Huddersfield Town have announced centre-forward Ashley Fletcher as their first signing of the summer.

The striker has signed a deal to join the Terriers as a free agent once his contract at Blackpool expires this summer.

His new contract at Town is set to run until at least summer 2028.

Sporting director Chris Markham said in a club statement: “We’re delighted to welcome Ashley to the club ahead of the new campaign, with the timing of the deal especially pleasing before the men’s first team report back for pre-season.

“A player and a character who checks many of our boxes this summer, Ashley arrives in HD1 following two of the most eye-catching seasons of his career to date, having underlined his productivity with consistent availability at Blackpool.

“Reinforcing an area of the pitch for us that required proven personality, ability and profile, Ashley’s arrival is the ideal first addition to Martin’s squad, allowing us the opportunity to readdress the complexion of the wider men’s first team group to be more in line with how we all desire to see Town play football.”

Head coach Martin Drury added: “I’ve seen the way Ashley has impacted games over the last couple of seasons, and I’m confident that his qualities will suit how we’ll play.

“From when we first met, I could see the hunger in his eyes to keep developing himself. Alongside his experience at various levels and the way I envisage him building connections with the other attacking players we have, it gives me belief that Ashley can play a key role in helping us improve.

“I’m looking forward to working with him, as are all the staff at the club.”

Fletcher said: “Heading into this summer, my sole focus was on ensuring I joined the right side to make the most of my game and build on the form I’ve enjoyed in recent seasons.

“After speaking to Chris and Martin there was no doubt about signing for Town, and having played against the club so many times over the years, I couldn’t be more excited to now be on the same team.

“This is a big club with really exciting ambition, but the clarity in knowing how we want to play and the feeling we provide our supporters was what appealed the most.

“The facilities at both Canalside and the stadium are top class, so I’m really looking to the hard work to come in pre-season and doing what I can to set ourselves up for the season ahead.”

Ashley Fletcher scouting report

A Manchester United academy graduate, Fletcher had previously struggled to get on the scoresheet regularly in the Championship, bar an 11-goal season with Middlesbrough in 2019/20.

His first taste of a return to League One came on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in 2023/24, after which he joined Blackpool at the end of the campaign.

Fletcher’s move to Blackpool sparked something of a renaissance, though. After a good first season at Bloomfield Road that earned him the club’s player of the year award, the striker has just enjoyed the best goalscoring campaign of his career, taking home both the fans’ and players’ player of the year awards.

Blackpool boss Ian Evatt felt Fletcher ‘carried’ his struggling side through large parts of the season, saying in late April: “I have to give huge credit to Fletch, who has scored 21 goals in really difficult circumstances [considering] where we were and how we were performing.

“He’s carried the team a lot with his goals … for many weeks all we had [up front] was [Fletcher and Tom Bloxham], and they didn’t miss a beat.

“They didn’t miss a day’s training or a minute in-game. When this club needed them … to step up, they really did.”

By Fletcher’s own account, his previous struggles came because his game had been misunderstood.

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Huddersfield Town have released their second Castore home strip and there will be no mistaking it for any of the other EFL teams cutting about in blue and white stripes next season.

‘Flame scarlet’ pinstripes see to that, offsetting the stripes and the black detailing of the collar and sponsor marks including a border on the Hey Dude logo in its second season on the front of the shirt.

It’s all part of the ‘Be Bold, Be Town’ theme and a nod back to the Super League shirt worn by the Terriers between 1993 and 1995.

This year’s version swaps a blue buttoned shirt collar for a black round collar and retains the brighter modern blue.

Separation between the uniform blue stripes and the red pinstripes lives up to the ‘bold’ aspect of the mantra and we suspect it’ll loved by some fans and not by others.

For clubs with a traditional look as defined as Town’s, the need to do something a little bit different every few years is obviously challenging but can’t be avoided.

Achieving it without going over the top can be tricky but next season’s bold look does the job – there probably won’t be red on the 2027/28 shirt so enjoy it (or don’t) for what it is.

The shorts will be white with red and blue trim, the socks black with blue and red detailing — and black socks with the Town home kit always goes down well with us.

