Huddersfield Town Women season preview: Derbies, unity and ambition
Huddersfield Town Women season preview: Derbies, unity and ambition
Town Women want to 'bounce straight back' in the 2024/25 season
Following relegation from the FAWNL Northern Premier Division last season, the preparations for the new campaign are well under way for Huddersfield Town Women as they search for a swift return to the third tier.
Despite the disappointment of relegation, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Town as they got their hands on the Sheffield and Hallamshire Women’s Senior Cup, defeating Doncaster Rovers Belles 3-2 thanks to a Yasmin Mason hat-trick, winning their third consecutive Women’s Senior Cup final.
With preseason underway, we look towards the 2024/25 season. In the next nine months the Terriers hope to be fighting at the top of the FA WNL Northern Division one, striving for more silverware and gaining local bragging rights in a division littered with Yorkshire teams and noisy neighbours.
Moving on as one
Town defender and vice-captain Bethany Ibbotson experienced last season’s heartache of relegation but is aware of the opportunities Town Women have in the coming campaign.
Ibbotson said: “Obviously at the end of last season everyone was quite deflated, and we needed the off-season break to re-group and gain our positivity back.
“Overall, I would say that we are looking forward to the season and there is an excitement amongst the group for how well it could potentially go.”
Despite the drop in divisions, the Terriers have retained 83% of last season’s squad, with 20 players vouching to stay and attempt to earn Town an immediate return to the FA WNL Northern Premier Division.
Collective mental toughness will allow the team to develop on the lessons learnt from the previous season. Using the strong bonds created within the squad, Town are in a strong spot looking towards the upcoming season.
Ibbotson said: “Last season we realised that without the results, you have got to take from football what you can and one of those things was togetherness and that is what kept us going.
“I think that’s why a lot of people have chosen to stay, because we are such a close team with the excitement of the season ahead.
“I think remaining a tight group is key.”
Manager Glen Preston added: “I think it speaks volumes of the culture that we are trying to create, in the sense that we can go through the hardship that we went through last season, and yet almost every single player has stayed at the football club.”
The core of the squad largely remains the same, but Preston hinted at Town being active in the transfer market.
Preston said: “We have been working on a few things with the hope of announcing something soon.
“One of the setups that we have implemented over the last 12 months is an analysis department behind the scenes. They have been fantastic in their work on recruitment and scouting players.
“We put together a framework of what type of player we are hoping to look for to play our brand of football and they have gone out and identified different players that they think meet those criteria.”
Club co-operation and financial frustration
Town’s men’s and women’s teams haven’t always been closely interlinked but with potential of the women playing at the John Smiths Stadium in the 24/25 season, Town Women’s club chairman David Mallin spoke on the improved relations with Huddersfield Town.
Mallin said: “David Threlfall-Sykes has taken over as COO, and I’ve had contact with him over the last couple of months. The relationship we have now with Huddersfield Town is the most positive I have known over the last 15 years, they are trying to help us, and we would like to try and play at least one game at the stadium this season.
“Nothing is arranged yet but that is ongoing.”
Whilst it is fantastic to hear that the two sides of the club may be becoming closer, Huddersfield Town Women still rely on countless hours of work from volunteers, as well as enduring financial struggles. The women’s game is growing at a rapid rate and the worry is that Town Women may struggle to compete financially in the future.
Mallin said: “The problem is that funding for other clubs is very, very high. Nottingham Forest have just announced that they are going full time, and we had Newcastle in tier 3 last year who had a massive budget.
“It’s impossible to compete with them. If you have got a budget of £500,000, compared to ours, then we have got no chance, and we have been punching above our weight for the last seven or eight years, but it has certainly come back to bite us in the last couple of seasons.
“We are still searching for sponsors as we have sponsorship spaces on the kit. We have managed to get the front of the kit covered, back of shorts covered, but we are still looking for back of shirt, sleeve, training kit.
“Plus, Andy Brown, who is now our Vice-Chair, is out there trying to get us matchday sponsors for the season.”
