Huddersfield Town Q&A: Pre-season, sporting director plans, Lee Grant and more

The second part of our Q&A is here as we take on the rest of your questions

Check out this week’s podcast for part one of the Q&A, which focuses on transfers.

Jude Atkinson: Hi fellas, great podcast, have enjoyed it more than the football this season! Given that some of the blame for the terrible injury rate was put at the door of the backroom team like physios, etc., has the club shared any details of what they will change going forward to address this? Or will Lee Grant have a big say in this?

We talked about this in a bit more detail on the podcast, but one of the big things this summer is prioritising the signing of players who have a good track record for physical robustness and clean injury records.

That’s not to say that everyone Town have signed over the past couple of years has been injury-prone. That said, if you have enough of them in the squad and they end up missing significant amounts of game time, it then puts extra physical strain on those who would normally be fine with a little bit of rotation. Michael Duff admitted that last season he had been effectively forced into selecting players he would otherwise have rested because there were no fit and available alternatives.

As you’ve touched on, the club did hold an independent review into their injury record and have acted on several of the recommendations, including making changes to the performance department. I’m sure those findings will also be passed on to Lee Grant to help inform how he sets up his pre-season training programme.

Paul Matthewman: Thoughts on the sporting director position? Seems crazy we are even considering not having one. Feels essential to me in this day and age, especially with a rookie manager.