Huddersfield’s new shirt works nicely as a reboot of the mid-nineties version. Giving the red stripes room to stand out was a sharp design choice and we particularly like the subtle tonal detailing within the blue stripes.

Lots of teams around Europe have had over-thought striped shirts in the last couple of seasons so we look at straightforward, evenly distributed, perfectly balanced stripes with a degree of awe that really shouldn’t be necessary. Town and Castore have got their angles right again this season.

We like a round collar, too, but that’s a matter of taste and comfort.

The kit can be pre-ordered via the club shop now and delivered in time for Father’s Day. It will be available to buy in-store on Monday.

Season card holders are eligible for a 10% discount. Prices are as follows:

Prices (Season Card Holders with 10% discount applied at checkout when signed in):

• Adult Fit: Shirt: £58.50 / Shorts: £31.50 / Socks: £16.20

• Adult Women’s: Shirt: £58.50

• Junior: Shirt: £45 / Shorts: £25.20 / Socks: £13.50

• Infant Kit: £50

• Baby: Coming soon

Prices (non-Season Card Holders):

• Adult Fit: Shirt: £65 / Shorts: £35 / Socks: £18

• Adult Women’s: Shirt: £65

• Junior: Shirt: £50 / Shorts: £28 / Socks: £15

• Infant Kit: £55

• Baby: Coming soon

Sizes:

• Adult Fit: Shirt: XS - 5XL / Shorts: XS - 2XL / Socks: 6/9 & 9/12

• Women’s Fit Shirt: 6 - 20

• Junior Fit: Shirt: JXS - JXL / Shorts: JXS - JXL / Socks: 12/3.5 & 3.5/6

• Infant Kit Fit: Size 2/3 - 6/7

Printing/Customisation Costs:

• Name and number personalisation: £15

• Sky Bet League One Sleeve Badge: £3

• CORE Badge: £3

Huddersfield Town did not yet have a head coach the last time we ran the rule over the squad and tangentially talked transfer needs on our keep and sell podcast a few weeks back.

As such, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look in a bit more detail now we have a bit more idea of what Martin Drury’s intentions are and what Chris Markham is looki…

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Huddersfield Town have their head coach boxed off, their list of releases submitted and, unlike last summer, a sporting director overseeing everything ahead of the 2026/27 season.

But there’s still plenty for the Terriers to work on both on and off the pitch as they get ready for another League One campaign.

From the men’s first team and the promoted women’s side to contract decisions and stadium work, here’s what’s on Town’s agenda for the next couple of months.

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Transfer business, in and out

We’ve already gone through where we think Town need to recruit and the issues that they’ll be looking to fix, and there are a few things that stand out to us.

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Huddersfield Town’s style of play was the big talking point offered by Martin Drury and Chris Markham as they set out their stall for the summer.

The head coach and sporting director spoke at length about wanting to play a brand of football that Terriers fans can get behind.

Markham described this style with reference to ‘intensity, bravery, excitement’, and ‘wanting to win and be on the front foot’. Drury, meanwhile, wanted better in-game understanding, better tempo, more pace, more power, more width, and more youth.

All this points to Town aiming to play a more intense game on and off the ball.

Is that a recipe for success in League One? Looking back at what worked and what didn’t in the third tier last season points us towards the answer.

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Rhys Healey has left Huddersfield Town with immediate effect after the centre-forward and the club agreed to a mutual termination of his contract.

The 31 year old arrived from Watford in January 2024 but had made just 22 appearances for the club after struggling with injuries throughout his time at Accu Stadium.

Healey left on loan to Barrow last summer but managed just one appearance for them before being sidelined again.

His contract at Town had been set to expire at the end of June 2027. Healey now becomes a free agent.

Martin Drury’s appointment as Huddersfield Town head coach, and the press conference that followed, offered plenty of interesting detail on how the Terriers see the season ahead.

This week’s We Are Terriers podcast reacts to the news of Drury’s promotion and what we learned from what he and and sporting director Chris Markham had to say.

How can Town help…

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You can also listen to the full press conference in your podcast feed or by clicking the play button at the top of this story.

Martin Drury’s brief: Get the performances right, and the results should follow

Although Chris Markham stressed the need to get results alongside those performances, there was little to no talk about objectives based on league positions or promotion.