Supporting Town Women on and off the pitch has real benefits for the club and community. If you would like to get in contact with HTWFC about sponsorship opportunities, please contact David Mallin at chairman@htwfc.com.
Aims and objectives
All football clubs have the desire of an immediate return up the divisions following relegation and it is no different for Town. All members of the club are working in one direction, and hopefully for Town that direction is up.
When captain Beth Stanfield was asked what she wants from this season her answer was simple.
Stanfield said: “The league trophy.”
Developing on that overall objective, Stanfield also highlighted other aspects of where Town can aim for come the conclusion of the season.
Stanfield said: “We struggled to score goals last season, so it would be nice just to score some more goals to be honest.
“It would be great to be going into games feeling confident and with a bit of momentum.
“We want to be the team that people fear.”
Ibbotson has high hopes for what the team can display on the pitch this season, praising manager Preston’s strategies.
Ibbotson said: “We almost lost our identity as a team last season because we had to adapt to try and get the points instead of playing the way we wanted to, so straight away Glen wants us to regain our identity and with new players coming in it’s about showing them how we like to play, as well as trying different things.
“It is not that we have something to prove but we want to show what we can do as a team.”
Town’s squad and management are aligned in terms of the goals for the upcoming season as manager Glen Preston reaffirmed those objectives.
Preston said: “The goal for us is quite clear. We want to win the league and bounce straight back up. We feel as though we have got a squad that are certainly capable of that.
“We would also like to retain the County Cup. We have won it three years on the bounce and to win it the fourth time would be great.
“Finally, we want to do well in the FA Cup. The FA Cup is now something that brings in a lot of finances, and there were some clubs in tier three last year that made over £100,000, which is over five times our budget.
“If we could go on a run of winning four of five games in that competition that would be huge for the football club.”
Local ventures
With six of the 12 teams in FAWNL Division One North being in Yorkshire (if you count the far distant lands of Middlesbrough), half of Town’s league fixtures will be derbies this season.
Barnsley, Leeds United, York City, Doncaster Rovers Belles and Middlesbrough will take on Town, offering plenty of local battles to be played out across the year.
Both Stanfield and Ibbotson are looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and using those rivalries in their favour.
Stanfield said: “I think a lot of players know each other across the local teams, so I think there is always those personal rivalries and friendships. I think it definitely adds an edge to those games.”
Ibbotson added: “A game is a game, we will try and play every game the same — but there is always a special feeling with derbies. I look back to last year when we were playing Halifax and everyone seemed to be that little more aggressive and into the game, wanting to prove that they are the best side in the area.
“Playing the likes of Leeds and Barnsley is a bit of a change and I think that will be great for us. It will show us where we are at with this new team that we are building when we play in those derbies.”
The season
Town begin their season taking the trip down the road to take on Leeds United on Sunday 18th August. The fixture presents itself as a perfect opportunity for Town to display what this team is all about, in a local derby against a team who finished mid-table last season. The last time the two sides met was in a FA Women’s Cup fixture back in 2019, where the Terriers walked away 4-1 winners, despite the score being 0-0 at half-time.
Town’s first home game of the season comes a week later, as they welcome Stockport County to the Stafflex Arena, at Storthes Hall, on Sunday 25th August.
Among the players Town have retained are some of their biggest names. Experienced midfielder Kate Mallin, who has amassed over 500 appearances for the Terriers, remains with the club.
Caz Fields has also committed to the club for the coming season. After winning FAWNL Player of the Year in the Northern Premier Division in the previous campaign, Fields is sure to be a vital component of Preston’s plans in the year ahead.
David Mallin has urged fans to come down and support the team as Town set about putting last season behind them and embarking on a new journey.
The chairman said: “I would like more people to come and watch us over the season. I think we are an entertaining team to watch, and Glen is quite an attack minded coach.”
Glen Preston’s footballing philosophy is clear, and he is positive that this season will show what Town Women are all about.
Preston said: “I want to look back on a season that we have enjoyed. One where we are proud of what we have achieved and one where we have earnt a little bit of redemption from last season.
“I spoke the players at the end of last season and told them that it wasn’t the last chapter for us, there is another story to be written for those players and this team.”