Huddersfield Town digest: Breitenreiter slams certain players and Women win cup
Huddersfield Town digest: Breitenreiter slams certain players and Women win cup
Plus the injury latest and a predicted line-up for the final-day trip to Ipswich
Huddersfield Town Women
Let’s start off with some happier news for us all, since it’s so rare and we’ve already had plenty to say on the men’s relegation.
Town Women have claimed the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Cup, beating Doncaster Rovers Belles 3-2 in a thrilling game at Hillsborough.
Yasmin Mason twice gave Town the lead only for the Belles to peg them back each time, with the second Belles equaliser coming just five minutes from the final whistle.
There was still room for one final twist, however, as Mason rounded off her cup-final hat-trick in injury time to earn Town the trophy. Congratulations!
Town will host Stourbridge in a dead rubber on the final day of the FA WNL season on Sunday, with kick-off set for 2pm at Shelley.
What’s been said
“In my opinion we had really honest players on the pitch [against Birmingham]. I cannot tell you about the problems but if I did you would understand what I mean: unacceptable things have happened here in the past two and a half months I haven’t experienced in 30 years in the business.
“After this season I can tell you maybe something more if it’s the right moment or if it’s necessary, but now we have to concentrate on the last game.”
— Andre Breitenreiter, making clear his dismay at what he has seen from some members of the Town squad this season, following the 1-1 draw with Birmingham
“All the players are disappointed. It’s clear some players are more disappointed than other players.
“Some players left early, but they leave early every day so this was also a question for me of heart and passion and the willingness to stay together with the team.
“This is also a big problem in the team for the whole season I think, but for sure for the time I am here.
“I’m not here to find excuses, for me as a person I am strong enough.
“We all make mistakes, and me too. I think I made mistakes that I waited too long to suspend some players, maybe, or to find the right players to play with heart and passion but we had a lot of injuries, we had not many options.
"We played high risk, Ollie Turton played injured for a long time, that cannot play normally as a starter he is ready for 20 minutes, like Rhys Healey.
“They showed us all that it’s possible when you play with heart and passion - they’re totally dead at the end of the game and I’m sure after 60 minutes but they did it for Huddersfield Town and this is what the club needs, the culture, the right players, showing the best in every game for Huddersfield and don’t want to shine individually.”
— Andre Breitenreiter again, also after the Birmingham game, this time to BBC Sport.
“In light of the club’s relegation to the third tier, the Huddersfield Town Supporters’ Association (HTSA) reiterates its call for season card prices to be frozen at current levels.
“We need as many people as possible to back the team next season. Raising prices will undermine this aim and make it harder to succeed on the pitch. What’s more, we are yet to see any clear evidence that higher prices will increase overall revenue.”
— HTSA, in a statement on X on Sunday afternoon
Michal Helik wins player of the year again
Michal Helik has been named as the Hargreaves Memorial Trophy Huddersfield Town player of the year for the second season in a row.
Over 2,300 fans voted, with the centre-back receiving 41% of the vote after his nine-goal showing for the Terriers this season.
Helik also scooped the award last season, making him the fourth player in the 50-season history of the award to win it back-to-back after Tom Cowan (1996 and 1997), Peter Clarke (2010 and 2011) and Christopher Schindler (2018 and 2019).
Sorba Thomas came second with 24% of the vote, while Jack Rudoni came third with 16%.
Thank you to everyone who voted and congratulations to Michal Helik.
Coming up next
We are looking forward to the Huddersfield fans who make the trip actively cheering any Ipswich Town goals at Portman Road on Saturday.
That’s because while the Terriers will be relegated on Saturday unless they can win by double figures — not something we’re exactly racing to the bookies to lump on — Kieran McKenna’s side are still aiming to clinch automatic promotion at Leeds United’s expense.
Perhaps the best side to watch in the division this year, Ipswich are currently level on points with second-placed Leeds with an inferior goal difference, but hold a game in hand.
They will fulfil that fixture on Tuesday night when they travel to Coventry City. Getting at least point there would mean Ipswich would be guaranteed automatic promotion by at least matching Leeds’ result on Saturday afternoon.
Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
Tom Lees suffered a mediate cruciate ligament injury trying to get back and stop Swansea’s second goal last weekend.
Far less serious than an ACL injury, an MCL injury would typically keep a player out for something like 1-3 months, depending on its severity, so there is a fair chance Lees will be able to do at least some of Town’s pre-season.
Yuta Nakayama (knee) and Josh Ruffels (groin) will both miss the final day, as will the suspended Kian Harratt.
Predicted Huddersfield Town line-up to face Ipswich
Breitenreiter admitted Town took a bit of a risk by playing Turton and Healey for as long as they did at the weekend; with nothing at stake for Town, we’d be surprised if we got a repeat of that this weekend.
3-5-2: Lee Nicholls; Matty Pearson, Michal Helik, Brodie Spencer; David Kasumu, Ben Wiles, Jack Rudoni, Alex Matos, Ben Jackson; Bojan Radulovic, Danny Ward.
Substitutes: Chris Maxwell, Luke Daley, Tom Edwards, Jaheim Headley, Ollie Turton, Tom Iorpenda, Pat Jones, Sorba Thomas, Rhys Healey.
Leeds Road open day
The club are holding an open day at the John Smith’s Stadium celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the move from Leeds Road to the new ground. The event will run from noon-3pm on Tuesday.
Yours truly will host a Q&A with Andy Booth, Peter Jackson, David Taylor, Mel Booth, Graham Leslie and Alan Sykes as part of the day, while memorabilia will also be on display, led by HTSA Heritage Project. Further details can be found here.
Our schedule
We’ll have this week’s podcast out for our £5 a month backers on Tuesday, discussing Breitenreiter’s comments on his squad and looking to the future.
We already did something of a post-mortem on the season both on last week’s podcast and in this written piece last week, so we’re probably going to be looking more to the future from now on.
To that end, I’ll also have my keep/sell list out for our backers on Wednesday morning.
I’ll be at Ipswich as usual to provide player ratings for all readers on the whistle, followed by five largely pointless conclusions on Sunday morning for backers.