Path from an unknown German to club legend
TOWN and head coach David Wagner parted company by mutual consent on Monday after more than three years together.
The 47-year-old guided Town through a remarkable spell in the club’s history, clinching promotion to the Premier League and top-flight survival in his first two full seasons in charge.
Wagner will go down as a legendary boss at Town, giving many fans memories they never thought they would have had before his arrival, as the Terriers were flirting with relegation from the Championship when he joined.
Here we look back over his incredible tenure at Town in his own words.... Wagner joined as head coach on November 5, 2015, as a relative unknown from Borussia Dortmund.
The boss faced the media for the first time four days later.
Here’s what he had to say... “I prefer passion in the game, I like speed, I like to score goals.
“Everybody knows the full throttle football that we try to create.
“This is exactly what we like to do and what we like to play.
“In Germany it is called gegenpressing – I’m not sure of the word in English!
“What we try to do is have speed in our game and work hard for this, because I am sure to do this you need fitness.
“I know this is possible at each level.” first match on November 21 against Sheffield Wednesday.
Town were beaten 3-1 by the Owls at Hillsborough, but Wagner saw positives in the Town performance...
“There are a lot of things we can work with. It was a good game for our experience and to find some good and bad things that we have to work on. We spoke at the beginning about needing time, but I think this was a first step.
“We now have new information on how everybody reacts in a game, with the crowd and a bit more pressure. It is different to the training pitch. In my opinion we saw a lot of good things, but also things we have to work on.
“We like work! This is our job and what we do. The team has done that before today and will do it in the future, for sure.” Another defeat to Middlesbrough followed for Town, but Wagner was handed a first win in English football in his third match, with the Terriers beating Birmingham City 2-0 at St Andrews.
After the match, the head coach said...
“It was the perfect performance. “We started as we finished the previous game and this is a good sign.
“To be honest, I expected a good game. We are very happy and proud about our performance and the result.
“I am pleased with the performance of the squad and we made a perfect start with such a quick goal.
“Birmingham are quite a good team, but we defended well to keep a clean sheet.” In March 2016, the boss got his first taste of a West Yorkshire derby – one he would become accustomed to in his time in charge of Town.
The Terriers won 4-1 at Elland Road in a memorable victory for the Town faithful.
After the match he said...
“We have been able to make a lot of people in Huddersfield very happy.
“We knew this was a massive game for all the Huddersfield supporters. We knew we had to repair and correct the 3-0. This was a fantastic day. A brilliant three points, a massive three points, but I think we have played better games.
“We were very clinical. We always moan that we are not clinical enough but the story of this game was something special. We missed the penalty, conceded a goal, but in the second half we were too quick and closed them down well.” A year later, Town had beaten Leeds for the third time under Wagner – this time at the John Smith’s Stadium – thanks to a dramatic late goal from fan-favourite Michael Hefele.
Both teams were in the play-off hunt at the time, adding spice to an already fierce derby, and tempers