Huddersfield will stand by Wagner if they go back down
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN owner Dean Hoyle has insisted he won’t sack David Wagner even if the club’s Premier League dream turns sour.
Wagner signed an improved two-year contract yesterday as reward for guiding Huddersfield to the top flight for the first time in 45 years.
They are firm favourites to be relegated but Hoyle has promised to stand by Wagner after the German manager stayed loyal to the Yorkshire club last season.
‘Me and David have an understanding,’ he said. ‘Regardless of what happens, David will be our manager at the end of the season.
‘He stays — unless he clears off! The contract is reward for the loyalty he has shown this football club. David could have left last season. People put temptation in his way with big salaries, but he stayed loyal to this club and that means a lot to me.’
Wagner, 45, admitted that Huddersfield, having been promoted by beating Reading in the Championship play-off final, will be ‘the biggest underdog ever in the Premier League’. And he doubts if his old friend, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, will be able to offer any help.
‘These are two totally different clubs so there is not the possibility that he can give me a lot of advice,’ said Wagner, who worked under Klopp at Borussia Dortmund.
‘For sure, we will speak about the experience he has had in games against Team X and I will tell him about my experience when we play Team Z, but this will be the only help we can give each other.’
Wagner confirmed that Klopp will not allow Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward to return to Huddersfield after an impressive loan spell last season, but he was able to sign another of his play-off heroes, midfielder Aaron Mooy, from Manchester City for a club record £8million yesterday.
That will soon be broken, with Huddersfield set to complete an £11.5m deal for Montpellier striker Steve Mounie, while they are also close to signing Derby winger Tom Ince for a fee that will rise to £11m with bonuses.