Dan the man to take Town back to the top

CLUB legend Steve Kindon reckons Town fans can bet on Danny Cowley to lead his old club back to the Premier League.

And Kindon believes Town have what it takes to emulate one of his other former clubs and become a Premier League yo-yo club like Burnley.

But the former darling of the Leeds Road terraces insists Cowley will need up to half-a-dozen top-flight calibre players at his disposal to secure promotion.

Kindon delivered the upbeat verdict on Cowley’s regime in an exclusive interview with the Examiner to mark a special day in Town history.

Sunday marked the 40th anniversary of Town’s famous 2-1 win over Hartlepool that saw Mick Buxton’s side clinch the old Fourth Division title.

“I really do think the Cowley brothers can restore Town to the Premier League,” Kindon told the Examiner.

“But they’ll have to be backed by the board in the transfer market and be as astute as Mick Buxton was all those years ago.”

Kindon wrote his place into Town folklore when he scored 14 goals in 17 games to help the club win the old Fourth Division title in 1980.

These days he normally plies his trade as an after-dinner speaker and it was at a function in Lincoln that he realised how well regarded Danny and Nicky Cowley were by Imps fans.

“A while back I was doing a speech in Lincoln and I got chatting to a group of keen Lincoln fans,” said Kindon from his Lytham St Anne’s home. “I asked them what they thought of the Cowley brothers and they were all absolutely gutted to have lost them to Town. They admired both of them and really thought the world of Danny Cowley as manager.

“In fact one of them said he’d placed a hefty bet on them to get Town promoted back to the Premier League in the next three years.

“And the more I thought about the more I thought they could be on to something, especially if they do continue to steer Town to safety should the season re-start.”

And Kindon believes that under the Cowleys, Town can start rubbing shoulders again with Lancashire rivals Burnley.

“There’s no reason why Town can’t kick on and become the new Burnley,” Kindon said. “The Burnley fanbase is larger than Huddersfield’s but the potential at Town is greater.

“It’s a bigger town and the club has a bigger stadium but then again Burnley have been punching their weight longer than Town so there’s a bit of catching up to do.

“But they should still take inspiration from Turf Moor and the fans should take heart as well as get behind them.”

Kindon is certain that Town will have to allow the Cowleys the chance to strengthen the squad to bring topflight football back to Huddersfield.

“Town fans tasted success back in 1980 because Mick Buxton was a very astute,” Kindon, 69, added.

“That experience showed that if an old Fourth Division team is to win promotion you need five or six players actually good enough to play consistently in the next level up. If you have players who are operating