LIVING ON BORROWED TIME
HOW HAVE TOWN’S LOAN STARS BEEN DOING THIS SEASON?
WITH the League One season now complete and the League Two schedule ending on Saturday shortly after the Championship, we thought it was a good time to look at some of Huddersfield Town’s key loans to clubs in those tiers.
The Terriers’ B Team has enjoyed a good season and several of their young prospects have been given loans to both experience life in general as a footballer elsewhere, and to gain some first team experience.
Several players have left the club for varying lengths of time but we thought we’d look at four of the higher profile ones and let you know how their season has fared.
Beyond the ones below though Town have had other success notably with Brahima Diarra and Josh Austerfield at Harrogate Town who have both earned a lot of praise, and Ben Jackson who has been one of the better performers in a relegated Doncaster Rovers.
Rarmani Edmonds-Green
After missing a proper pre-season where he was overtaken by first some early new signings and then a late one in Tom Lees, the 23-yearold defender was sent out on loan to get some experience and play regularly after 24 appearances in a Town shirt the previous season. That was a very wise move in our opinion to help a young man shake off the PTSD from a year where his team had conceded the most goals in the league. That fact was in no way his fault.
Rotherham United wanted him and the move allowed him to stay close to home and go somewhere that would play him regularly in a very competitive League One. 28 appearances later and their season if Town were to go up he’s a way off Premier League-level in truth - but having signed a new contract in January they are clearly hoping he has a role to play ahead.
Romoney Crichlow
Crichlow’s contract runs till 2023 with the club having the option to extend for a year so the Terriers have an interesting decision to make. This has been a strange season for him, very much a game of two halves as they say, and it feels like a big summer ahead for his career.
At 22-years-old, like EdmondsGreen he really needs to be playing now to get the experience he needs. His first loan of the season was a success, 18 games with Swindon where he was extremely well thought of.
He was played as a ball playing centre-back, one who could break a press, and in just under 1,300 minutes grabbed a goal and an assist.
Upon leaving their fans were in near universal agreement that they wished he could have stayed.
The second loan to Plymouth Argyle, a division above Swindon and clearly seen as the next testing ground, just hasn’t really worked out. A bright start came to nothing and he’s played less than 200 minutes for a team who huffed and puffed all season but have finished just short of the play-offs. A shame his year didn’t carry on as it started, and a decision ahead.
As a promising left-footed centre-back Town will be desperate not to give up just yet on him potentially becoming first team ready but with a couple of promising B Teamers on his tail and the likelihood next season he would likely be third choice for the full side on the left at best, he really needs to play. Another loan might be the option if a permanent move isn’t agreed as better for all parties, but it has to be somewhere he will play 30+ times