A message from Steven Chicken
So…
If you’re here it’s probably because you’ve seen the news that - as it stands, and all subject to final decisions being made - Yorkshire Live/the Examiner currently intend to cease providing full coverage of Huddersfield Town in the near future.
The details of that are all still being ironed out, but those proposals would naturally leave fans without a dedicated media voice providing the kind of full-time coverage that my role currently offers.
David Hartrick and I have been inundated by podcast listeners who don’t want us to stop our analytical coverage of the club’s performance on and off the pitch - frankly, we’ve been a bit overwhelmed by the response.
And we agree with you: we don’t want it to end either. So, when the time comes, Dave and I propose to keep going under our own steam and on a freelance basis, entirely unaffiliated from Reach plc, right here on this Substack.
What does that mean for you as a Town fan?
Here’s the offer…for £5 per month, we will provide:
a weekly podcast with me and Dave throughout the season; and
at least two quality pieces per week from yours truly. That includes the Five Conclusions that you all know and trust already, but could also be something in-depth about a particular issue, whether that be transfer news, a manager’s position, a debate surrounding a player, or matters in the boardroom.
All of which will be as ad-free, clear and easy to access as this very post - with everything also delivered directly to your email inbox, too.
We think that’s a good deal for us all. We can’t promise to give you multiple updates per day on injury news or re-report every single transfer rumour, but the subscription fee means Dave and I can keep providing the kind of top-tier coverage you’ve come to expect.
And who knows? If this thing really takes off, maybe we can look to expand. That may mean that we also offer the occasional bit of free content to help us reach new people - but the bulk of the best of what we do will be for our loyal paying subscribers.
That’s why we need your support. For now, though, all we need is your email address so we can let you know when we’re ready to launch.
Since we don’t yet know when that will be, we’re not asking for any payment from you just at the moment, so there is no financial commitment now and you can unsubscribe at any time if you like. But if you think you might be interested, stick your email address in the box below and click ‘subscribe’.
We don’t have a final name just yet - that’s one of the matters up for discussion, not least because the current name of the podcast belongs to my current employer. We did call it “The Terrier” for all of a day, then remembered that’s what the club call their matchday programme, so that’s out too. Watch this space we guess.
A few words from David Hartrick
Steve and I have been doing the podcast together for over four years now having inherited it from its very capable previous hosts, and we’re chuffed with how much it’s grown since then. It’s the thing that people always want to talk to us about if they recognise us at games, and it would be a shame for it to go.
When we got the news that Steve’s position was at risk we both immediately agreed that we wanted to keep the podcast going, and we think this is the best way to make that happen without being reliant on horrible adverts cluttering up the screen or coming in your ears every 5 minutes (leave it, you’re better than that).
We really want this to be a success less for ourselves (though let’s be honest, also for ourselves), but mostly because we know that without a full-time reporter providing full-time coverage, it does leave a bit of a hole, and we want to fill that hole (again, leave it, you’re better than that).
If you like what we do, please take two seconds to subscribe now and we’ll let you know straight away when we’re up and running. Even if you don’t like what we do, please subscribe anyway and hate-listen to us. You all count to us just the same.