It is a long time since I got home in daylight
Party’s over, Wagner wants talks on his future
By Ross Heppenstall CHINAWHITE nightclub, central London, after Huddersfield Town had secured their Premier League status with a 1-1 draw at Chelsea on Wednesday night.
Terriers manager David Wagner and his players take centre stage among the midweek revellers as alcohol slips down willing throats.
Bonhomie is everywhere and a football club written off as relegation certainties last August basks in a collective glow.
Owner and lifelong supporter Dean Hoyle, having overseen the club’s dramatic rise, is all smiles.
The celebrations continue well into the early hours after Wagner gave his players permission to cancel their scheduled flight home and hit the town.
Asked about the frolics which followed what Wagner described as the biggest achievement of his career, the charismatic German said: ‘It’s a long time since I came home from a night out in the daylight!
‘When the light came on in the club, we had to go, as we were the last ones standing but it was a great night. We were all together; the players, our chairman Dean, Darren Bryant our finance director who was the first man at the bar, and even our media department.
‘Normally the players shouldn’t do this, but this was one night that it was acceptable.
‘I had no complaints because I know my players are top professionals.’
After securing the point they needed to guarantee safety, Wagner’s players asked that they not take a planned flight and travel by road so that they could drink beer, sing and celebrate.
But their coach driver had used up his permitted hours and was not able to make the 200-mile drive from Stamford Bridge, so instead the squad made their way to Chinawhite.
Wagner gave his players Thursday and Friday off and was among a group who boarded an earlymorning train back to Yorkshire.
He added: ‘Some lads decided to get cabs back to Huddersfield, others got the first train back on Thursday morning and some stayed in a hotel in London.
‘If you get eight people in a taxi and it costs £400 to get back to Huddersfield, it’s not actually that expensive.’
Perhaps most remarkable was the fact that Hoyle headed straight to Belgium via Eurostar to join a charity bike ride for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Wagner said with a huge smile: ‘Dean was in the nightclub with us and then went cycling the following day. Fantastic.’
There is trust and there is undeniable progress at a football club who will end their first top-flight campaign since 1971-72 with the visit of Arsenal today.
There will be another party for players and staff after the match but f ears persist t hat highly regarded Wagner could yet be lured to a bigger club.
The ambitious 46-year-old has a year remaining on his contract and will hold key talks with Hoyle this week. Wagner said: ‘I can’t avoid that (speculation), but that’s why I’m having the conversation with Dean. I’m very happy here but part of the discussion will be about the future – our future.
‘ You look at our facilities and know that we are anything but a Premier League club.
‘We tried to create a plan after last season’s play-off final and it was never a case of me saying, “I have to have this” or Dean saying “You have to deliver this”.
‘I have so much trust in Dean and he has in me, which is why we hold these conversations very honestly and clearly.’
Today will l argely be about departing Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who will be given a guard of honour by the Terriers.
Wagner said: ‘Arsene deserves all the attention and credit today.
‘He’s one of the most influential managers in recent history and certainly in the Premier League.’