.
“Wagner had turned down more lucrative offers in order to see out the adventure and a raft of new record signings, purchased collec- tively for less than the price of a good Manchester City full-back, helped secure seven points from the first nine available and lay the foundations for extremely unlikely survival.
“A win over Manchester United was arguably the highlight of their season, before safety was secured with a game to spare courtesy of back-to-back draws at Manchester City and Chelsea.”
“AN ‘emotionally drained’ David Wagner has left relegation-fighting Huddersfield Town in what owner Dean Hoyle described as ‘a truly joint decision’.
“The Terriers announced that the German, who led Huddersfield to the Premier League and masterminded their stunning top-flight survival last season, had departed the club on Monday night.
“Insiders at the Yorkshire club, bottom of the table and eight points from safety, have said that Wagner has felt the strain in recent weeks despite his effervescent appearances in front of the press.
“While they acknowledge that the situation is grave, officials at the club retain an element of belief that they can stay in the Premier League and will be looking for a candidate who shares that view.”