When asked what the minimum requirement was for Drury in the season ahead, the sporting director said: “Look, football as an industry is about winning, and nobody is hiding from that. It’s obvious. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to win, and every conversation we have is focused on winning and focused on the outcome.

“But what we also need to know and take back a bit of control over is the performances, and that was the difference in the last seven games. The performances were more like what resonated with me and other people at the club who have cared about this club for a long time, plus most importantly the fans.

“So for me, the minimum requirement is that we keep that level of performance, and there was never a backward step taken, really. And considering some of the situations, with George Sebine playing up front, we’re 3-1 up at Bolton.

“Obviously that didn’t end how we wanted it to, but the intent of the performance, the detail behind it, playing on that front foot, that’s what I think is the minimum requirement, and that’s what we’ve discussed when we interviewed the candidates.

“That was at the forefront of it. How are you going to play, and even when things don’t go well? Because look, there’s going to be defeats, definitely, because that’s every club in world football ever.

“So for us, I think it’s one of those things where, once those setbacks happen, can we still be consistent to those beliefs and try and do everything we can to try to win and be on the front foot and make decisions that are brave?

“They were the things that we’ve been talking about the most, because we believe that if we get that right consistently, we will win more games than we don’t win. And I think the performances that Martin and Jon and the players delivered within the last seven games didn’t get the results that they deserved, in my opinion.”

At the stage Town are at, and having talked up their chances to varying degrees over the past two seasons, it is probably a sensible move to stop putting the cart before the horse.

That does not mean the club are being any less ambitious, but does suggest a desire to stop making promises they cannot guarantee keeping. It’s a managerial cliché, but focusing on the things they can control is their best route to getting the outcome they actually want.

Markham pointed to the early days of David Wagner’s reign as an example, saying: “When David came here, even though the first part of the Championship season, it wasn’t really any better results-wise than what had been before, that momentum was building, that identity, and that’s what everybody got behind with David and that team.

“I was here and lucky enough to experience it — it was the style, it was the front-foot nature, it was the intensity that created something that fans can feel.

“When I talk about this, I’m not talking about Xs and Os and tactics and number 10s and profiles. I’m talking about a feeling, an intensity and a direction of bravery, of wanting to win and be on the front foot, and an excitement.

“I think that’s what Huddersfield Town fans want.”

Town know what they want from the transfer market — but it can’t be all buy, buy, buy

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Huddersfield Town have announced Martin Drury as their new permanent head coach.

Drury arrived at the club as Liam Manning’s assistant in January and stepped up as co-interim head coach alongside Jon Stead in March during Manning’s absence on compassionate leave.

Manning’s subsequent decision to leave the club opened up the full-time vacancy, and after an interview process led by sporting director Chris Markham, the Terriers have decided to install Drury in the role on a permanent basis.

Stead will serve as Drury’s assistant head coach, with further information about the make-up of the coaching team yet to be confirmed but ‘more additions’ expected.

Markham said in a club statement: “We’re extremely happy to announce Martin Drury as our new head coach today.

“As I have said since my return to the club as sporting director in November, we are focused on delivering a style of winning football that Town fans can get behind and enjoy.

“With our owner Kevin Nagle and chief operating officer David Threlfall-Sykes, we approached this appointment with a clear focus on identifying a head coach whose playing style, energy, and leadership aligned with the football identity we want to represent Huddersfield Town.

“We’ve had the benefit of seeing Martin’s work for the last six months. It was immediately clear why he has a reputation across football as an elite coach, but his leadership over the final seven games in difficult circumstances was impressive too.

“Even with this in mind, we quickly decided that we had to run a full process to identify our next head coach. Martin entered that process alongside other potentials with very different experiences and profiles and, having interviewed several — including Martin — over the past three weeks, he was the unanimous choice.

“We believe that Martin can be a successful head coach at Huddersfield Town based on the way he works and his alignment with us on what needs to be delivered for the club’s fans. We will ensure that Martin gets the support he needs to be successful, and that starts with Jon’s appointment as assistant.

“Although their working relationship only started in January, there is a natural synergy between Martin and Jon in terms of their coaching and their personalities. Martin led the day-to-day when they took charge of the side in March, but he would be the first to tell you that Jon’s insight, counsel and expertise were invaluable to him.

