V SURVIVAL? THIS IS A REVIVAL!
Wagner’s ambitious for Terriers
DAVID WAGNER has revealed he would turn down the offer of a 17th-place survival finish this season – because he refuses to set a limit on what is possible for his Huddersfield stars.
The German- American boss needs to make the numbers add up this season to secure Premier League safety at the John Smith’s Stadium for his newly-promoted side.
But 17th is not the Holy Grail for the Huddersfield chief, who saw his side storm into the big time with an eye-catching 3-0 away win at Crystal Palace on the opening weekend.
And, as his Town stars make their home debut in the Premier League against Newcastle today, Wagner insists he won’t limit his team’s ambitions by settling for survival.
He said: “Would I take 17th place now? No, I would not take it. That means we rule out the chance of finishing 14th or 12th, so we should not have any limits.
“But if you ask me if staying up is success, yes it is. Absolutely.
“I’ve said before that staying up is absolutely a comparable success to promotion.
“Especially so for a club with our budget compared to others, and the history of how difficult it is for promoted teams to stay up.”
Attacking
It is clear Wagner is attacking the top flight his way, even resisting the urge to stockpile advice from close friend and former team-mate Jurgen Klopp.
The pair played together at Mainz and worked in tandem at Borussia Dortmund where Klopp ( below) managed the first team and Wagner the reserves.
But Wagner is confident in his own ability to navigate the big time after taking the Terriers to a Championship play- off final triumph against inst Reading at Wembley in May.
“No, I’ve not had advice from Jurgen, n, because the two clubs are totally different,” he e said.
“I think the he experiences he’s had at Liverpool will be totally different rent from the ones I will haveave here. For sure, we’lle’ll speak about ut different opponents to give advice, things like what he’s done against Team A and what I’ve done against Team B. “But you can’t compare Liverpool with Huddersfield. “We’re two completely different sizes of football club and this is why, regarding the Premier League, he hasn’t given me advice – but he might regarding some opponents. “I texted him last week, saying if he wants any advice on Crystal Palace, give me or my recruitment department a call. But I think Liverpool are strong enough, so they won’t need our advice.” Wagner is being tipped for big things – but for now staying ‘small’ with Huddersf Huddersfield perfectly suits his groun grounded outlook. “When the chairman first tried to exp explain what the club repres represented, I wasn’t really aware of it, but it’s perfect for me and my character,” h he said. “I have spen spent my career in working-cla working-class areas, as a player fo for Schalke and aca coach for the D Dortmund se second team, where the people are very proud and also very honest. I love it, it suits my personality to have a club where you have those tight-knit connections with the fans and community.”
Wagner’s relationship with chairman Dean Hoyle is strong too – and a simple chain of command makes life easy, says the Town boss.
“A lot of people criticise us for not having the budget like other teams and we have a disadvantage in terms of the money,” he admitted.
Advantage
“But, at Huddersfield, we have an advantage because there are such small distances between people who make the decisions.
“It only costs me one phone call or one meeting with Dean to say, ‘This is Player A, this is Player B and it will cost us this. What do you want to do?’
“Then we make a quick decision and yes, that is a big advantage for us.
“It’s not a one-man show here. There is always teamwork – and I’m a big fan of that.”