“There will be more additions to Martin’s coaching team over the coming weeks, as the staff around him will be integral to his success.”

We Are Terriers reaction

“I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition.”

Those were the words of John Lennon at the Beatles’ farewell rooftop concert, not Martin Drury and Jon Stead — but the sentiment was one Huddersfield Town had to ponder when deciding whether to give one of their caretaker bosses the gig full-time. Drury always felt like the more serious candidate of the two.

His press conferences and demeanour during his seven games as co-interim manager projected the image of a coach who felt he had completed his internships under respected managers and big clubs — most notably alongside Carlos Corberan at West Brom and Valencia, plus stints at Manchester United and Brentford — and was now ready to step into the big chair on a permanent basis.

Had Drury not landed this job, we suspect he would have been looking for a management opportunity elsewhere. The question now is whether he is the right appointment for Huddersfield Town in 2026.

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After last week’s on-air editorial meeting made it clear that you’d asked far too many excellent questions to get through in one sitting, we’re back with the second part of our Q&A.

This time, the We Ae Terriers podcast answers questions about the summer transfer window, Huddersfield Town’s playing philosophy and what lies ahead in pre-season. We talk ab…

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“How s*** must you be, we’re winning away.”

Let’s be honest: most sets of fans sing it at some point in a season, even when they have a decent record on the road. But this self-effacing ditty has been deployed with good reason by Huddersfield Town fans in the past few years.

Poor performances on the road were one of the main reasons Lee Grant ended up getting the chop midway through last season.

They won their first away trip of the season at Reading, and there were further excellent performances to come at Exeter, Mansfield and Rotherham. Still, as far as League One went, those were all the away victories Grant’s Town managed.

And when Town were bad, boy were they bad. Blackpool, Barnsley, Bradford, Wycombe, Cardiff and — fatally, for Grant’s employment — Burton Albion all put three goals past them. The defeat at Luton featured some of the worst defending we saw all season. Even ultimately relegated Northampton kept Town to a 1-1 draw.

It was a similar story for Liam Manning. Huddersfield won 3-2 at Peterborough in his first away game in charge, then picked up just one more point from his remaining five.

Come the end of the season, Town had a bottom-half record from their 23 away trips — and they were only as high as 13th because interim bosses Martin Drury and Jon Stead turned things around by leading them to two wins and a draw against Leyton Orient, Bolton and Wimbledon.

On Easter Sunday, just before that trip to Orient, Town ranked 18th in the league on their away record, and 5th at home.

So what was behind that gap — and how can Town go about closing it next season?

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We covered the negatives in Huddersfield Town’s season exhaustively after the campaign came to an end.

But now we’ve had a bit of breathing space, we think it’s time to have a look at some of the things the Terriers did well over the 2025/26 season, even if most of them come with asterisks.

This gives the next head coach something to build on over the summer, with the aim of making next season’s positives feel less like damning with qualified praise.

Finishing chances

That had previously been a bugbear for Town for years and years on end — remember how wasteful they were in front of goal in their relegation season, in particular?

Town didn’t do much better in their first season in League One, either, with only five sides faring worse for shot conversion (just 7.7% of their shots found the net), and three of those five ended up relegated.

In the season just gone, Town were much better — the second-best in the division behind Lincoln, in fact, with a shot conversion rate of 9.4%.

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We had approximately a billionty questions from you for our Q&A — so many that we’ve legitimately had to save some for next time.

This time, though, the We Are Terriers podcast concentrates on the questions around Huddersfield Town’s managerial recruitment process, and what exactly they will be looking for in their next head coach.

That means digging into…

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Thank you to everyone who sent in questions! We had so many that this is just the first section of our answers. We will handle another chunk in this week’s episode of the We Are Terriers podcast, which will be out on Monday morning.

Here, I’m going to focus on the club’s finances, how Town is run, and some thoughts on their recent academy and women’s successes.

Ashley Brook: Can you explain how the new SCMP changes will affect Town and the league in general?

John Green: How do you think the new EFL Squad Cost Rules will impact Town?

James Murgatroyd: What is a rough figure feasible for Nagle to spend this time around so we can have another go — say in the instance we get £2m for Taylor and a few off the wage bill — and what would this figure look like taking into account league restrictions?

For the uninitiated, these are the EFL financial rules currently in play, and which have just been tweaked for next season.

The Squad Cost Rules (SCR) that John alludes to are, predictably, being introduced in the Championship to bring it in line with a similar change in the Premier League.

I won’t get into how that works in full here because League One and League Two operate on a different set of regulations called the Salary Cost Management Protocol, or SCMP.

In brief, the idea is that clubs are only allowed to spend a certain percentage of their turnover and owner investment on player wages. From 2026/27, that percentage is set at 50%.

So, let’s take a hypothetical club that brings in £10m a year as revenue, and also gets £5m pumped into it from the owner’s pocket (equity injections). That club would only be allowed to spend a total of £7.5m on wages — and from 2026/27, that includes the manager’s wage.

What happens to the other £7.5m? Well, that’s the point of the regulations: as well as trying to limit the amount of debt clubs end up owing to their owners, SCMP also encourages — or forces — owners to invest in infrastructure and academies.

In reality, the amount of that combination of revenue and owner investment that Town have been allowed to spend on wages season on season is as follows:

• 2024/25 (as a newly-relegated club): 75%

• 2025/26: 60%

• 2026/27 (under newly-adjusted SCMP regulations): 50%, now including the manager

The upshot is that Town can spend less of their revenue and equity injections on player wages in 2026/27 than in the past two seasons.

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Huddersfield Town head coach Liam Manning will not be returning to the club this summer and will leave the post of head coach.

Manning went on a period of compassionate leave towards the end of March due to personal issues relating to the passing of his new-born son Theo in October 2024.

The decision for Manning to depart the role permanently was made following discussions between Manning and Town management, and has been ‘mutually agreed in the best interest of Liam, his family and the club’.

No details have yet been given on Manning’s replacement in the head coach role.

Manning said in a club statement: “Stepping down from Huddersfield Town has been a difficult decision, but one I feel is best for the club, my family and myself at this time.

“It has been a privilege to manage this team and be a part of this community. I am grateful to the fans for their support and compassion in recent months.

“The understanding and care from the club has gone above and beyond, and I would like to thank Kevin Nagle, Chris Markham, the wider first-team staff and players for their professionalism, commitment and dedication in my absence.

“Although my time was shorter than I had hoped, I am grateful for the opportunity Kevin Nagle entrusted in me and wish nothing but success for Huddersfield Town moving forwards.”

Town chairman Kevin Nagle said in a club statement: “I want to pay huge tribute to Liam today. Stepping away from this role is the correct decision for him and his family, and that comes before absolutely everything else. His openness and honesty about this situation have been second-to-none.

“His time at Huddersfield Town had been relatively short but he has shown a deep care and respect for the club in how he has dealt with us. He will always be a Terrier and is always welcome back at Accu Stadium.”

Sporting director Chris Markham added: “I’m sad that I won’t get the chance to work with Liam for longer but, as Mr. Nagle has rightly stated, family must always come first. This is the right decision for the Manning family, and that is all important.

“We knew Liam was an excellent head coach before he arrived, but seeing how he works up close only cemented that opinion. I look forward to seeing him back in a dugout in the future, but only when it is right for him and his family.”

We Are Terriers reaction

First of all, once again, we need to start by wishing all the best to Liam Manning and his family. He has handled a difficult situation as responsibly and well as he possibly could have done in the circumstances.

There are some things that are more important than football and we hope to see him back in the game as soon as he is ready.

For Huddersfield Town, though, things must go on, and their task at hand now is to decide how best to replace Manning.

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Huddersfield Town have a real balance to strike over the summer transfer window.

The retained list makes clear that Town are likely to need to shift some players out of the squad if they are to bring new faces in — so who would we keep around and who might be better served by a move elsewhere?

On this week’s We Are Terriers podcast we go through every pla…

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There weren’t many things to smile about for Huddersfield Town this season, but the emergence of George Sebine was definitely one of them.

Standing at 6’3” and surprisingly pacy, 19-year-old Sebine — raised in Leeds — was called up by Martin Drury and Jon Stead for their first game in charge on Good Friday. They wanted to see if he could solve Town’s lack of physicality up front in the absence of Bojan Radulovic.

Sebine had previously trained with the first team and had even played the final few minutes of Town’s Vertu Trophy defeat to Harrogate. A hat-trick for the under-21s away to Peterborough in February did no harm to his cause, either.

That he became a regular in the first-team squad towards the end of the campaign, ahead of more established players, was a pleasant surprise to everyone — Sebine included.

He told We Are Terriers: “I just take it step by step. I don’t look too far ahead. But obviously you have it in mind: your goal is to play for the first team.

“I wouldn’t say I didn’t expect it, but I didn’t expect it so quickly. It was just about making sure I made my mark in the under-21s as much as I could, and trying to get a chance in the first team.

“Usually, when you get called up, you hear about it through someone from the academy saying that you’re needed for the first-team training.

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Huddersfield Town go into this summer in a very different position to the one they faced last year.

The Terriers had half a squad to replace after a flurry of releases, but this year, Mickel Miller is the only established first-team player to be departing as a free agent.

This leaves Chris Markham with a big job on his hands in his first pre-season as sporting director — not just in terms of bringing in fresh talent that can help drive another attempt at promotion, but also in finding new homes for some players who are under contract for at least another year.

Here’s our assessment of what Town need where.

Goalkeepers

Under contract: Jak Alnwick, Jacob Chapman, Lee Nicholls. In discussions with Nik Tzanev.

What Town need: A matter of perspective, really.

Lee Nicholls did well to force his way back into the side after being displaced by Owen Goodman, and signed a new long-term contract to boot.

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Huddersfield Town have confirmed their retained list for summer 2026 with Mickel Miller the only established senior player set for release.

Miller arrived at the club from Plymouth in summer 2024 and was a regular in the side in his first campaign for the Terriers, but his 2025/26 season was hampered by a pair of hamstring injuries and he has not started a league game since November.

Neo Eccleston, Omari Mrisho and Peter Thomas will also be released along with 11 other academy players.

Town are taking up their one-year extension option on Cameron Ashia and under-21s centre-back Ian Togo.

Town are in discussions with George Sebine and Jay Sway over new longer-term contracts, with the club also holding one-year extension options on those players already that could be triggered if need be.

Francis Hurl and Dan Vost will also be offered new contracts, while discussions on still ongoing regarding goalkeepers Nik Tzanev and Ellis Litherland.

Will Alves (Leicester), Josh Feeney (Aston Villa), Ryan Hardie (Wrexham), Cameron Humphreys (Ipswich) and Bobby Wales (Swansea) are all set to return to their parent clubs following their loan spells.

Ruben Roosken will meanwhile join Oxford permanently having departed on a loan with an obligation to buy in the January transfer window.

First team squad under contract

• Jak Alnwick

• Jacob Chapman

• Lee Nicholls

• Radinio Balker

• Joe Low

• Sean Roughan

• Murray Wallace

• Jack Whatmough

• Lynden Gooch

• Bali Mumba

• Lasse Sorensen

• Antony Evans

• Tom Iorpenda

• Herbie Kane

• David Kasumu

• Ryan Ledson

• Marcus McGuane

• Cameron Ashia

• Marcus Harness

• Dion Charles

• Rhys Healey

• Alfie May

• Bojan Radulovic

• Joe Taylor

Under-21s under contract

• George Iorpenda

• Max Murray

• Sahil Bashir

• Ian Togo

• Marlie Neil

Under-21s to be offered contract extension:

• Francis Hurl

• Dan Vost

• George Sebine (HTAFC can extend his current contract into 2026/27)

• Jay Sway (HTAFC can extend his current contract into 2026/27)

Ongoing discussions:

• Nik Tzanev

• Ellis Litherland

Under-18s to be offered first professional contracts:

• Hugo Bennett

• Nic Idemudia

• Luke Schofield

• Zac Bowker

Another season is done and dusted for Huddersfield Town, for better or worse, and that gives the We Are Terriers podcast a natural place to give our thoughts on the 2025/26 campaign.

Where were mistakes made, and where were Town hit by unforeseen issues? Might a sporting director have made a difference last summer? Who rose to the challenge, and who disa…

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